Yankees trade SS prospect Trey Sweeney as Dodgers clear space for Shohei Ohtani

NEW YORK — The Yankees are not signing Shohei Ohtani, but they’re getting something out of him.

With the Dodgers in need of 40-man roster spots for their $700 million man and Joe Kelly, Los Angeles is sending left-handed reliever Victor González and infielder Jorbit Vivas to the Yankees. Meanwhile, the Yankees are parting with shortstop prospect Trey Sweeney.

ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez first reported the trade.

Sweeney, a first-round pick out of Eastern Illinois in 2021, was considered the Yankees’ eighth-best prospect by MLB.com, but he was their third-best shortstop prospect behind George Lombard Jr. and Roderick Arias. With Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza already in the majors, Sweeney had no clear path to pinstripes after spending all of 2023 at Double-A.

There, the 23-year-old hit .252/.367/.411 with 13 home runs, 49 RBI and 20 stolen bases over 100 games.

A southpaw from Mexico, González leans on a sinker-slider combo and inducing soft contact. He had a 4.01 ERA and a 54.3% groundball rate over 34 games in 2023 after elbow surgery cost him the 2022 season. The 28-year-old owns a 3.22 ERA over 93 career games – all with the Dodgers – and comes with an option.

He won the World Series with Los Angeles in 2020 while recording a 2.70 ERA that postseason.

MLB Trade Rumors projects González will make $1 million in arbitration this offseason. He won’t be a free agent until 2027 and could be a cheap replacement for Wandy Peralta, an in-house free agent that the Yankees have shown interest in reuniting with.

Vivas ranked 10th in the Dodgers’ system. A year younger than Sweeney, he also outperformed him at Double-A in 2023.

There, Vivas slashed .280 /.391/.436 with 12 homers, 54 RBI and 21 stolen bases over 109 games. The lefty-swinging Venezuelan also spent 26 games at Triple-A, where he hit .226/.339/.294 with one dinger, nine RBI and four stolen bases.

Vivas also demonstrated strong patience for a player his age, totaling 69 walks and 71 strikeouts over 612 plate appearances.

While Vivas has a solid amount of experience at third base, he’s spent far more time at second base. Perhaps with some more seasoning and a strong showing at Triple-A in 2024, he could position himself as a candidate to succeed Gleyber Torres.

Torres is a free agent after next season, and his name has come up frequently in trade rumors.