A lot of the following scans are trades from TCDB, along with some Ebay buys. These all came in around the same period of time, and most of them include cards of Ceddanne Rafaela. I am not sure of the status of my focus on him. He is becoming one of the bigger stars on the team, and his stuff is becoming more expensive. I will keep going for now, but we will see what happens.
Up first is a trade:
1. Bronson Arroyo. It is so cool when companies include cards of retired players like this. Arroyo was not a big star and he is certainly not as well-known for his time with the Red Sox. He was pretty good for the Red Sox in 2004 and 2005. He was then traded to the Reds for Wily Mo Pena, which is a trade that worked out much better for Cincinnati than Boston.
2. Wilyer Abreu. Abreu is finally starting to do a bit better in my collection lately. He is still somewhat underrepresented for as big of a player as he is for this team.
3. Aroldis Chapman. I didn't love it when Boston signed Chapman, but he has won me over with his great performance since joining the Red Sox.
4. Ceddanne Rafaela. Rafaela has been breaking out this season, making the All Star team for the first time and carrying a batting average around .280 and an OPS over .750. He is also playing his usual great defense, hitting for some pop and stealing bases.
5. Ceddanne Rafaela. Card number two.
6. Corey Kluber. The Klubot was a disaster in Boston. The two-time Cy Young winner started on Opening Day in 2023, but had a 7.04 ERA in 15 games with the Red Sox. About the best thing that could be said about his stint in Boston was that he notched the first (and only) save of his career.
Here is card number three of Rafaela in this post. Several more to come.
The next two scans are from the same trade:
1. Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez was the first real player I followed from his time as a minor leaguer. I grabbed a bunch of his cards during his rise through the minor leagues. Then he made it to the Major Leagues in 2005, playing in just two games, then he was traded to the Marlins in the deal for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell. And that's why I don't invest heavily in prospects anymore. He did come back to Boston and had a bad year in 2015, a great year in 2016, an okay year in 2017 and was released partway through 2018. There's some concerning rumors about what happened that led to that.
2. J.D. Martinez. I still get offered a ton of Martinez cards all the time in trades on TCDB.
3. Connor Seabold. He looks like a right-handed, slightly more svelte Payton Tolle here. Seabold seemed like the big get when Boston traded Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree to the Phillies in 2020, but it ended up being Nick Pivetta. Seabold was not good in Boston.
4. J.D. Martinez. See?
5. Masataka Yoshida. Yoshida has played well limited opportunities with the Red Sox this season. I don't know how much longer he will be in Boston though.
6. David Hamilton. I liked Hamilton, particularly in 2024 when he stole 33 bases. He was part of the package sent to the Brewers along with Kyle Harrison for Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler, each of whom has been producing for Boston lately.
7. Rafael Devers. I expect that he will be offered a lot in upcoming TCDB trades. I remember turning one down that featured 15 Devers cards. I don't mind getting more cards of him, but that one seemed excessive.
8. Garrett Crochet. The amazing thing about the Red Sox recent success is that they are doing it without Crochet. He has been on the shelf since May.
9. Garrett Crochet.
10. Dustin May. The acquisition of May was not a good trade by the Red Sox. Most of their trades since have been fairly decent, but this one was bad.
11. Marcelo Mayer. Mayer has not played well in his opportunities at the big league level. That being said, he was the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft and he is still just 23. I think he deserves more time before deciding he is a bust. I also do not want to see him get traded yet.
12. Ceddanne Rafaela. Card number four.
1. Ceddanne Rafaela. Card number five.
2. Ceddanne Rafaela. Card number six.
1. Justin Slaten. Slaten has been another remarkable discovery through the Rule 5 Draft. He was drafted by the Mets in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft, but immediately traded to the Red Sox and has been very impressive, becoming a weapon at the back end of the bullpen.
2. Dick Gernert. Unfortunately vintage cards are hard to come by in TCDB trades. Gernert was a good-hitting first-baseman for the Red Sox in the 1950's. He hit 101 home runs with the Red Sox and had a .788 OPS.
3. Ryan Weber. Weber was a journeyman pitcher who played with the Braves, Mariners, Rays, Brewers and Yankees, but who had his most success with the Red Sox, though that's not really saying a lot.
Card number seven.
1. Ceddanne Rafaela. Card number eight.
2. Ceddanne Rafaela. Card number nine.
3. Wilyer Abreu. My second Abreu in this post.
4. Ceddanne Rafaela. Card number ten.
5. Ceddanne Rafaela. Card number eleven. Yes, this counts as a Rafaela card. That's him coming to the plate after a walkoff.
6. Aroldis Chapman. My second card of him in this post. This is naming him as the reliever on the All Topps Team.
1. Ceddanne Rafaela. Card number 12. This card was supposed to part of the trade made up by the below two cards, but the wrong one was sent and I bought this one.
2. Carl Yastrzemski. I like this card a lot, plus it has Yaz in the mid- to late-70's uniforms with the red hats.
3. Jhostynxon Garcia. I was disappointed when Garcia was traded, but understood why it happened. The outfield was full. Unfortunately, the Major League pitchers acquired in the deal have been injured for most of the season. Tyler Samaniego has been very good while Johan Oviedo has struggled.
And closing things off with a very garish-looking card number 13.
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