Yankees Acquire RHP Sean Paul Liñan From Nationals for Infielder Jorbit Vivas

The New York Yankees acquired minor league right-handed pitcher Sean Paul Liñan from the Washington Nationals in exchange for infielder Jorbit Vivas, a pre-Opening Day roster maneuver that let New York convert a stranded asset into a young arm with legitimate strikeout credentials.

Liñan, 21, combined to go 3-4 with one save and a 3.03 ERA across 19 games (15 starts) with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, High-A Great Lakes, Triple-A Oklahoma City in the Dodgers organization, and High-A Wilmington in the Nationals organization in 2025, throwing 77.1 innings while allowing 54 hits, 33 walks, and 106 strikeouts against just five home runs. In April alone, he earned California League Pitcher of the Month honors after going 2-1 with a 1.40 ERA, striking out 45 batters in 25.2 innings across five appearances with Rancho Cucamonga.

Liñan began 2025 in the Dodgers organization and was acquired by the Nationals along with RHP Eriq Swan in exchange for outfielder Alex Call on July 31, 2025. Over parts of four minor league seasons in the Dodgers and Nationals organizations, the Cartagena, Colombia native has gone 16-9 with two saves and a 3.62 ERA in 65 games covering 209.0 innings, totaling 269 career strikeouts. He was signed by the Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent on January 15, 2022. Following the trade, the MiLB transaction log shows Liñan was assigned to the Hudson Valley Renegades on March 22, 2026, placing him at New York's High-A affiliate to open the year.

The scouting profile is built around one elite offering. His changeup is considered one of the best pitches in the minors, though his fastball is ordinary and his breaking balls are fringy, a profile that raises questions about his ceiling at the upper levels. Liñan was ranked 27th in the Nationals' farm system on MLB Pipeline at the time of the deal. His brief Triple-A exposure in Oklahoma City came via multiple short assignments in May 2025 before he returned to High-A full-time.

The Vivas side of the ledger tells the story of a roster crunch with no clean exit. Vivas was out of minor league options and was not going to make the Yankees' roster. He hit .161 in 29 games at the major league level in 2025 and spent the bulk of the season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he batted .270 with 59 runs, 21 doubles, four home runs, 43 RBI, 64 walks, and 12 stolen bases in 100 games. At Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Vivas ranked eighth in the Yankees' farm system with a .389 on-base percentage.

Over parts of seven minor league seasons in the Dodgers and Yankees organizations, Vivas batted .271 across 675 games, collecting 138 doubles, 52 home runs, 352 RBI, 344 walks, and 94 stolen bases. He had been acquired by the Yankees along with lefty Victor González as part of a deal that sent infielder Trey Sweeney to the Dodgers in 2023. With Randal Grichuk, Amed Rosario, J.C. Escarra, and Paul Goldschmidt already locked into New York's bench spots, there was simply no room for a player who had exhausted his options.

To make room for Vivas on Washington's 40-man roster, the Nationals designated right-hander Griff McGarry for assignment as a corresponding move. For New York, the calculus was straightforward: rather than absorb a DFA and lose Vivas for nothing, the Yankees converted him into a 21-year-old with a 106-strikeout season and four years of development runway still ahead of him.