Not long after the Juan Soto trade and Shohei Ohtani signing, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers have hooked up for a trade. The Yankees are sending shortstop prospect Trey Sweeney to the Dodgers for lefty Victor Gonzalez and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas, reports ESPN. Neither team has announced the trade.
The trade opens two 40-man roster spots for the Dodgers. They need the space for Ohtani and also Joe Kelly, who is re-signing with the club. Los Angeles traded two 40-man roster players for one non-40-man roster player.
For the Yankees, this trade nets them a new lefty reliever in Gonzalez, who owns a 3.22 ERA with strong ground ball rates in 89.1 big league innings over the last three seasons. The recently turned 28-year-old will help replace free agent Wandy Peralta, who was New York's go-to lefty reliever the last few seasons.
The 22-year-old Vivas slashed .269/.381/.407 with 13 home runs in 135 games between Double-A and Triple-A in 2023. He walked (69) nearly as much as he struck out (71). Baseball Prospectus ranked him the No. 17 prospect in the Dodgers' system this week, saying his upside is along the lines of César Hernández.
Sweeney, 23, was the No. 20 pick in the 2021 draft. He slashed .252/.367/.411 with 13 home runs in 100 Double-A games this past season. Baseball America did not rank him among New York's top 10 prospects earlier this month.
This trade will have no impact on each team's pursuit of Japanese righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Yankees and Dodgers are both expected to make their in-person pitches this week.
