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 Yoán 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 Neftalí 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 (Maybin)
No. 5 -- 2009 Preseason (Maybin)
No. 19 -- 2007 Preseason (Miller)
The toolsy Maybin has been traded five times in his career, most recently going from the Tigers to the Angels in November 2016. As for Miller, he struggled as a starter before finding his niche in the bullpen and becoming a truly elite reliever, culminating with his electric postseason with the Indians in 2016.
2010 -- Tyler Skaggs: Traded from the Los Angeles Angels to the Arizona Diamondbacks as PTBNL with Patrick Corbin, Rafael Rodriguez and Joe Sanders for Dan Haren, July. He went back to the Angels in a three-team deal in December 2013.
Rankings
No. 21 -- 2012 Preseason
No. 10 -- 2013 Preseason
Skaggs showed the stuff to become a frontline left-handed starter, but Tommy John surgery shelved him in 2014 and kept him out of action until July 2016.
2010 -- Justin Smoak: Traded from the Texas Rangers to the Seattle Mariners with Matt Lawson, Blake Beavan and Josh Lueke for Cliff Lee and Mark Lowe, July.
Rankings
No. 9 -- 2010 Preseason
The 2008 first-round pick drew early comparisons to Mark Teixeira, but the switch-hitting first baseman has never been a consistent run-producer, with a career .700 OPS.
2011 -- Jarrod Parker: Traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Oakland A's with Ryan Cook and Collin Cowgill for Craig Breslow, Trevor Cahill and cash, December.
Rankings
No. 19 -- 2009 Preseason
No. 21 -- 2010 Preseason
No. 29 -- 2011 Preseason
No. 26 -- 2012 Preseason
When healthy, Parker has shown glimpses of being the frontline starter many saw in him when he was a first-round pick in 2007, but two Tommy John surgeries followed by a third elbow injury have kept him off the mound since 2013.
2012 -- Jesus Montero: Traded from the New York Yankees to the Seattle Mariners with Hector Noesi for Jose Campos and Michael Pineda, January.
Rankings
No. 40 -- 2009 Preseason
No. 19 -- 2010 Preseason
No. 9 -- 2011 Preseason
No. 12 -- 2012 Preseason
Montero started out as an offensive-minded catching phenom, then moved to first base permanently in 2014 when his defense never improved, all the while posting a .693 OPS in the big leagues. Now 27, he spent all of 2016 in Toronto's system at Triple-A Buffalo.
2012 -- Wil Myers: Traded from the Kansas City Royals to the Tampa Bay Rays with Patrick Leonard, Mike Montgomery and Jake Odorizzi for Wade Davis, James Shields and PTBNL, December.
Rankings
No. 33 -- 2010 Preseason
No. 16 -- 2011 Preseason
No. 19 -- 2012 Preseason
No. 4 -- 2013 Preseason
Things started out well for Myers as he won American League Rookie of the Year honors in 2013, but he struggled to stay healthy the following year, prompting the Rays to deal him to San Diego during the offseason. After another injury-plagued campaign in 2015, Myers was named to his first All-Star Game this season, while playing in a career-high 157 games.
2012 -- Noah Syndergaard: Traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the New York Mets with Wuilmer Becerra, John Buck and Travis d'Arnaud for R.A. Dickey, Mike Nickeas and Josh Thole, December.
Rankings
No. 95 -- 2012 Preseason
No. 29 -- 2013 Preseason
No. 11 -- 2014 Preseason
No. 11 -- 2015 Preseason
Syndergaard rose to elite prospect status as a Met, then helped fortify the big league club's young and exciting rotation in 2015, making four postseason appearances. The 24-year-old righty built on that success in 2016, when he finished third in the NL in ERA (2.60) and fourth in strikeouts (218) en route to an eighth-place finish in the Cy Young Award voting.
2012 -- Trevor Bauer: Traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Cleveland Indians as part of a three-team trade with the Cincinnati Reds with Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw. Cincinnati sent Didi Gregorius to Arizona and sent Drew Stubbs to Cleveland, which sent Lars Anderson and Tony Sipp to Arizona; Shin-Soo Choo, Jason Donald and cash to Cincinnati, December.
Rankings
No. 9 -- 2012 Preseason
No. 17 -- 2013 Preseason
No. 73 -- 2014 Preseason
The former 2011 No. 3 overall Draft pick has been a part of the Indians' rotation the past two years, though struggles with command have kept him from being consistently effective. He did make strides in 2016, though, all the while providing the AL champion Indians with key rotation depth in the wake of injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar.
2014 -- Addison Russell: Traded from the Oakland A's to the Chicago Cubs with Billy McKinney, Dan Straily and cash for Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija, July.
Rankings
No. 48 -- 2013 Preseason
No. 12 -- 2014 Preseason
No. 5 -- 2015 Preseason
After a hamstring injury cut Russell's postseason short in 2015, the 22-year-old showed what he could do in full in '16, when he was named a starter for the NL All-Stars and posted a .738 OPS with 21 home runs and 95 RBIs for the World Series champions.
2015 -- Daniel Norris: Traded from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Detroit Tigers with Jairo Labourt and Matt Boyd for David Price, July.
Rankings
No. 18 -- 2015 Preseason
Norris has been more effective in the big leagues since going to the Tigers, although lower back and oblique injuries limited the 23-year-old southpaw to just 69 1/3 innings and 13 starts in 2016.
2015 -- Dansby Swanson: Traded from the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Atlanta Braves with Aaron Blair and Ender Inciarte for Shelby Miller and Gabe Speier, December.
Rankings
No. 8 -- 2016 Preseason
The Diamondbacks' decision to move Swanson last offseason was one of the more criticized deals in recent memory, as he became the first No. 1 overall Draft pick to be traded before reaching the Majors and the first ever to be dealt the year he was drafted. After spending much of 2016 in Double-A, Swanson hit .302/.361/.442 with 13 steals in 38 games down the stretch as the Braves' everyday shortstop.
2015 -- Mark Appel: Traded from the Houston Astros to the Philadelphia Phillies with Harold Arauz, Tom Eshelman, Brett Oberholtzer and Vincent Velasquez for Jonathan Arauz and Ken Giles, December.
Rankings
No. 17 -- 2014 Preseason
No. 30 -- 2015 Preseason
No. 70 -- 2016 Preseason
Appel, 25, failed to live up to expectations after Houston made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2013, and then continued to struggle this season at Triple-A before surgery to remove bone spurs from his right elbow prematurely ended his campaign in late June.
2016 -- Gleyber Torres: Traded from the Chicago Cubs to the New York Yankees with Rashad Crawford, Billy McKinney and Adam Warren for Aroldis Chapman, July.
Rankings
No. 28 -- 2016 Preseason
The Cubs' abundance of young big league hitters as well their need for a lockdown closer led to Torres' inclusion in the Trade Deadline blockbuster for Chapman. Less than four months later, the 19-year-old shortstop became the Arizona Fall League's youngest MVP and batting champion.
2016 -- Clint Frazier: Traded from theCleveland Indians to the New York Yankees with J.P. Feyereisen, Ben Heller and Justus Sheffield for Andrew Miller, July.
Rankings
No. 48 -- 2014 Preseason
No. 53 -- 2015 Preseason
No. 27 -- 2016 Preseason
Selected fifth overall in the 2013 Draft, Frazier, 22, seemed destined to become a fixture in the Indians' outfield in the coming years before they used him to land Miller at the 2016 Trade Deadline.
2016 -- Lewis Brinson: Traded from the Texas Rangers to the Milwaukee Brewers with Luis Ortiz and PTBNL for Jeremy Jeffress and Jonathan Lucroy, August.
Rankings
No. 16 -- 2016 Preseason
Another Trade Deadline acquisition, the ultra toolsy Brinson made a strong case for a September callup by hitting .382/.387/.618 over 23 games in Triple-A following the trade.
2016 -- Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López: Traded from the Washington Nationals to the Chicago White Sox with Dane Dunning for Adam Eaton, December.
Rankings
No. 3 -- 2016 preseason (Giolito)
No. 38 -- 2016 postseason (Lopez)
The Nationals dealt three of their top six prospects, including two in the Top 50 overall, to the White Sox as they looked to solidify their outfield for 2017. Both Giolito and Lopez made their Major League debuts in 2016 with varying degrees of success. Giolito posted a 6.75 ERA in six games (four starts) and Lopez went 5-3 with a 4.91 ERA in 11 games (six starts).