The New York Yankees pulled off two separate pre-2024 trades with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both were attempted bullpen plunders. One involved helping to clear a roster spot for Shohei Ohtani, out of the goodness of Hal Steinbrenner's heart. Neither worked. One is mostly settled. The other is aggressively getting worse with every RPM added to Christian Zazueta's surreptitious fastball.
In mid-December, the Yankees nabbed soft-tossing lefty Victor Gonzalez and infielder Jorbit Vivas in exchange for top-10 Yanks prospect Trey Sweeney. Sweeney has since become a Tiger, and his stock has dropped somewhat. Now, Vivas is in a similar position on the Yankees' 40-man roster, holding down a space he likely doesn't deserve while New York tries to figure out a better use of the room.