The Chicago Cubs are actively exploring further rotation additions, even with the team’s season-opening matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers just days away. Earlier this week, a report suggested Jed Hoyer was considering bringing in veteran Lance Lynn – but another report indicates the Cubs are casting a wide net in their search for arms.

According to Jon Heyman (subscription required), the Cubs are one of nine known teams to have expressed interest in a Dylan Cease trade. The San Diego Padres right-hander is set to hit free agency at season’s end and was a staple of offseason speculation and rumors. Several teams have suffered major pitching injuries this spring, which at least, in part, explains this rumor resurfacing in mid-March.

Cease, 29, pitched a career-high 189 1/3 innings last year for the Padres, eclipsing 32 starts for the fourth straight season and working to a 3.10 FIP en route to a fourth-place finish in NL Cy Young voting. Given the Friars’ rumored financial considerations, moving the right-hander, set to make $13.75 million this year, has felt likely for some time but, at least for now, he’s still in San Diego.

AJ Preller is rumored to want to keep his rotation intact heading into the season, in hopes of staying competitive in the National League playoff picture. But if that’s not how the first half plays out, you can count on Cease being a hot commodity at the trade deadline as teams with October hopes add for the stretch run.

Chicago drafted Cease out of high school in the sixth round of the MLB Draft more than a decade ago and, while it was Eloy Jimenez who looked like the big loss in the Jose Quintana deal, Cease has become the one that got away as more time passed. The Cubs were repeatedly connected to Cease and fellow Padres righty Michael King this winter, but nothing ever reached the finish line.

Adding him back to the rotation alongside Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga would give the Cubs a big three atop the staff comparable to almost any other team in the league. And, as we all know, Hoyer has the prospect pieces to pull off such a move. The only question now is how he’ll leverage those assets in what very much feels like a ‘must-win’ 2025 campaign.