The Chicago Cubs, like several other teams, found out Monday that Roki Sasaki won't be playing for them in 2025. It's tough news, but there's no time to sulk.

Earlier this winter, the Cubs made their marquee addition on offense by trading for superstar outfielder Kyle Tucker. They hoped Sasaki would be the equivalent of Tucker on the pitching front, but there are still candidates to fill in at the top of the Chicago rotation.

An excellent pivot plan would be to trade for San Diego Padres ace Dylan Cease, who is widely speculated to be available with the Padres in financial turmoil. Cease, 29, had a 3.47 ERA and 224 strikeouts last season, finishing fourth in National League Cy Young voting.

Cease, like Tucker, is entering his final year of team control before he hits free agency. He and the Padres agreed to a $13.75 million salary in arbitration, but he's due for a lot more than that next winter--Spotrac projects him for five years, $109 million.

Unless something dramatic changes in San Diego, the Padres aren't going to keep Cease beyond this season. Maybe the Cubs wouldn't either, especially with Tucker as priority number one, but at least they'd have a much better shot at winning their first playoff game in eight years.

Here, then, is one potential trade package the Cubs could offer the Padres to attempt to bring Cease to the North Side:

Cubs receive: RHP Dylan Cease

Padres receive: OF Kevin Alcántara (Cubs No. 6 prospect), RHP Jaxon Wiggins (No. 9), 3B/SS Gage Workman (No. 28).

Alcántara is the prize of this package, but don't sleep on Wiggins, a 6-foot-6 fireballer who could move quickly through the minors when he returns from Tommy John surgery this year.

Workman, meanwhile, is a Rule 5 draft pick who was once a highly-regarded Detroit Tigers prospect and could see time in the majors with a thin San Diego roster.

Cease would be worth paying a steep price to get for just one year, but extending him is the true goal. He would be the best right-handed pitcher in the Cubs rotation for many years to come.