Best prospects traded in past 25 years

The Red Sox made a splash Tuesday on Day 2 of the Winter Meetings, acquiring left-handed ace Chris Sale in a blockbuster deal that sent Yoan Moncada and three other prospects to the White Sox.

The inclusion of Moncada, MLBPipeline.com’s No. 1 overall prospect, is particularly significant, as it marks the first time in at least 25 years that baseball’s top overall prospect has been traded, based on the rankings done by MLB, MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.

Moncada, 21, received the largest bonus in history for an amateur player ($31.5 million) when Boston signed him in 2015 after he left Cuba. He lived up to that billing in 2016, his first full pro campaign, hitting .294/.407/.511 with 15 home runs and 45 stolen bases in the Minors before debuting with the Red Sox in early September.

Here’s a chronological look at other elite prospects who have been traded and how those deals panned out:

1998 — Pablo Ozuna: Traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Miami Marlins with Braden Looper and Armando Almanza for Edgar Renteria, December.

Rankings (according to Baseball America) No. 8 — 1999 Preseason No. 62 — 2000 Preseason

Ozuna spent the better part of two seasons in Double-A after he was traded to Miami, reaching the big leagues for the first time late in 2000. He would go on to hit .282/.318/.359 over 309 games in his seven-year career.

2000 — Drew Henson: Traded from the New York Yankees to the Cincinnati Reds with Jackson Melian, Brian Reith and Ed Yarnall for Mike Frank and Denny Neagle, July. Traded back to New York with Michael Coleman for Wily Mo Pena, March 2001.

Rankings (according to Baseball America) No. 100 — 1999 Preseason No. 24 — 2000 Preseason No. 14 — 2001 Preseason No. 9 — 2002 Preseason

Henson got a grand total of nine big league at-bats over two years for the Yankees before pursuing an NFL career.

2002 — Carlos Pena: Traded from the Texas Rangers to the Oakland A’s with Mike Venafro for Jason Hart, Gerald Laird, Ryan Ludwick and Mario Ramos, January.

Rankings (according to Baseball America) No. 11 — 2001 Preseason No. 5 — 2002 Preseason

Pena was traded again five months later in a three-team trade after struggling through 40 games for the A’s. He averaged 21 homers from 2003-05 in Detroit before being released and then had the best years of his 14-year career with Tampa Bay from 2007-10, when he averaged 36 homers and 102 RBIs.

2004 — Scott Kazmir: Traded from the New York Mets to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bartolome Fortunato and Victor Zambrano, July.

Rankings No. 8 — 2004 Preseason No. 4 — 2005 Preseason

Kazmir did finish ninth in the 2005 Rookie of the Year voting, but had a bit of an uneven career until really finding his groove in 2014 and becoming a key rotation piece for several teams in the subsequent years.

2005 — Andy Marte: Traded from the Atlanta Braves to the Boston Red Sox for Edgar Renteria and cash, December. Traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Cleveland Indians with Guillermo Mota, Kelly Shoppach, cash and PTBNL for Josh Bard, Coco Crisp and David Riske, January 2006.

Rankings No. 14 — 2004 Preseason No. 9 — 2005 Preseason No. 11 — 2006 Preseason

Perhaps the poster child for “can’t miss” prospects who did just that, Marte logged just over 850 big league at-bats with a .634 OPS.

2007 — Elvis Andrus and Jarrod Saltalamacchia: Traded from the Atlanta Braves to the Texas Rangers with Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Beau Jones for Ron Mahay and Mark Teixeira, July.

Rankings No. 50 — 2007 Preseason (Andrus) No. 38 — 2008 Preseason (Andrus) No. 21 — 2009 Preseason (Andrus) No. 17 — 2006 Preseason (Saltalamacchia) No. 32 — 2007 Preseason (Saltalamacchia)

Saltalamacchia was the higher-ranked prospect at the time of the trade, but it’s been Andrus, the AL Rookie of the Year Award runner-up in 2009, who has had the better career, highlighted by a pair of All-Star Game selections.

2007 — Cameron Maybin and Andrew Miller: Traded from the Detroit Tigers to the Florida Marlins with Dallas Trahern, Burke Badenhop, Frankie De La Cruz and Mike Rabelo for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, December.

Rankings No. 6 — 2007 Preseason (Maybin) No. 3 — 2008 Preseason …

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