Red Sox With No Cards: 2006

A lot of the players without cards in 2006 actually had decently long careers and some track record for success.  None of the players are what I would consider household names, but some of them may have been fan favorites for some teams.

MIKE BURNS

Burns played in parts of three Major League seasons with four different Major League teams.  He made it into 27 games in his rookie season of 2005 with the Astros when he was 26.  Burns started the 2006 season with the Reds.  He was traded to the Red Sox in August for a minor leaguer named Tim Bausher.  Burns made it into just seven games with the Red Sox, throwing 7.2 innings of 4.70 ERA ball.  He notched seven strikeouts against just a single walk.  It is a little surprising that he did not make it back to the Majors in 2007.  He spent the entire season in Pawtucket.  He joined the Pirates organization in 2008 then made it back to the Majors for the last time with the Brewers in 2009.  Burns does have a Pawtucket Red Sox card from 2007.

KEN HUCKABY

Prior to 2006, Huckaby's contribution to the Red Sox came from sidelining Derek Jeter for a couple of months at the beginning of the 2003 season when Jeter separated his shoulder sliding into the then-Blue Jays catcher.  Huckaby was mostly a backup, when he played in the Majors, which admittedly was not often.  He made it into 88 games for Toronto in 2002 but never more than 35 any other season.  Huckaby was signed by the Red Sox as catching depth before Spring Training in 2006 and spent most of the season in Pawtucket.  He made it into eight games with the Red Sox late in the season and had just one hit and an RBI.  It was the last time he appeared in the Majors.  Huckaby does have a Pawtucket Red Sox card.

WILLIE HARRIS

Harris was fast.  It was his primary skill.  He played for seven teams over the course of his career and managed to break through as a full-time player later in his career.  Harris had spent several seasons with the White Sox early in his career, including being a bench player for the 2005 World Champions.  He signed with the Red Sox as a free agent in January of 2006 and spent the first half of the season as an extra outfielder in Boston.  His numbers were not impressive.  He hit just .156/.250/.200.  He had two doubles and one RBI.  He did steal six bases though.  After the season, Harris signed a contract with the Braves and became a full-time player.

MIKE HOLTZ

Primarily a reliever with the Angels, Holtz had some decent years in the late 1990's/early 2000's.  Holtz was the main setup man in 1996-1997 before his ERA started to climb.  He missed out on the Angels' World Championship run though as he left as a free agent prior to the season.  After the 2002 season, Holtz stuck in the minors for a few seasons.  He re-emerged in the Majors with the Red Sox in 2006 after pitching well in Pawtucket, making it into just three games and pitching just 1.2 innings.  His ERA was an unsightly 16.20.  He had two strikeouts and four walks.  He was released by Boston in June and never played again.

JASON JOHNSON

Despite a very poor record, Jason Johnson was able to hang on in the Majors for 11 years.  He finished with a 56-100 record, mostly pitching for some bad teams in Baltimore and Detroit.  He was 8-15 in 2004 and 8-13 in 2005 with Detroit.  Johnson started the 2006 season with the Indians and was 3-8 with a 5.96 ERA when he was sold to the Red Sox in June.  He lasted just two months with the Red Sox, starting six games while going 0-4 with a 7.36 ERA.  He struck out 18 and walked 13 in 29.1 innings over those six games.  It was a time that Boston's staff was being decimated by injuries.  He was not the answer and was released in August.  He latched on with the Reds and improved somewhat.

CORKY MILLER

Miller was a career backup catcher, never playing in more than 39 games in the Major Leagues with any team.  He originally came up with the Reds and had been a top prospect.  But he never really got things going in the Major Leagues.  He played for Cincinatti for a few years then spent a season in Minnesota before joining the Red Sox organization in 2006.  He spent almost his entire season in Pawtucket and does have a card with the PawSox.  He played a single game with the Boston Red Sox on August 6.  He had four at-bats without a hit.  After the season he played a few more seasons as a backup catcher and returned to the Reds at one point.

DUSTAN MOHR

Mohr came to the Red Sox expecting to be the team's fourth outfielder in 2006.  He had been a decent player with the Twins and Giants from 2002 through 2004.  He had a career high 17 home runs for the Rockies in 2005, the season before he joined the Red Sox, so he came to Boston with a pretty decent track record.  But Boston did not really have room for Mohr and he did not hit well when he played.  Boston already had Trot Nixon, Coco Crisp, Wily Mo Pena, and Manny Ramirez in the outfield and Willie Harris offered the team speed as a backup.  Mohr played in just 21 games for the Red Sox and hit just .175/.233/.350.  He did hit two home runs and drove in three runs.  He played the next season for Tampa Bay and that was it for Mohr's Major League career.  Mohr also has a Pawtucket card.

Willie Harris played the most games with the Red Sox of any of the players in this post, but even he only played in 47 games.  None of the players really played well.  If I had to pick one player that I would have liked to see on a Boston Red Sox card, I would probably pick Harris, just because of the number of games he played.