When Cliff Lee was traded from Philadelphia to Seattle last December, the Mariners didn’t send an All-Star to Citizens Bank Park in return. They didn’t even send a fellow ace with a big contract or a 30-30 type bat. Instead they moved three prospects, including Phillippe Aumont, a first-round pick of the 2007 draft who had not played above double-A.
A similar story happened days later when Kyle Drabek was sent from Philly to Toronto in the Roy Halladay deal, and also the year before when Carlos Santana was sent to the Dodgers in exchange for Casey Blake and cash. Drabek threw the first nine-inning no hitter for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats last week, and Santana already has five home runs and a .297 batting average through 23 games behind the plate in LA.
It is guys like Aumont, Drabek, and Santana who often make or break these big trades, but they’re very much always on the undercard when they deserve a much higher billing.
Here are10 more prospects who could be on the move as the trade deadline approaches, and it’s likely that all of them would be an afterthought to most casual fans at the expense of the stud in the deal.