Have the Dodgers tried to be the Red Sox or have the Red Sox tried to be the Dodgers? Maybe neither, but it’s downright odd how these teams continue to directly and indirectly swap players. The lastest is former Dodgers top prospect Ryan Noda, who was traded from the Angels to the Red Sox on Thursday.

Noda was acquired by LA back in 2021 as the player to be named later in the 2020 Ross Stripling trade and emerged as a top prospect after a few promising campaigns at Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City. He hit 54 home runs and 168 RBI across those 248 games. Then, in 2022, Noda was selected by the Athletics in the Rule 5 Draft and made his MLB debut in 2023.

Across 128 games, he logged 2.2 WAR, hitting 16 homers with 54 RBI, a .770 OPS and 118 OPS+. Unfortunately, last season he hit just .137 with a 38 OPS+ in 111 games. When the 2024 campaign came to a close, the Angels claimed Noda off waivers from the A’s, but Anaheim designated him for assignment on May 18.

After just a few days, the Red Sox claimed him due to their first base woes after Triston Casas was lost for the season a few weeks ago. Boston famously has had no plans to absorb that loss with Rafael Devers refusing to switch positions. It’s been a combination of Romy Gonzalez, Abraham Toro and Nick Sogard, which isn’t ideal.

Red Sox using ex-Dodgers first base prospect Ryan Noda to fill biggest need

Noda likely represents “more of the same” for the Red Sox. Though his power is of note here, he hasn’t appeared in an MLB game since Sept. 22 of last year. He’s also only been batting .148 with a .633 OPS at Triple-A with the Angels before they designated him for assignment.

If anything, the Red Sox continue to pick up a version of the Dodgers’ scraps, while LA maximizes top talent from Boston. We’ll be shocked if this works out for the Red Sox, and it just goes to show the Dodgers continue to get the most of their prospects/farm system while other teams can’t quite unlock the same output or see the potential realized at the next level.