My Favorite Card of 2016

It is getting close to the end of the year, so I decided to enter the Eamus Catuli contest and show off my favorite card of the year.

This is the card that kicked off a new mini player collection.  Throughout the years there have been a number of players that I have collected within my Red Sox collection.  Jason Varitek, Felix Doubront, and Jackie Bradley Jr. have been a few of these, but this year I started in on Steven Wright.  The knuckleballer had a breakthrough season, being named to the All Star team in his first full season in the Majors.  Even though Wright has been in the Majors off an on since 2013, he had not had a card released showing him with the Boston Red Sox until this card released from the Topps Now set.  He did pop up in a few late-season sets, but this card was the very first Red Sox card for Wright.

The Topps Now set is a very interesting one.  The idea was to take advantage of recent news and events, and even though they carried things too far at times and were a little expensive, it was a nice way to keep up with current events.  This card celebrates Wright's first career shutout, at the expense of the Dodgers.

Even though I have added a number of other Steven Wright cards since this one, this is the card that started everything.  And since it kicked off a new mini player collection, I think this is an easy choice for my Favorite Card of 2016.

Red Sox Take 3 of 4 from Mariners

The West Coast road trip continued this week in the Pacific Northwest.  It was a hard-fought series featuring several rallies.

07/08:  Mariners 11 Red Sox 4 (54-37)
Felix Hernandez shut down the Red Sox offense and Jon Lester struggled yet again.  The rest of the bullpen did not really help anything out with Alex Wilson and Jose De La Torre each giving up three runs.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

MIKE NAPOLI:  1 for 4, Double, Run, RBI.

07/09:  Red Sox 11 (55-37) Mariners 8
Boston hit five home runs and Craig Breslow picked up the win in this game that saw the Red Sox come back from a deficit of 5-1 at one point.  David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Shane Victorino each homered.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DAVID ORTIZ:  4 for 5, 2 doubles, home run, RBI, 3 runs.

07/10:  Red Sox 11 (56-37) Mariners 4
Felix Doubront continued his hot streak and Boston rolled in this one.  Brandon Workman made his Major League debut, pitching two innings with three runs and four strikeouts.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

DAVID ORTIZ:  2 for 3, home run, double, 2 runs, 3 RBIs.

07/11:  Red Sox 8 (57-37) Mariners 7
Boston won in the tenth on an RBI single from Daniel Nava.  Knuckleballer Steven Wright got his first Major League win and Jacoby Ellsbury, Jose Iglesias, and Brock Holt each drove in two runs.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

NO CARD YET

STEVEN WRIGHT:  5.2 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, Win.

Wheeling and Dealing

Boston was not terribly active at last week's trading deadline, but given their record that was probably for the best.  They did make a couple of small moves leading up to the deadline and then made one more move today.

JOSE DE LA TORRE
Boston traded Brent Lillibridge to the Indians for De La Torre.  Lillibridge was acquired in the Youkilis trade but was designated for assignment after not playing well for a few games.  De La Torre is a middle reliever in AAA who has put up some decent numbers this year, but at 26, does not have an especially bright future.  He will probably serve as organizational depth and get a call-up occasionally.

CRAIG BRESLOW
The biggest deadline deal for the Red Sox was sending Matt Albers and Scott Podsednik to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Craig Breslow.  Breslow is a left-handed reliever who previously had a stint with the Red Sox back in 2006.  Breslow allows the Red Sox to move Franklin Morales into the rotation permanently.

STEVEN WRIGHT
Lars Anderson was sent to the Indians to get 27 year-old AA knuckleballer Steven Wright.  Wright has put up decent numbers this year but is old for the league.  He will also likely serve as organizational depth.

DANNY VALENCIA
Today, the Red Sox traded Rookie Leaguer Jeremias Pineda for third baseman Danny Valencia.  I think this likely means the end of Nick Punto in Boston.  Valencia has a lot of power, but not much else.  Pineda is 21 and still in the Rookie League, so he likely does not have a lot of potential despite decent numbers.