What White Sox GM Chris Getz said Thursday after trading Dylan Cease

White Sox GM Chris Getz press conference following the Dylan Cease trade

The White Sox pulled the trigger on Wednesday, trading ace Dylan Cease to the San Diego Padres. Sox general manager Chris Getz addressed the move and more in a Thursday press conference.

CHICAGO, Ill. - The Chicago White Sox finally dealt their ace.

After months of speculation, Sox general manager Chris Getz found what he was looking for in a trade partner. That partner was the San Diego Padres.

Getz, speaking in a Thursday press conference, said that opportunity was the best offer he saw in terms of bettering the future of the Chicago White Sox.

"We've been open to finding opportunities to find ways to upgrade our organization and roster and that we would consider anyone on a major league roster," Getz said during a Zoom call on Thursday morning. "We felt the move would improve our team and better our organization both long term and short term. We applied that in a trade with Dylan Cease."

In return for Cease, the Sox acquired right-hander Drew Thorpe, right-hander Jairo Iriarte, reliever Steven Wilson and outfielder Samuel Zavala.

Thorpe is the Padres No. 5 prospect according to MLB.com's pipeline rankings. Zavala was rated No. 7 overall and Iriarte was rated No. 8 overall. Thorpe ranks No. 85 on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospect list, too.

That list of prospects is what the White Sox were looking for. Getz took the deal that lined Chicago's pipeline with talented players, saying he can see Thorpe, Wilson and Iriarte all playing in the majors in 2024.

"You have a value line for what you angle for," Getz said. "The Padres met that."

Getz also announced the team is moving Michael Kopech out of the rotation and into the bullpen.

Kopech started the 2023 season in the White Sox's rotation but was moved to the bullpen in September after struggling as a starter. Kopech was in the bullpen before 2023, too.

Placing Kopech in the bullpen is a move that Getz said he hopes can help the Sox's pitching staff be more efficient.

"Being a starting pitcher and a desire to go deeper into games and being more efficient is something that we were aiming for," Getz said. "Now this transition, we hope the smaller bite of the apple, so to speak, in reliever outings, whether it be one or two innings, is going to be something that's easier to accomplish for Michael and be better for the White Sox."

In moving Kopech to the bullpen, the White Sox have a rotation of Michael Soroka, Erick Fedde, Chris Flexen, Garrett Crochet and Jared Shuster. It seems likely the Sox will add another reliever in free agency, and Michael Clevinger, who went 9-9 with the Sox last season, is a potential option.

Whatever the Sox decide to do, they'll need to navigate a thin pitching rotation. Getz knows this, and knows what he's looking for.

"When you're trying to navigate the early innings and your pitch count is raised, and although you're getting some outs, you're also perhaps getting some walks and just really raising a workload that we felt that we were going to run the risk of perhaps overtaxing our bullpen and the remainder of our pitching staff," Getz said. "We were looking to find some starters who could be more efficient on the front end to help navigate a season."