Padres acquire RHP Cease in multiplayer deal with White Sox
The San Diego Padres acquired right-hander Dylan Cease in a trade with the Chicago White Sox late on Wednesday for reliever Steven Wilson and three prospects: right-handers Drew Thorpe and Jairo Iriarte, and outfielder Samuel Zavala.
Cease, who turned 28 in December, was second in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022 after going 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA. He went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA last year for a White Sox team that went 61-101.
He agreed in January to an $8 million, one-year contract and is eligible for free agency after the 2025 World Series.
Cease is 43-35 with a 3.83 ERA in 123 major league starts over five seasons, striking out 792 and walking 79 in 658 innings. He has a 2.16 ERA over 8 1/3 innings in three spring training starts this year.
Padres general manager A.J. Preller said the teams started talking about a deal at the start of the offseason when there were reports the White Sox would listen to offers for Cease.
“He’s gotten Cy Young votes and consideration. He’s durable. He’s a power pitcher who can punch you out,” Preller said. “When you look at guys who can dominate a game or a season, he’s on a short list of guys who can do that.”
Cease averaged 95.6 mph with his fastball last season, throwing it on 43% of his pitches. He also throws a slider (39%), curveball (15%) and splitter (3%).
Cease joins a rotation that includes Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove. The Padres play the Dodgers in Seoul, South Korea, in their season opener next Wednesday. Cease wasn’t going to be on the Padres’ flight to Seoul on Wednesday night and Preller said the team would decide in the next 24 hours if he’ll join the team there.
“We see him as a guy as a front-of-the-rotationtype starter and he fits in well with our group,” Preller said.
Thorpe, a pitcher, is rated the Padres’ No. 5 prospect by MLB.com. Zavala, San Diego’s No. 7 prospect, who turns 20 in July, hit .243 with 14 homers, 77 RBIs and 21 stolen bases last year for Class A Lake Elsinore and High-A Fort Wayne. Iriarte, the No. 8 prospect, is a 22-year-old who was 3-4 with a 3.49 ERA last year for Fort Wayne and Double-A San Antonio.
Sinner, Swiatek on to semis at Indian Wells
Jannik Sinner defeated Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, running his winning streak to 16 consecutive matches this year.
Sinner’s streak includes the Australian Open title he won in January. The Italian is 19-0 overall dating to last year’s Davis Cup. He’s won 21 of his last 22 sets.
Sinner made just four unforced errors in the first set when Lehecka had 17 miscues at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Sinner got the lone break in the second set in the fourth game with a backhand winner. Lehecka erased Sinner’s first match point in the eighth game before Sinner converted his fourth match point in serving it out.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek rallied from a 1-4 deficit in the first set and advanced when Caroline Wozniacki had to quit their quarterfinal.
Swiatek was leading 6-4 and had just broken Wozniacki to open the second set when the Dane retired because of a right foot issue. She had jammed a toenail on her foot earlier in the tournament and had a trainer retape it between sets.
Swiatek moved on to the semifinals for the third straight year in the Southern California desert, having dropped just 14 games in her matches so far.
Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine defeated Russian Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 7-5 for the first time in three career meetings to reach the semifinals.
All eight quarterfinals were being played on the same day for the first time at the combined ATP Tour and WTA Tour event.
McIlroy shoots 65 in opening round at TPC
Rory McIlroy began The
Players Championship with a 65 on his scorecard, two tee shots that went into the water and one lengthy dispute about where to take a penalty drop on Thursday.
McIlroy ended the day with 10 birdies for his lowest start ever at the TPC Sawgrass, leaving him tied with Xander Schauffele among early starters.
He would love to have back the tee shots on the 18th and the seventh holes, both of which found water and slowed his momentum on an otherwise superb display of golf.
It was the drop on No. 7 that caused so much conversation with Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland, and some confusion on where he should drop.
It took some 30 minutes to complete the hole that ended up with McIlroy taking a double bogey.
Kings struggle in loss to Blues on the road
Jordan Binnington made 40 saves and Alexey Toropchenko, Jake Neighbours and Brandon Saad scored as the Blues beat the Kings, 3-1, on Wednesday night in St. Louis.
Adrian Kempe scored and Cam Talbot made 27 saves for the Kings, who play tonight in Chicago having lost three of five.
Toropchenko’s goal to open the scoring with 2:30 left in the first period snapped a streak of 81 minutes, 10 seconds since the Kings last allowed a goal.
“That was disappointing because we thought we came out ready to play,” Kings interim coach Jim Hiller said. “We were, you know, in and around their net. I don’t know how much we tested them, but we were around, pucks were just kind of rolling past. So, we felt we’re going pretty good and then yeah, to have to come in down 1-0, that’s not a great feeling.”