Is it Time for a New Mini Player Collection?

Over the years my collection has fostered a number of mini-player collections, and of course one very large player collection.  I am not referring to my Sandy Alomar Jr. collection, that is wholly apart from my Red Sox collection.  My big player collection is my Jason Varitek collection and that one is still a priority.  However, many short-term mini player collections have risen over the years, and despite the fact that most of the players are not high priorities any more, I still add them whenever I can.  The subjects of those collections have been varied and included prospects, role players, and the occasional lesser star.  They do not often take the form of big-time stars simply because I already get a lot of those types of players.  

Some of the more noteworthy mini player collections, those that I was fully cognizant were becoming mini player collections, have been Carlos Quintana, Hanley Ramirez (when he was a prospect), Ryan Lavarnway, Felix Doubront, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Steven Wright.  Most of these players had a very short period of time in the spotlight.  Jason Varitek of course was a minor star during his time in Boston.  Quintana was one of my favorite players as a kid and was a regular for two seasons.  Ramirez was a top prospect who was traded away.  Lavarnway and Doubront both developed in the Red Sox system and had some decent moments but never truly developed into regular players, though Doubront came pretty close.  Bradley was a fringe Major Leaguer at the time.  Wright actually made it to the All Star team, but was derailed by injuries.

It has been a couple of years since I had a mini player collection and the urge has arisen again.  The focus this time may just be Tzu-Wei Lin, a player I really enjoyed watching in his brief time with the Red Sox.  He is a decent contact hitter and an exceptional fielder and seems to have a future as a Brock Holt-like super utility player.  Lin does not have a ton of cards out there, which makes things somewhat easy, and he is not expected to be a star, so cards should be somewhat inexpensive.

And so, we begin, though I have sort of picked up a few previous to this one, with this card, the subject of a recent trade that I felt very good about:

This is Lin's 2018 Finest Autograph card and is my first autograph of him.  This is just my sixth Lin card so far.  Lin had a successful season with Boston last year but has had some difficulty this year breaking in.  He has been playing quite well in the minors though and if Boston is looking to save some money next season by relying on organizational depth for bench roles, Lin could easily step in for Nunez or Holt, and he will be just 25 next season.

So if anyone has any Tzu-Wei Lin cards (2013 Bowman Chrome, late 2017 and 2018 sets), I am on the lookout for any I do not already own.  This is all I have so far (updated through August 19, there will be more in upcoming posts):
2013 Bowman Chrome Prospects
2013 Bowman Chrome Prospects Green Refractor
2017 Panini Chronicles Gold
2018 Bowman Talent Pipeline
2018 Finest Autographs
2018 Stadium Club Red Foil
2018 Topps Allen & Ginter World Talent
2018 Topps Big League
2018 Topps Gypsy Queen Missing Blackplate
2018 Topps Inception Purple
2018 Topps Tier One Break Out Autographs

And I have these coming:
2013 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor
2013 Bowman Chrome Blue Wave Refractor
2013 Bowman Chrome Mini
2017 Panini Chronicles Green
2018 Stadium Club Autographs
2018 Stadium Club Black & White Orange Foil
2018 Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Mini Autographs
2018 Topps Gypsy Queen Indigo
2018 Topps Gypsy Queen Logo Swap