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On March 13, late in the afternoon, White Sox general manager Chris Getz broke the initial announcement of Dylan Cease’s trade to the Padres.

Getz intended to warn his one-time ace just as he had made contact during the rumor-filled offseason months, as word had spread on social media that the deal was almost finalized.

But in the process of informing Cease of the relocation, Getz also woke him up from his sleep.

“I believe that he was just about to nod off, and Dylan is the only person on the earth who has the potential to doze off again. “I’m fairly sure he did,” a beaming Getz remarked. “I told you that I will give you a call in a few hours to let you know if it was final or not.

“Throughout the years, many deals fall through for a variety of reasons. He says he didn’t take a nap when I asked him if he did so when I phoned him back. I have a sneaking suspicion that he actually dozed off.

Getz’s story was a part of an interview he did this week with MLB.com to go over more specifics of the trade that sent Cease to San Diego in exchange for right-handers Steven Wilson, Drew Thorpe, Jairo Iriarte, and Samuel Zavala, a 19-year-old outfielder. Getz said that in the end, “we felt were worth really breaking down, and we talked at length” about two noteworthy offers.

According to a baseball source who spoke with MLB.com, Texas was the second team in play, but the Padres made the White Sox an offer that included their finest young pitcher. Almost all 29 teams checked in early in the offseason as part of the process, with some clubs demonstrating a more genuine interest and others only conducting due diligence.

Getz explained, “You’ve got free agency and various ways to plug needs on a club operating through the offseason.” Consequently, it greatly influenced the ebb and flow of conversations. There were moments when it seemed to be heating up a lot and then cooling down.

“Now that we were ready to actually close a deal, we thought, ‘Well, we need to bring in players who we feel can benefit our Major League club while also strengthening our farm system and helping us move forward.'” Whether it was a trade or even a free agent signing, we approached every decision we made with that kind of mentality.

Cease regularly topped out at 97-98 mph with his fastball in Arizona and struck out eight over 3 1/3 innings against the Reds the night before he was traded, with trade talks having picked up two days before that start. The right-hander possesses the sort of elite talent and elite clubhouse presence any team, including the White Sox, would love to have.