The Minnesota Twins had their first intriguing rumor of the offseason when Dan Hayes of The Athletic reported they had been in talks with the San Diego Padres for Christian Vázquez.

But the real story was at the bottom of the report where Hayes mentioned the Twins were one of several teams interested in acquiring Padres ace Dylan Cease.

Cease would be a massive upgrade for the Twins rotation, leading fans to flock to that note and concoct their dream trades to get the right-hander in Minnesota.

But while some have their ideas, Hayes shed some light on what a deal could look like during an appearance on the latest episode of Gleeman and the Geek with The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman and Twins Daily’s John Bonnes.

Hayes mentioned that a package including MLB-ready players and prospects could be enough to entice AJ Preller to make a move and one of Trevor Larnach, Edouard Julien, Jose Miranda or Chris Paddack could be included to offset Cease’s $13.5 million salary next season.

Hayes also mentioned that Vázquez and outfielder Austin Martin could be included in the deal before mentioning prospects Zebby Matthews, who was named to Baseball America’s top 100 list earlier this week or Andrew Morris as a pitching prospect to send back to San Diego.

Twins still a longshot to acquire Dylan Cease from the Padres

Whatever the cost, acquiring Cease may be worth the investment for the Twins. A former Cy Young Award runner-up in 2022, the 28-year-old had one of his best seasons with the Padres going 14-11 with a 3.47 ERA to finish fourth in Cy Young Award voting in 2024.

Adding Cease to a rotation that includes Pablo López, Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan would give the Twins one of the top pitching staffs in all of baseball and it may be worth giving up a top prospect – although Hayes mentioned Minnesota’s top two prospects Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez are off-limits.

There’s also a public relations element to acquiring Cease as the Pohlad family is in the process of selling the team. Hayes said a potential sale wouldn’t be enough to significantly increase payroll but he also mentioned they want the franchise to look as attractive as possible to potential buyers.

“They want this product to look good for whatever owner’s coming into buy it,” Hayes said. “Where they are right now, they are good. If they went in right now with the payroll they have, they would be fine with that.”

So could Cease actually wind up in a Twins uniform come Opening Day? Hayes believes it’s “unlikely” even if Minnesota is able to work something out with the Padres on a trade involving Vázquez.

But Twins brass from Rocco Baldelli to Derek Falvey have been hinting that something is in the works over the past several weeks and if the Twins and Padres keep talking, there’s always the chance something big could happen by Opening Day.