MLB Free Agency News: Dylan Cease To Land 5th Largest Pitching Contract in History

As the pitcher on the free agent market after the 2025 season, San Diego Padres ace Dylan Cease is in line for a huge payday. According to Tim Britton of The Athletic, Cease, 29, could land the fifth-highest-valued pitching contract in history.

Cease, he posits, "has placed himself in the same group as the top-earning starters from this past winter".

That would include the following:

Corbin Burnes, 6-year, $210 Million contract ($35M AAV), Arizona Diamondbacks
Max Fried, 8-year, $218 Million contract ($27.25M AAV), New York Yankees

Britton suggests both Burns and Fried as good comps for Cease, and comes up with a projection splitting the difference: Seven years, $210 million, which is an AAV of $30 million.

The question is, which team will have the last chance to sign Cease to an extension before he hits free agency? The Padres are said to be listening to trade offers on the two-time top-4 Cy Young candidate. It doesn't sound like they're interested in shelling out the $200M+ that it'll take to re-sign him.

The New York Yankees would seem to be the most obvious suitor for Cease, after having lost two-fifths, and now maybe three-fifths of their starting rotation to injury. In addition, the Padres are said to be scouting the Yankees in Grapefruit League action.

In fact, according to Jon Heyman in The New York Post, the Friars are scouting quite a long list of teams who could be interested in trading for Cease, including the New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs and a team that has yet to be revealed (likely the Philadelphia Phillies).