I think they can decline the option, try to sign or trade for someone, and re-sign Cesar for less money later in the off-season if they can't replace him and want to bring him back.
Depending on what what they spend replacing Kopech's spot in the pen (Kopech slides into rotation), the hole in RF, and hole at 2B, I think it may be Carlos Perez.
Was at the game and it was a blast but man, almost 4 hours to play 8 and a half innings in a game where there wasn’t a ton of scoring or hitting? Yikes.