MLB Trade Rumors: Yankees Among 9 Teams Linked to Dylan Cease

They can talk all they want about not having to make a big trade to fill the Gerrit Cole hole in their rotation, but reports indicate that the NY Yankees are among 9 teams that are linked to trade candidate Dylan Cease of the San Diego Padres.

Why the Friars would want to tank their team's chances this season by trading away their ace is another story altogether, but for now, the Cy Young candidate right-hander remains firmly entrenched on the rumor mill.

Insider Jon Heyman writes in the New York Post that no less than nine teams have reached out to the Padres about Cease. He lists 7 of them as follows:

New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox
Toronto Blue Jays
Baltimore Orioles
Tampa Bay Rays
Chicago Cubs
New York Mets

Yes, that's the entire AL East division, all clamouring over each other to try to get their hands on the 4th-place finisher in NL Cy Young balloting last year, and the 2nd-place vote-getter two years earlier with the Chicago White Sox.

Both New York teams have a couple of sizeable holes in their rotations due to injuries, but none more serious than the Tommy John surgery that has knocked Cole out until well into the 2026 season for the Bronx Bombers.

But trading for Cease won't come cheap. The Padres would want an impact bat in return at least. The Yankees, for one, don't have one of those to spare.

Cease went 14-11 last year with a 3.47 ERA and a 224:65 strikeouts-to-walk ratio.