Recently, a number of respected baseball media outlets have released their respective lists of the top number of prospects heading into the 2010 season.  These lists include Keith Law of espn.com's Top 100, Jonathan Mayo's collection of top prospects starting with Scouting the Sally's Top 30, Oriolesprospects.com Top 20, Propects Paradise's Top 30, Camden Crazies Top 25, Dave Barr's Hot Corner Top 20, Prospect Junkie's Top 20, The Cardinal Nation's Top 40, Seth Stohs from sethspeaks.net's Top 20, and Mayo's Top 50.

Obviously this all represents opinion, but to get a better idea of the overall feel of the group Baseball Rumor Mill averaged the Top 20 rankings from all of the lists to come up with an aggregate ranking of the Top 20 prospects heading into 2010. 

The rankings were tabulated only evaluating the Top 20 of each list and a point value was assigned to each rank.  #1 = 20 points, #2 = 19 points, so on down to #20 = 1 point.  If a player was not listed in the Top 20 a NR indication was given and no points were awarded.  The rankings are based on aggregate point totals, though we also did an evaluation of point totals after dropping the highest ranking and lowest ranking.  For instance, Desmond Jennings finished fifth overall in aggregate, but would be tied for 3rd with Buster Posey after dropping each player's highest and lowest ranking.

To view the raw data, click here.

Not surprisingly, Jason Heyward and Stephen Strasburg were significantly ahead of the field at the #1 and #2 spot, respectively.  There seems to be a considerable drop in consensus after either Dustin Ackley at #12 or Madison Bumgarner at #13.  Only ten players received Top 20 votes in all ten rankings.

Without further ado, the aggregate rankings

1. Jason Heyward, OF Atlanta
2. Stephen Strasburg, P Washington
3. Buster Posey, C San Francisco
4. Brian Matsuz, P Baltimore
5. Desmond Jennings, OF Tampa Bay
6. Carlos Santana, C Cleveland
7. Jesus Montero, C New York Yankees
8. Neftali Feliz, P Texas
9. Mike Stanton, OF Florida
10. Pedro Alvarez, 3B Pittsburgh
11. Justin Smoak, 1B Texas
12. Dustin Ackley, OF Seattle
13. Madison Bumgarner, P San Francisco
14. Aroldis Chapman, P Cincinnati
15. Domonic Brown, OF Philadelphia
16. Jeremy Hellickson, P Tampa Bay
17. Martin Perez, P Texas
18. Alcides Escobar, SS Brewers
19. Wade Davis, P Tampa Bay
20. Chris Carter, 1B Oakland

Less than a year after being the #1 draft pick, Strasburg rates as the #2 prospect in baseball

Plenty to talk about with Roy Halladay trade rumors.

• The Blue Jays offer to the Phillies for Halladay is JA Happ, Kyle Drabek and Dominic Brown.  Another source says the offer is Drabek, Michael Taylor, Jason Donald and Lou Marson while yet a third says the Phillies are considering this offer.  Either way, reports that Halladay will be traded to Philadelphia in the next 24 hours is premature.
• The Brewers are still negotiating for Halladay.  Danny Knobler of CBS Sports seems to think otherwise because they do not want to give up Alcides Escobar or Mat Gamel.
• The Dodgers still have a slight chance of trading for Roy.  The Jays are looking for two or three guys on the Dodgers ML roster.
• Jon Heyman of si.com feels the Blue Jays haul would be bigger if they take Happ instead of Drabek.  Sounds like a good plan to me: one (Happ) is a more proven commodity than the other (Drabek) and it's not like Happ is a stiff.
• The Reds are the latest entry to the Roy Halladay sweepstakes.  Seems unlikely that Roy would accept a trade to a team unlikely to make the playoffs.

The trading action is warming up today with the Red Sox acquiring Adam LaRoche and trading Julio Lugo for Chris Duncan, but Roy Halladay still dominated all of the headlines. Here's what's out there today.

• Feelings continue to mount that Halladay will not be traded because the Blue Jays are asking for so much writes Jayson Stark from espn.com. However, the Phillies, Brewers, Cardinals and Dodgers are still considered to be very interested.
• Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd does not believe Halladay is a fit for Colorado. I think almost everyone agrees.
• Jon Heyman's latest "tweet" indicates that the Brewers are players for Halladay and Manny Parra is one of the names being discussed. He feels Mat Gamel and/or Alcides Escobar would have to be in the deal as well. Even with both, I do not believe this is the kind of deal the Jays are looking for.
• The Phillies would prefer Halladay, but may have to settle on Cliff Lee because of the Jays asking price. This makes a lot more sense to me.

Let's take a look at Ken Rosenthal's latest column:

• The Brewers are not interested in trading Prince Fielder and hesitant to trade JJ Hardy or Alcides Escobar.
• The Braves still seem like the favorite to land Jake Peavy but it's possible that another NL team could incorporated a third team to steal Peavy.
• The Cubs are expected to spend most of their available payroll on pitching and that could make it difficult to sign an outfielder such as Bobby Abreu.
• Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes, Kerry Wood and Joe Beimel are relievers that interest the Mets.
• There is the possibility that the Cardinals could look to move either Ryan Ludwick or Rick Ankiel if Colby Rasmus is ready. 
• David Eckstein is willing to move to second base for 2009 in order to land a starting job.
• Rumors of the Phillies moving Shane Victorino (amongst others) for Matt Holliday are not likely.
• The Cardinals and Nationals are not in the running for AJ Burnett.
• Scott Olsen is likely to be available, but the Marlins probably will not shop him until the big free agent pitchers have signed.

Jon Heyman has a new article on si.com:

• Despite rumors that the Brewers would like to retain interim manager Dale Sveum, Heyman says that Sveum's status in Milwaukee is very tenuous.
• The Brewers denied rumors that they were trading Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy and a third player for Matt Cain.  Boy, NO ONE believes Brian Sabean when he says he's not trading Cain.  The Brewers had to deny this story, not the Giants.
• Instead of trading Hardy to make room for Alcides Escobar, the Brewers could move him to second base, as well.
• An unnamed GM said that the Mets will make a big run for Manny Ramirez.
• Another GM said that the Blue Jays contract extension offer to AJ Burnett would still not be enough to keep AJ in Toronto.
• The Mets feel that Luis Castillo, Aaron Heilman and Ryan Church would play much better outside of New York.  Does this mean they're trade bait?