Yankees send Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani parting gift packing in trade with Nationals

Back in December of 2023, before the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers met in the World Series just 10 months later, the two teams conducted business with a couple of offseason trades. One of them helped LA clear 40-man roster space for the incoming Shohei Ohtani.

That's right ... the Yankees, though it was inevitable, facilitated the Dodgers' acquisition of Ohtani and it ended up being their undoing in some capacity that October. And New York got nothing out of it.

That was the infamous deal that saw Victor Gonzalez and Jorbit Vivas head to New York in exchange for Trey Sweeney. Gonzalez ended up being a non-factor while Vivas, to little surprise, never caught on in New York. Gonzalez hasn't appeared in an MLB game since that 27-game stint with the Yankees, and Vivas was traded on Sunday, March 22, in a deal with the Nationals.

Vivas, who was expected to depart this offseason as the Yankees needed to clear roster space, hit .227 with a .643 OPS in 22 spring at-bats. It feels like a miracle the Yankees were able to get anything for him.

Washington is sending pitching prospect Sean Paul Liñan to the Bronx in the deal. The right-hander, also formerly of the Dodgers, spent just a few months with the Nats after being traded for Alex Call at the 2025 deadline. He logged a 3.03 ERA and 1.13 WHIP with 106 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings across Single-A, High-A and Triple-A last year.

That's ... really good value? Vivas is technically an asset given his versatility and age (25), but fans certainly didn't expect to acquire a potential fast-rising 21-year-old as the return.

Yankees trade Jorbit Vivas to Washington Nationals and the return is actually impressive

Liñan was signed by the Dodgers out of Colombia back during the international free agency period in 2017. He made his professional debut in 2022 as a 17-year-old and took a particularly impressive leap in 2025. He was ranked as the Nationals' No. 27 prospect heading into the 2026 season.

It seems the right-hander transitioned to more of a starter's workload last year after only making 11 starts in his first 46 pro appearances. It's unclear where he'll begin the season with New York, but we can guess Double-A might be the best fit at the moment.

To add another layer to the 2024 trade with the Dodgers, LA then packaged Sweeney at the trade deadline that year to acquire Jack Flaherty from the Detroit Tigers. Let's hope Liñan turns into something remotely real so we can forget about how the Dodgers completely used the Yankees as a vessel as part of their effort to kickstart a modern day dynasty.