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Best Prospects To Be Traded Recently

With so many top prospects untouchable these days, let's take a look at the ones who were traded last offseason or this summer.  We'll use the preseason top 100 lists from Baseball America and ESPN's Keith Law unless otherwise noted.

Traded This Summer

• Justin Smoak (1B), by Rangers to Mariners in Cliff Lee deal.  The Mariners reportedly chose between Smoak and Jesus Montero of the Yankees as the centerpiece of the Lee trade.  Smoak was rated #13 by BA and #9 by Law before the season.
• Brett Wallace (1B), by Blue Jays to Astros for Anthony Gose.  This was the second time in about seven months Wallace was involved in a prospect-for-prospect deal.  BA had him at #27 and Law at #20.  Wallace remained in the #26-50 range in BA's midseason rankings.
• Wilson Ramos (C), by Twins to Nationals for Matt Capps.  Ramos was ranked #58 by BA and #42 by Law, and moved up in BA's midseason rankings despite an uninspiring Triple A performance.  That doesn't mean they value Ramos more highly now, though - the midseason list is weaker than the offseason one due to prospects graduating to the Majors and 2010 draftees being left off.
• Dan Hudson (SP), by White Sox to Diamondbacks in Edwin Jackson deal.  Hudson was at #66 by BA before the season, but fell outside of Law's top 100.
• Generally speaking the stock of these traded players dropped at least a little since they cracked preseason top 100 prospect lists.  Hudson might be the exception, as he proved he could hold his own at Triple A. 

Traded In The Offseason

• Of the seven top 100 prospects traded in the offseason, five were linked to the Roy Halladay/Cliff Lee blockbuster: Kyle Drabek, Travis d'Arnaud, Wallace, Michael Taylor, and Phillippe Aumont.  Drabek, Wallace, and d'Arnaud were still ranked in BA's midseason top 50.  Taylor and Aumont were not.
• Austin Jackson (OF), by Yankees to Tigers in Curtis Granderson deal.  Jackson has had a solid rookie season, as he's hitting .307/.355/.411.  He was ranked #76 by BA and #70 by Law.
• Arodys Vizcaino (SP), by Yankees to Braves in Javier Vazquez deal.  Vizcaino was at #43 on Law's preseason list but did not appear on BA's.  He did crack BA's midseason top 50.

How about players who were considered top 100 prospects before the 2009 season, traded within the last year?  Michael Main (SP), James McDonald (SP), Andrew Lambo (OF), Daniel Schlereth (RP), and Aaron Cunningham (OF) fit the bill.

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