González, 28, was acquired alongside infield prospect Jorbit Vivas in the Dec. 11 transaction that sent shortstop and 2021 first-round pick Trey Sweeney to the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the time, the Dodgers needed to release two 40-man roster spots for Shohei Ohtani and Joe Kelly. Sweeney, considered as near-MLB ready, fit well into the Dodgers’ system, effectively replacing Vivas without needing to take up a 40-man roster space until the next offseason.

The Yankees took the opportunity to acquire a cost-controlled reliever to help shore up a bullpen that had numerous question marks, at the expense of surrendering two quality infield prospects. Vivas was listed in the Dodgers’ Top 20 by MLB Pipeline, FanGraphs, and Baseball America. Sweeney got conflicting assessments, placing as high as third and as low as 15th in the Yankees’ farm system.

Before entering New York, González had built a good MLB résumé. The southpaw pitched 89.1 innings with the Dodgers from 2020-23, posting a 3.22 ERA, 23.2% strikeout rate, and an 8.4% walk rate, along with an excellent 58.1% ground-ball rate. With three years of club control remaining, he seemed to be a natural candidate to replace lefty reliever Wandy Peralta, whom the Yankees lost to the San Diego Padres in free agency.

On June 21, the Yankees designated González for assignment, a move that originally raised suspicions. His 3.86 ERA and 1.11 WHIP across 27 appearances appeared to be solid, but underlying analytics presented a more ominous picture. His 4.2 K/9 rate and 5.0 BB/9 rate were considerably below league average. Additionally, his 5.96 FIP and .149 BABIP revealed he had been benefiting from unsustainable luck, signalling at an imminent downturn.

González cleared waivers and remained with the Yankees’ Triple-A organisation, where he had a 4.50 ERA and 1.73 WHIP across 21 bullpen appearances. While his strikeout and walk percentages improved in the minors, his batted-ball luck vanished, giving up 11.9 hits per nine innings.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers were able to swap Sweeney to the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline for right-handed starter Jack Flaherty, one of the game’s finest pitchers in 2024. After producing a 1.114 OPS over 11 games with Triple-A Toledo, Sweeney earned a trip to the majors and has since become Detroit’s everyday shortstop. As of early Sunday afternoon, he is batting .211/.263/.408 with four home runs and a .971 fielding percentage in 25 games.

The Yankees’ bullpen now has more than enough arms to get through the rest of the season, but question persists about who will handle high-leverage innings. Tim Hill and Tim Mayza are the only left-handed relief possibilities remaining on the 40-man roster, unless Nestor Cortes Jr. goes to a relief in the postseason.