Seven years ago, the Cubs traded Dylan Cease and Eloy Jimenez(and Matt Rose and Bryant Flete) to the White Sox for pitcher Jose Quintana. At the time, the deal seemed lopsided in the Cubs favor because Quintana was finally going to get run support and push the Cubs over the top. I’m of the minority, but I never saw that from Quintana, but bear him no ill will.

At the time of the trade, people differed as to who was the throw-in for the Sox. When Jimenez blasted homers at Wrigley, it seemed obvious-Cease. However, as Eloy couldn’t remain healthy, and Cease improved dramatically, the perception changed.

That brings us to 2024 and the Sox season. With two years of control and no chance of competing or resigning Cease to a long-term contract, the Sox had to get something in return for their top of the rotation starter. Even though I was only four at the time, I have a pretty good idea how bad the 1969 Washington Senators were even with the addition of two AL expansion teams. That’s the course the 2024 Sox are on today and most good Sox fans realize that.

Only thirteen days ago, I had it on better authority than most everyone in the media, that the Sox were going to move Cease as soon as possible and they did. For the next six decades, Sox and Padres fans will debate who got the best of the deal and may have even forgotten the Shields for Tatis Jr. deal.

The Cease for pitchers, Drew Thorpe, Jairo Irarte, Steven Wilson, and outfielder Samuel Zavala is not rare. Teams who need proven ML talent will often ship a boatload of prospects to teams looking to replenish their system. Every so often, a player or two with ML experience will be included to satisfy anxious fans. However, the younger players are really little more than commodities or fungible assets.

I won’t argue the merits of any of the players the Sox received because I’ve never seen any play and wasn’t familiar with any of them despite their lofty prospect status. Other than what I have read and heard of the headliner, Thorpe, I couldn’t tell him apart from Twyla Tharp, Otis Thorpe, or Sterling Sharp. Some in the local media have him pegged for greatness already (without ever having seen him pitch).

What I do know about Thorpe is that he had a nice collegiate career at Cal Poly and was selected in the 2nd round of the 2022 draft by the Yankees. After a very strong season in the minors, he was part of the Juan Soto trade with the Padres and without ever pitching in the S.D system, was traded to the Sox.

Players get traded all the time before playing a game in a team’s system. Some guys are that irresistible, I guess. But immediately after the Sox acquired Thorpe, Brett Wallace came to mind. The 6’2, 250 lb, collegiate star from Arizona State never quite put it together at the ML level despite flourishing in the minors for several organizations.

More relevant to the topic at hand, Wallace was traded quite frequently and early in his career like Thorpe. After an excellent start (1 1/2 years) in St. Louis’s organization, he was a part of a 2-1 trade with the Athletics for Matt Holliday. Before you could say, Tarzan Joe Wallis, he was dealt to the Jays for Michael Taylor (5 months actually). A little than less two years later, he went to Houston for Anthony Gose. Notice how the asking price diminished over his career.

None of this is to suggest that Thorpe or any of the others in the trade is doomed to have a Brett Wallace ML existence, rather nobody has any idea what is in store for any prospects no matter how much hype they’ve gotten. Teams change their mind as quickly as TLR pulled relievers. If the Sox bring up Thorpe later this season, I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. We’ll have to wait and see.