Dodgers Rumors: LA not expected to go after longtime white whale rival

In signing Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki last offseason, the Dodgers fortified their rotation through at least 2027 (LA has a club option on Tyler Glasnow for 2028). It'll be Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Glasnow, and Sasaki for at least the next two seasons barring any injuries (knock on wood).

So, for the first time in a long time, the Dodgers won't need to look for a starting pitcher in the offseason. Even if they want to go into 2026 with a sixth starter, they have a clear internal option in Emmet Sheehan.

Arguably the most valuable starting pitcher guaranteed to hit the free agent market is two-time Cy Young and MVP nominee Dylan Cease, who is hitting free agency for the first time in his career after five seasons with the White Sox and two with the Padres.

The Dodgers have been connected to Cease for years. In the 2023-2024 offseason, Andrew Friedman reportedly wanted him so badly that he attempted to wrangle a third team into a blockbuster trade with the White Sox.

With Cease finally on the open market and with his worst full season likely to bring his value down in the offseason, the Dodgers, who do love excess, could finally get their guy.

However, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com wrote that the Dodgers (along with the Yankees) won't be throwing their hat in the ring for Cease this offseason.

Dodgers not expected to go after longtime trade target Dylan Cease in free agency

Cease has an interesting case to make in free agency, and other teams have already started lining up to try to sign him. He put up a 4.55 ERA in the regular season, the second-worst of his career, but he led baseball in strikeouts per nine innings (11.5) and stayed healthy the entire year. In fact, he's been entirely healthy since 2021, and even then he was only on the IL for a 10-day stint. His 4.18 ERA and 534 1/3 innings pitched from 2023-2025 puts him pretty close to workhorse territory.

The Dodgers' rotation is constantly injured and could maybe use an iron man, which Cease seems to be, but he'll still probably end up costing too much for the Dodgers to go after him when they don't need him.

It would be another win for the Dodgers in terms of their rivalry with the Padres, but that's basically it, and it certainly wouldn't be incentive enough for LA to pursue him despite such heavy interest in years past.