Blue Jays’ Dylan Cease, Braves’ Chris Sale award wins create brutal what-if moment for White Sox fans

Dylan Cease still has six years and two months (give or take) left on his contract, but nobody can deny that it's been money well spent by the Toronto Blue Jays. Chris Sale is 37-years-old and still pitching like an ace in his mid-20's for the Atlanta Braves. Both Cease and Sale were named as July's Pitcher of the Month by MLB.com earlier this week. Cease took the American League side of the award while Sale snagged the National League's.

In both cases, fans of the Chicago White Sox have to look at that and read it with mixed emotions of sadness and frustration. Both players were drafted by the White Sox but traded away in deals that Chicago would probably take back if they could. Sure, the jury is still out on the return the White Sox got from the San Diego Padres, but they have virtually nothing left to show for what they got from the Red Sox in exchange for Sale.

When they moved Sale, the White Sox got Yoan Moncada who was considered the number one prospect at the time of the deal. Michael Kopech was the No. 10 ranked prospect according to MLB piepline. OF Luis Alexander Basabe was right on the edge of being a top 10 prospect in the White Sox system and RHP Victor Diaz was lower end prospect.

Moncada has a couple of good years with the White Sox, but never lived up to the extreme hype surrounding him. The same can be said of Kopech who posted good numbers as a 25-26 year-old in 2021 and 2022, but was traded to the LA Dodgers in 2024. Basabe never made it past Double-A and Diaz never got out of High-A in Chicago's system.

When they moved Cease, the White Sox recouped, RHP Drew Thorpe (MLB Pipeline's No. 85 prospect; SD No. 5), OF Samuel Zavala (SD No. 7), RHP Jairo Iriarte (SD No. 8), RHP Steven Wilson.

The 25-year-old Thorpe made his MLB debut in 2024, jumping from Double-A to the White Sox big league club. He has dealt with injuries over the last few years, but returned to pitch in Double-A just this past Thursday, and he went four innings, striking out five batters and allowing one hit. He's expected to go up to Triple-A and could be a wild card in the White Sox playoff push.

Zavala is hitting .217 with a .704 OPS in 92 games in Double-A this year. It's the first time the 2-year-old has reached that level. Iriarte made his MLB debut in 2024, pitching in six games out of the bullpen for the White Sox, but has mainly been playing with their Triple-A club the last two seasons. Wilson came over as a 29-year-old reliever and pitched in out of the White Sox' bullpen the last two seasons. He's with the Tampa Bay Rays this year.

At the time, both deals seemed like good moves for the White Sox considering where they were at the various stages of their competitive windows, and it was unlikely either guy would sign long-term. But since moving Sale in 2016, they've made the playoffs twice - bowing out in the first round in 2020, and in the ALDS in 2021. Since trading Cease before the 2024 season, they've missed the playoffs each of the last three years, losing 100+ games each of those years.

Yes, the 2026 version of the White Sox could win the AL Central, and hindsight is 20-20, but it's tantalizing to think about what could have been if Sale and Cease were leading their rotation over the last few years, let alone at this very moment.

The Blue Jays and the Braves, however, are not complaining one bit. These two teams have loved everything they have gotten out of their respective pitchers and these Pitcher of the Month awards for July have

Dylan Cease and Chris Sale earned their Pitcher of the Month awards after stellar July showings

Cease racked up 46 strikeouts in 36 innings pitched, posted a 1.00 ERA and 0.72 WHIP. He also had no-hitter attempts in two separate games. The first took place on July 8 in San Francisco in which he pitched into the ninth, but gave up a single to the first batter he faced in the bottom of the inning.

That was the only hit on that day for Cease who then came out of the game, after striking out 11 batters and walking three in eight official innings pitched. 17 days later, Cease was at it again, this time in Fenway Park, as he stifiled the Boston Red Sox. His final line that day was nine innings pitched, one hit allowed and 12 strikeouts with three walks.

Cease also put an exclamation point on his season in July when he started the All-Star game for the American League. He became the first Blue Jays' pitcher to earn the nod since Hall of Famer Roy Halladay.

Sale's July didn't get off to the greatest start. on Jul. 4, he gave up three runs on seven hits and went five innings after giving up two home runs at home to the Mets. However, he only gave up three earned runs the rest of the month. He threw 27 innings, struck out 34 hitters and posted a 2.00 ERA with a 0.72 WHIP.

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