It's now clear Yankees handed Dodgers their breakout pitching prospect in goofy trade

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. That deal's done and dusted. It didn't work out, but at least neither side has seen massive growth because of it (they'd have found a different way to fit Ohtani on the roster, we assure you).

But when the Yankees circled back in February to grab another Dodgers lefty, they overstepped their means. Caleb Ferguson — you remember him! — headed to New York. Ultimately, he'd put up a 5.13 ERA/subtract 0.6 bWAR from the team as he proved he was the absolute last person you wanted to see in charge of the Ghost Runner in extra innings.

In exchange, the Yankees sent Quad-A arm Matt Gage and a lottery ticket prospect from deep within their system: Zazueta. And, as they have so often in recent months/years, it seems they sent an unlockable breakout piece to another organization, preferring to give away talent rather than sign relievers using money.

Thomas Nestico, an avid watcher of Stuff, recently declared Zazueta his Dodgers breakout pitching prospect pick for 2026. His 2025 season already represented a massive step forward out of the darkness, and what's on the horizon seems likely to be even better.

Former Yankees prospect Christian Zazueta could be a top 100 crasher with Dodgers

The Dodgers certainly don't need big-league pitching talent, but they always need viable assets. Zazueta has a chance to crest on a top 100 list as the 2026 season progresses, at which point Los Angeles' front office will likely deal him for something more significant than Ferguson (he's back in Cincinnati now and we wish him well).

For years, teams have been cautioned not to trade with the Rays, but the Dodgers are a much more obvious looming threat. If they're discarding someone, it's likely for good reason. Don't take the bait. Don't expose your prospect secrets to them.

Just spend the money on relievers instead of trying to pick up LA's pieces.