Sayonara Taz

Junichi Tazawa had been the constant in the Red Sox bullpen for the last five seasons, give or take.  He was a career Red Sox reliever.  Until now, as he is set to sign a free agent contract with the Marlins.  Tazawa has had great strikeout-to-walk ratios throughout his career, but has struggled somewhat in the last couple of seasons.

After pitching in six games in his debut season in 2009, including the only four starts of his career, Tazawa underwent Tommy John surgery.  He came back strong, after a brief stint back with the Red Sox in 2011.  In 2012 he made it to Boston's bullpen to stay and had a terrific season.  He was 1-1 with a 1.43 ERA and struck out 45 while walking just five in 44 innings.  He also picked up his first save.  His WHIP was an extremely impressive 0.955.

The 2013 season saw Tazawa emerge as the team's primary setup man.  His ERA rose to 3.16 and his WHIP to 1.200, but he struck out 72 and only walked 12 in 68.1 innings.  Tazawa also saw his only postseason experience to date and appeared in 13 games.  He picked up a win in the ALCS against the Tigers and only gave up one earned run across his appearances while striking out six and walking one.

In 2014, Tazawa had his best full season.  He was 4-3 with a 2.86 ERA in 71 games.  He struck out 64 and walked 17 in 63 innings.  He struggled in 2015, going 2-7 with a 4.14 ERA but his strikeout-to-walk ratio improved from the prior season.  He spent a brief amount of time as the closer and notched three saves.  Finally, in 2016 he finished 3-2 with a 4.17 ERA.  He was not as reliable and ended up getting shut down for rest.

Junichi Tazawa has been one of the more underrated heroes of the Red Sox for the last several seasons.  He has been a major part of the team's bullpen for the last half decade but never really seemed to get the attention he deserved.  For his career with the Red Sox, Tazawa was 17-20 with a 3.58 ERA and four saves.  He has struck out 308 and walked just 71 in 312 innings.  Tazawa will be missed, though this was not unexpected.

Unknown Heroes: Totally Random Rookie Edition

Every once in awhile, a player gets called up from the minors that I immediately take a liking to, with no real rhyme or reason.  Sometimes that player is not even really all that good.  Yet I like them anyway, and I try hard to find cards of them, when they are available.  I won't be talking about any star players here.  Some of these guys were top prospects, but most were just depth options.  I may do more of these posts at some point, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are just five players that I really enjoyed watching despite their careers never really taking off.

DEVERN HANSACK

I have covered Hansack before.  The Nicaraguan pitcher had a long and winding path to the Major Leagues that saw him actually leave baseball for a few years.  He was seen by a Red Sox scout and moved quickly, finally making his Major League debut at 28 in 2006.  In his second game, he was in the midst of a no-hitter on the final day of the season, before rain ended the game early.  He made short stints in the next two seasons as well.  Hansack finished his Major League career 2-2 with a 3.70 ERA, striking out 18 and walking seven in 24.1 innings.  It wasn't much, but it was more than a lot of other players.  Hansack was an interesting story at the least.

RYAN LAVARNWAY

Ryan Lavarnway was smart.  He attended Yale University and was working towards a degree in Philosophy (one of my minors) when he was drafted by the Red Sox.  Lavarnway was actually one of Boston's top prospects at one point.  The catcher was much better at the plate than behind it and hit more than 20 home runs in a season three times in the minors.  Lavarnway was called up to the Majors in 2011 and had a somewhat successful stint, hitting two home runs in the second to last game of the season.  He had a longer shot in 2012, but did not hit well.  He came back again in 2013 and was a little better, but he was starting to run out of time to make an impact.  He started bouncing around after 2014 and did not play in the Majors in 2016.  His final numbers in Boston over 97 games were .201/.249/.315 with five home runs and 34 RBIs.

ANASTACIO MARTINEZ

My first Red Sox refractor that I pulled from a pack was Anastacio Martinez.  At one point, the Red Sox were trying to corner the market on pitchers named Martinez in the Majors and Minors.  Anastacio Martinez, another Dominican pitcher, signed as an international free agent in 1998 and had some electric stuff in the minors.  Martinez was traded to the Pirates in 2003, but was sent back less than two weeks later when Brandon Lyon's injury was discovered.  He pitched three games in the Pirates system.  Martinez finally made his Major League debut in 2004.  Now a reliever, Martinez was 2-1 with an 8.44 ERA.  He bounced around for several seasons after that, but left the Red Sox system after the 2005 season.

JERMAINE VAN BUREN 

Van Buren is the only player on this list that actually made his Major League debut with a team other than the Red Sox.  He played in six games for the Cubs in 2005.  The Red Sox purchased his contract from the Cubs in December of 2005.  He had been utilized primarily as a closer in the minors and saved 25 games for the Iowa Cubs in 2005 and had 16 saves for the Pawtucket Red Sox in 2006.  Van Buren pitched in ten games for the Boston Red Sox in 2006 and was 1-0, but with an 11.77 ERA.  He was not terribly impressive at the Major League level.  After the season, he was sold to the Washington Nationals.  He never made it back to the Majors.

ERIC WEDGE

Like Lavarnway, Eric Wedge was once a top prospect as a catcher.  He did not have as much power, but he was a more well-rounded catcher.  He made his Major League debut in 1991 and singled in his only at-bat.  The next season, he played in 27 games and hit five home runs and drove in 11 runs.  But Boston had a number of catchers, both at the Major and Minor League level.  Wedge was left unprotected in the expansion draft and was selected by the Rockies.  He did not play much for Colorado in their inaugural season and was back in Boston for two games in 1994.  Wedge has since gone on to have some success as a Major League manager. 

Stickers and More

This is going to be a long week.  I am in court everyday, sometimes multiple times (I have 10 hearings scheduled for Tuesday).  I most likely won't even have a chance to get my mail every day.  So it was good to start the week off with a couple of packages, even though there is nothing really exciting here.  A lot of these cards did come off of my Want List though, so there is that.  

There isn't anything really fun there, but there are cards of Hall of Famers Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, and Carlton Fisk.  The first four cards are all Topps Stickers, "cards" that I rarely pay much attention to honestly.  It does include new cards of Porcello, Betts, Ortiz, and Ramirez though.

Not the most exciting of maildays, but I love getting new cards anyway.  And especially when I get to eliminate stuff from my wantlist.

The Sophomore of the Year Award?

I came across this short-lived award when I was doing some research on the bizarre vote for the 1957 Rookie of the Year Award.  Let's look at two players that contended for the vote:

PLAYER A: .292/.323/.457, 15 home runs, 103 RBIs, 185 hits, 31 doubles, 82 runs, Gold Glove
PLAYER B: .297/.335/.381, 3 home runs, 39 RBIs, 128 hits, 21 doubles, 56 runs

So who would you vote for for Rookie of the Year?  I would think most people would take Player A.  That was Frank Malzone of the Red Sox.  Player B was Tony Kubek of the Yankees who won the Rookie of the Year.  Why?  Well I did some checking and it appears that the definition of a rookie changed during the season, and there is some evidence that the Yankees pushed for the change to disqualify Malzone.  Malzone had 136 plate appearances in the Majors prior to 1957, whereas Kubek had none.  It is important to note that under the current system, Malzone did not lose rookie status until the 1957 season.  So we had a bizarre situation in which the clearly superior choice was disqualified.

Well, in searching for information about this weird result, I found information about the Sophomore of the Year Award.  This award lasted from 1953-1962 and was given out by the Baseball Writers Association of America to honor the best second-year players.

Malzone did end up winning this award with his terrific 1957 season.  Jimmy Piersall also won the award in the first year it was given.  This was the season after he had the nervous breakdown that was the primary topic of his book Fear Strikes Out.  Piersall hit .272/.329/.354 with three home runs, 52 RBIs, and stole 11 bases while playing terrific defense.  Those were the only Red Sox to win the award.  Five future Hall of Famers won it (Al Kaline, Eddie Mathews, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda). 

The award was discontinued in 1963, probably because it was mostly unnecessary.  There is not much reason to give out so many awards, and making the distinction between rookies and second-year players, and pitchers, and overall players got to be a little too much.  It is just an interesting footnote that such an award once existed.

Failed Prospects Pt. 16: Will Middlebrooks

To call Will Middlebrooks a bust is probably a little harsh.  He did have a terrific rookie season with the Red Sox, though it was ultimately cut short by injuries, and of course he started late.  I really liked watching Will Middlebrooks, at least when he was hitting.  I was in attendance at a game in Kansas City in which Middlebrooks was the big hitting star.  He hit two home runs and a double.  Each of the home runs was down the line, though one was to left and the other to right.  That performance was hard to forget, even after Middlebrooks's strikeouts were piling up in other years.

Middlebrooks was picked in the fifth round of the 2007 Draft and rose to be Boston's top prospect a few years later.  He showed some big power in 2011, hitting 23 home runs across three levels in the minors and hit .285, though his OBP was pretty low, which was a harbinger of things to come from him.  The 2012 Red Sox were a mess.  Kevin Youkilis was the starting third-baseman but he was struggling and was not getting along with new manager Bobby Valentine.  Boston eventually called up Middlebrooks and Youkilis's days were numbered.  He was eventually traded to the White Sox and Middlebrooks was the new third-baseman.

He had a very good rookie season, hitting .288/.325/.509 with 15 home runs and 54 RBIs in 75 games.  He suffered a wrist injury that ended his season early.  It was clear he had some holes in his swing and was susceptible to striking out, but if he could cut down the strikeouts and increase the walks, he could have been a pretty decent player.  He definitely had power.  He was not a terrific defensive player, but he could get the job done.

After the season, Boston refused to part with Middlebrooks in trade.  He was expected to step in and be the starting third-baseman in 2013.  And he had some good games.  His power was definitely present and he hit three home runs in one game at Toronto.  For the season, he hit a career high 17 home runs, but only drove in 49 and his slash line was an unimpressive .227/.271/.425.  He eventually lost his job to rookie Xander Bogaerts and even spent some time in the minors.  Middlebrooks played in the postseason, but only picked up four hits, including two doubles, in 28 at-bats.  He did not play in the field after a bizarre play in which he was ruled to have interfered with Allen Craig at third base in the bottom of the 9th.  Craig was ruled to have scored the winning run.

The next season, Middlebrooks was again given the opportunity to start the season, though not as much was expected out of him and he was also not given as much opportunity to prove himself.  He ended up playing in just 63 games and he only managed to hit two home runs while hitting .191/.256/.265.  Pablo Sandoval was signed as a free agent after the 2014 season and it was clear Middlebrooks was on his way out.  Boston traded him for Ryan Hanigan, a backup catcher.  Just two seasons after Boston refused to part with him for anyone, Middlebrooks was traded for a backup catcher.

Middlebrooks played in 83 games for the Padres in 2015, but only managed a .212/.241/.361 line with nine home runs.  He was tried out at shortstop, but that was not a good idea.  In 2016, Middlebrooks played in just 10 games with the Brewers.  He was signed as a low-risk free agent by the Rangers earlier this offseason.

For his Red Sox career, Middlebrooks hit .237/.284/.411 with 34 home runs and 122 RBIs.  He is still just 27 years old, but he is running out of time to show that he can be a quality hitter.  The power is real, but he could never make enough contact to make use of it.

The Worst Red Sox Team of All Time Pt. 2: Ivy Andrews

Failure is often even more fascinating than success. I am definitely intrigued by the 1932 Boston Red Sox, the worst Red Sox team of all time. The team finished with a record of 43-111, for a winning percentage of .279 and very little went right.

Ivy Andrews was the only Red Sox pitcher to have a winning record in 1932.  That's right.  That is how bad the Red Sox were that season.  Andrews finished the season 8-6 and had the second-most wins on the team, as well as the second-lowest ERA.  Not bad for a rookie and it gave the Red Sox some hope for the future.  Hopes that were eventually dashed.

Andrews started his career with the Yankees (7 games in 1931) and was traded to the Red Sox early in the 1932 season in a deal that sent Danny MacFayden, one of the few good pitchers the Red Sox had, to the Yankees.  Hank Johnson was also acquired by the Red Sox in the deal.  Luckily it was a trade that ended up working out okay for the Red Sox.  MacFayden did not provide much for the Yankees and Andrews was decent enough in 1932 for the Red Sox.  The 25-year-old right-hander finished the season with a 3.81 ERA over 141.2 innings.  He struck out 30 while walking 53.  Andrews led the league in home runs per nine innings (0.216) and was ninth in WHIP (1.359).

The Red Sox believed enough in his rookie season that Andrews was named the Opening Day starting pitcher in 1933.  That season saw Andrews finish with a record of 7-13 with a 4.95 ERA.  His rate stats declined as well.  He ended up relieving as often as he started.  After the season, he was packaged along with Smead Jolley and sent to the Browns for Carl Reynolds, who would have a couple of decent seasons in Boston.  Andrews had some up-and-down seasons with the Browns and Indians before returning to the Yankees.

For his Red Sox career, Andrews was 15-19 with a 4.38 ERA.  He struck out 67 and walked 114 in 281.2 innings and had a WHIP of 1.473.  He pitched in 59 games, 36 of them as the starting pitcher.  His career was not particularly memorable, but Andrews is notable for being the only pitcher with a winning record on the worst Red Sox team of all time.

Koji Leaves and Rutledge Returns (I Had No Idea He was Gone)

The highest profile free agent Boston had this offseason recently signed a contract to join the Cubs.  Koji was one of the most fun players to watch in recent Red Sox history, due to his excitement after doing something good.  His energy and enthusiasm are infectious.

In a lot of ways, Koji was the player that most represented the Red Sox in 2013.  He was a low-risk, high-reward free agent signing who exceeded expectations.  He started the season as a middle reliever, but due to injuries to closers Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey and ineffectiveness of Junichi Tazawa, Uehara became the closer and had one of the greatest seasons of any Red Sox closer ever.  He ended up 4-1 with a 1.09 ERA and 21 saves.  He struck out 101 and walked just nine batters in 74.1 innings.  He ended up winning the ALCS MVP and was a big part of the World Series Championship, striking out Matt Carpenter to end the Series.

The next season, Uehara declined a little, but still made his first All Star team.  The Red Sox were not nearly as good, but Uehara was 6-5 with a 2.52 ERA and 26 saves.  He struck out 80 while walking eight in 64.1 innings.  2015 saw Koji decline more, but he was still 2-4 with a 2.23 ERA and 25 saves.  He suffered some injuries and was ineffective late in the season.

2016 saw Uehara became a setup man, but he did pick up seven saves.  For his Red Sox career, Koji was 14-13 with a 2.19 ERA and 79 saves.  He struck out 291 batters, while walking a mind-boggling 37 in 226 innings.  Uehara will go down as one of my absolute favorite relief pitchers of all time and one of the most fun pitchers to watch, period.  Good luck, Koji.  Cubs fans, enjoy.

In other news, the Rule 5 Draft occurred today.  While Boston did not pick up Luis Torrens from the Yankees (sorry Zippy Zappy), they did re-acquire utility infielder Josh Rutledge.  Which was weird, because I had no idea he was gone.  Apparently Colorado signed him after the season.  Rutledge is a right-handed hitter (versus the left-handed Brock Holt) who can actually swing a bat (unlike Deven Marrero).  Rutledge has been with Boston for parts of two seasons and has hit .276/.338/.358 with seven doubles and a home run in 123 at-bats.  He stands a decent chance of being a backup infielder for the Red Sox in 2017 along with Holt.  Though he would have to beat out Marco Hernandez for the job.

Boston lost two players in the Draft: Justin Haley and Aneury Tavarez.  Haley stands the best chance of sticking in the Majors as he pitched in 15 games in Pawtucket and looked to be on the verge of making it to the Majors.  I would expect Tavarez to come back.

Boston also added Junior Lake as a minor league free agent.  Lake last played a full season with the Cubs in 2014.  He has bounced between the Majors and Minors ever since, playing for three teams in the last two years.  This is mostly just an outfield depth move.

A Medallion from Nolan's Dugout

Here is a one-card mailday from Kyle of Nolan's Dugout.  He posted some Topps Debut Medallions as tradebait recently.  I had a bunch of his set wants so I made an offer for a trade for this awesome Hanley Ramirez Medallion.  Hanley Ramirez was a prospect that I collected a lot when he was coming up through the minor league system.  I found almost all of the Topps 205 mini variations, some autos, bat cards, and printing plates.  He made his Major League debut in late 2005 and played in just two games, had two at-bats and struck out both times.  After the season, he was traded to the Marlins in a deal that brought Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston.  He turned into a star with the Marlins, winning the Rookie of the Year in 2006, winning a batting title, and going to three All Star games, while being a 30/30 player.  He spent several years in Florida, then moved to Los Angeles, then returned to Boston.  He had a rough first season in Boston in 2015, but in 2016 he hit .286/.361/.505 with 30 home runs and 111 RBIs.

I am seeing a lot of parallels with Yoan Moncada who was just recently traded for Chris Sale.  And I am reminded of why I don't spend a lot of time chasing after prospects.  Hanley Ramirez was the first prospect that I really got attached to.  And it was a lesson.  I did not get that big into Yoan Moncada's stuff, and I am glad I did not.  Who knows?  Maybe Moncada will be back some day too.  Hanley was.

Thanks Kyle!

A&G Mini Buybacks

Not a ton to show off today.  Just a couple of A&G Mini Buybacks, both from 2008:

1.  Jed Lowrie.  Lowrie was a supplemental first round pick by the Red Sox in 2005.  He spent a few years with Boston, but injuries (and other things) kept derailing his career.  He had a very good year in 2010 when he hit .287/.381/.526 with nine home runs in 55 games.  But Lowrie was even better after being traded to the Astros for Mark Melancon.

2.  J.D. Drew.  I was a J.D. Drew defender.  He was a much better player than a lot of fans gave him credit for, and he was not the bust that people believed him to be.  His seasons in 2008 and 2009 were particularly good as he hit .279/.399/.521 with 43 home runs and 132 RBIs those two seasons.  He was the All Star Game MVP in 2008 and hit a huge grand slam home run in the 2007 ALCS.  Drew was also a terrific defensive right-fielder.

The Red Sox Were Busy Tuesday

So, we have to say goodbye to a number of players whose cards I have been accumulating in my Red Sox collection.  So that is where we will start.

Only two players with Major League experience were traded:

Travis Shaw has been with the Red Sox for two years.  He came up part way through the season in 2015 and helped solidify first base.  He showed he had some big power as he hit 13 home runs with a .487 slugging percentage in 63 games down the stretch.  In 2016, he was anointed the starting third-baseman and started the year off hot.  But he was freezing cold from June forward and ended the season with 16 home runs and a slash line of .242/.306/.421.  Shaw's hold on third base was somewhat tenuous going into 2017.  Pablo Sandoval is returning from injury and he has gotten into the best shape of his career.  Brock Holt is still out there as well.  So there was some concern about his place.  Well that has been answered.

Yoan Moncada was Boston's top prospect (or #2 depending on which source you check).  He was a huge international signing from Cuba.  He has had some huge numbers in the minors (.287/.395/.480, 23 home runs, 100 RBIs, 94 stolen bases in two seasons in the minors) and has been climbing the ladder to the Majors.  He made a brief appearance in Boston toward the end of the 2016 season, playing in eight games.  He had a double out of four hits, but struck out 12 times in 20 plate appearances.  Moncada was expected to start the 2017 season in Pawtucket and possibly contend for the third base job.  That will not happen now.

There were five other minor leaguers traded Tuesday, three of whom appear in my Red Sox collection:

Dubon had a breakthrough season in 2016.  He hit .323/.379/.461 with six home runs, 69 RBIs, and 30 stolen bases as a middle infielder.  He had an outside shot at making the Majors at some point in 2017, though it was far more likely that he would start at Pawtucket.

Michael Kopech had emerged as one of the top pitching prospects in the game.  He has the ability to hit over 100 mph on the radar gun and has had the stamina to remain a starting pitcher to this point in his career.  Kopech had an abbreviated season and pitched in just 12 games in 2016, but he was 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA and struck out 86 in 56.1 innings.  He blew away the competition in the Arizona Fall League.  Kopech looked to start the season in Double A in 2017.

Josh Pennington was just emerging as a prospect in 2016.  He was a 29th round pick in the 2014 draft and pitched to a 5-3 record with a 2.86 ERA.  He looks like a future relief pitcher.  He pitched in short-season A ball in 2016 and was likely headed to full-season A ball in 2017.

Finally, Luis Basabe and Victor Diaz were also traded.  I have no cards of Basabe, but he looked like an interesting outfield prospect.  He hit .264/.328/.452 with 12 home runs and 53 RBIs.  Diaz was 2-5 with a 3.88 ERA in Greenville.

Boston traded Shaw, Dubon, and Pennington to the Milwaukee Brewers for Tyler Thornburg.

Tyler Thornburg emerged as a top-flight setup man in 2016 and had a little bit of closing experience.  He ended up 8-5 with a 2.15 ERA and struck out 90 batters while walking 25 in 67 innings.  He picked up 13 saves.  Thornburg joins a bullpen with closer Craig Kimbrel and steps in as the primary setup man.  The bullpen has become a strength with Joe Kelly, Robbie Ross Jr., Heath Hembree, and Matt Barnes all coming back.

Boston signed Mitch Moreland as a free agent.

Moreland had a bit of a down year with the bat in 2016, but he has hit at least 20 home runs in three of the last four seasons.  He also won a Gold Glove for his work at first base.  Moreland likely becomes the Red Sox first-baseman, and can be counted on to replace the productivity of the traded Travis Shaw.  Moreland is a similar hitter, with a little bit more of a track record.  His signing likely pushes Hanley Ramirez into being the primary designated hitter, which is just fine.

Finally, Moncada, Kopech, Basabe, and Diaz were traded to the Chicago White Sox for Chris Sale.

What is there to say about Chris Sale?  The southpaw is one of the top pitchers in the league.  He has been an All Star every season since 2012 and will be just 28 next season.  Last season, he was 17-10 with a 3.34 ERA and 233 strikeouts.  He has finished in the Top 5 in the Cy Young vote in each of the last two seasons.  He joins a rotation already featuring the 2016 Cy Young Award Winner Rick Porcello and 2012 Cy Young Winner David Price.  The rotation could also feature up-and-comer Eduardo Rodriguez, or former All Stars Steven Wright, Drew Pomeranz, and Clay Buchholz.  It is likely that someone will be traded.  But they will potentially have the best starting rotation in the game, no matter who gets traded.  I have already identified the starting rotation as my primary focus in my collection in 2017.

All told, it hurts to trade Moncada, Dubon, and Kopech, and to a lesser extent, Shaw.  I am not a huge prospect collector, but I like the idea of Boston developing their own players.  Seeing them trade homegrown players stings, but that pitching staff is going to be tough and the bullpen should be a strength.  Moreland is not going to replace David Ortiz's production, but he should be decent.  I am excited for the season.  Can we just start now?

'Teks from Tek and More

I was rather surprised when I looked at the checklist for the then-upcoming Topps High Tek set.  My all-time favorite Red Sox player, a player who did not have many cards even when he played, much less after he retired, was in the set.  I am talking of course, about Jason Varitek.  As much as I collect Sandy Alomar Jr., my Jason Varitek collection is perhaps even more impressive (you can see most of it here, although I have added several more cards since this post that are not here).  I have said it before, I may have the greatest Jason Varitek collection of anyone.  And I do not think that I am being arrogant when I say that.  I spent several years after my graduation from law school, when I had virtually no bills and was single, almost solely collecting Jason Varitek cards.  I have multiple 1/1s, patches, autographs, buttons, MLB logo patches, printing plates, and even a bat barrel.  There are only a couple of cards that I can recall losing out on that I was not able to add later (2008 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini Wood was the biggest one).  This was at the height of his career.  And none of those cards have gone anywhere else.  I have more Jason Varitek cards than any other player in my Red Sox collection (I do have more Sandy Alomar Jr. cards but he actually has more cards, on account of Varitek not having any Topps cards until 2007).  More than Nomar Garciaparra.  More than Pedro Martinez.  More than David Ortiz.  More than Manny Ramirez.  So I was excited that Varitek appears to be getting cards again.  It did not take me long to add some.

Of course there are a couple of other cards to show off from the day's mail too:

1.  Adrian Gonzalez.  From my wantlist and the utterly bizarre Donruss Back to the Future relic set.  This set featured Red Sox relic cards of Gonzalez, Yoenis Cespedes, and Jon Lester.  I was disappointed with the brevity of Gonzalez's Red Sox career.  After years and years of hearing his name connected to being traded to the Red Sox, they finally had him in 2011.  He was good, but not quite what was expected.  Then, at the trading deadline of his second year in Boston, he was gone.  It was frustrating.

2-4.  And here are the Tek Variteks.  I have the Green Rainbow parallel, the base card, and the base autograph card.  I don't see myself going hardcore after all of the variations of this, but if I add several for reasonable prices, I will be perfectly happy.

5.  Steven Wright.  And my most recent single-player Red Sox focus checks in with the pink parallel of his All Star card.  I am curious to see how he does next year.  He should be given a spot.

Christian Vazquez In Action

Just a one-card mailday from Saturday.  But it was a pretty good one.  This is the action image variation of the Christian Vazquez card.  The regular version is just a profile shot with a bat over one shoulder.  Vazquez is a terrific defensive catcher, but his hitting has yet to come around.  Catching is a concern going into 2017.  As things currently stand, breakout player Sandy Leon will be the starter and Vazquez the backup.  But no one knows quite what to expect out of him.  He slumped badly down the stretch and he has never played anything close to as well as he did coming out of the minors last year.  Vazquez needs work on his hitting.  And of course Blake Swihart is still around.  I suspect by the end of the year, Swihart will be the starter with Vazquez as backup.

A Lot of Wantlist Hits

One very large package and one one-card package arrived in my mailbox Friday.  The large package was a big trade that I made that knocked off a ton of cards from my new Ultra Tradelist.  And a lot of those cards were vintage Topps cards, big plus.

But first, the higher-end cards:

1.  Xander Bogaerts.  This was the one-card package.  The X-Man is now six cards off the pace of both Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. to be the first to 100.  Bogaerts has been coming on strong lately, but he is at 91 whereas the other two are both at 97.

2.  Jimmy Piersall.  This was almost an afterthought to the huge trade below, but I am glad I held out to get this.  I love the old Red Sox logo and Piersall was an entertaining player and a terrific defensive outfielder.

3.  Manny Ramirez.  This is the white parallel.  Not technically on my wantlist, but I still needed it.

4.  Jermaine Van Buren.  Van Buren was one of those players that I really liked, somewhat irrationally.  His ERA was an unsightly 11.77 and he walked almost twice as many hitters as he struck out, but I still liked him.

5.  Jonathan Papelbon.  Boston's all-time saves leader with 219, far and away higher than #2 Bob Stanley.

6.  Jon Lester.  Lester was one of the greatest southpaws Boston has ever had.  I am reading the Terry Francona book right now and Francona thought of Lester as almost another son.  It's a shame his Red Sox career ended the way it did.  They should never have traded him, but they basically got Rick Porcello as a direct result of trading him, so it evened out.

7.  Don Zimmer/Team.  I used to try to identify everyone on each team card to figure into my player counts.  I don't do that anymore.  Too difficult.  But this one does count as a Zimmer card.

8.  Mike Torrez.  Unfortunately Torrez is remembered best for giving up the Bucky Dent home run in the one game playoff in 1978.  That's a shame because Torrez had some decent seasons with Boston.

9.  Jerry Remy.  Remy really should show up in one of the Topps Archives Fan Favorites sets.  Get on that Topps.

10.  Tom Poquette.  I was shocked that this is just my second Poquette card.  Granted, he doesn't have that many, but I have not gotten a Poquette card since the first one I got back in the second or third year I was collecting.

11.  Fred Lynn.  Lynn won the batting title in 1979, which was an incredible season, even better than the year he won the Rookie of the Year and MVP.  It is about time a Red Sox player won the batting title again.  Bill Mueller was the last one in 2003.  I'm thinking Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, or Xander Bogaerts are contenders.

12.  Butch Hobson.  Injuries basically ruined Hobson's career.  In his first season as a full-time player, he hit 30 home runs.  He had a ton of power but was washed up by 28.

13.  Joel Finch/Mike O'Berry/Chuck Rainey.  Ah Future Stars cards.  Joel Finch pitched in 15 games in the Majors and was 0-3 with a 4.87 ERA.  O'Berry was never more than a backup in seven seasons in the Majors, with six different teams.  Rainey came closest to being a star with a couple of 8-win seasons with the Red Sox and was 14-13 one year with the Cubs.  Yep, very prophetic Topps.

14.  Jim Dwyer.  Dwyer played for 18 years in the season but only appeared in more than 100 games in a season four times.

15.  Tom Burgmeier.  I did a post about Burgmeier recently.  He was an All Star in 1980 as Boston's closer.

16.  Jack Brohamer.  Brohamer was a backup infielder in the late 1970's.  And with this card, I am down to needing just two cards for the 1980 Topps team set.

17.  Don Zimmer.  I really liked these manager cards.  I also like getting cards of The Gerbil, even though he was not the best manager for the Red Sox and caused a lot of dissension which led to the losses of Bill Lee, Bernie Carbo, Ferguson Jenkins, and others.

18.  Jim Willoughby.  How is it possible to be 3-12 in relief when you have a 2.82 ERA as Willoughby did in 1976?

19.  Team Card.  I may consider doing something with the team cards and listing the players that appear in bubbles like on this card.

20.  Bob Montgomery.  I was not born yet when Montgomery was playing but I suspect I would have liked him as much as I liked Doug Mirabelli.  He was a similar player.  A backup catcher with some power.

21.  Bill Lee.  I need to track down the books he has written.  It looks like there are three.

22.  Dick Drago.  Drago was a pretty good reliever that had two stints with the Red Sox and an awesome last name.

23.  Denny Doyle.  He made a couple of critical errors in the 1975 World Series, but he was a pretty good hitter and solidified second base for Boston.  And with that card, I need five more 1978 Topps cards.

24.  Carl Yastrzemski.  I liked this All Star design.  I have had the Rico Petrocelli for quite some time.

25.  Lee Stange.  You can always tell when a player was new to a team because they would appear hatless on a Topps card.  But Stange pitched in 28 games for Boston the year before this card, granted he came in midseason, but you would think Topps could get a picture of him in a Red Sox uniform.

26.  Jose Santiago.  Boston's #2 starter in the Impossible Dream season.  Santiago's biggest moment was hitting a home run in his first World Series at-bat.  Dustin Pedroia later matched the feat.

27.  Mike Ryan.  Apparently there is a variation of this card, one which does not have a dot above the "i" in his signature.  This is the dot version.

28.  Joe Foy.  Airbrushed hat for some reason.  Foy never played for any team before Boston.

29.  Hank Fischer.  Fischer had some decent numbers in short work with Boston.  He was 3-5 with a 2.65 ERA and 44 strikeouts versus 19 walks in 57.2 innings.

30.  Galen Cisco.  I remember Cisco as the pitching coach for the Blue Jays in the early 1990's.  He had two stints as a pitcher for the Red Sox in the 1960's.

31.  Darrell Brandon.  Nicknamed "Bucky", Brandon was a talented pitcher who could never put things together.  He was 8-8 with a 3.31 ERA in his rookie season in 1966, but it was all downhill from there.

32.  Vic Wertz.  Wertz hit the famous fly ball that Willie Mays tracked down and caught over his shoulder in the World Series.  But he was a pretty good hitter.  His best year in Boston was 1960 when he hit .282 with 19 home runs and 103 RBIs.

33.  Mike Fornieles.  Fornieles was a pretty good reliever before relievers were crucial to a team's success.  His best year was 1960 when he was 10-5 with a 2.64 ERA.

34.  Jerry Casale.  He looked promising in his rookie season in 1959 when he was 13-8 with a 4.31 ERA.  He also hit three home runs.  But he never came close to those numbers again.  This is a frequent problem with Boston pitching.

35.  Pete Daley.  Boston's backup catcher to Sammy White in the late 1950's had some power, but could never unseat White, who was a good hitter and a great defensive catcher.

36.  Billy Klaus.  Klaus had a decent season in his first year with Boston, hitting .283 and walking more than he struck out.  He was a pretty decent, underrated player who finished second in the Rookie of the Year vote that year.

37.  Frank Sullivan.  The ace of the Red Sox staff in the late 1950's was a two-time All Star and led the league in wins and innings pitched in 1955.

So I am very close to the team set in 1980 and 1978, and made some big progress in 1967.  The cards from 1970, 1960, and 1958 helped, but I am still a ways away.

A PWE from the Dime Box

I sent some cards to Nick of the enormously entertaining Dime Boxes blog recently.  He returned the favor, even though there was no discussion of a trade, and sent some random Red Sox cards in a PWE, many of which I actually did not already have.  I am always appreciative of people sending cards.

But first, something interesting on the envelope:

That's right, a Ted Williams stamp.  That's the kind of attention to detail I love to see.  The envelope was packed with some very interesting cards.  The Jim Rice card actually came in a different package, but the rest were all from Nick:

I can't decide which of the cards is my favorite between the Wil Cordero and the Luis Rivera.  The Cordero is a parallel from the team-centric Score sets of 1997 and are fairly difficult to find.  The Rivera is from the 1990 Score/Pepsi Red Sox set.  I am getting close to completion on the 1991 set, but the 1990 set is harder to find.  Nick must have been paying attention at some point because I have talked a lot about needing those Score/Pepsi cards.  The other cards are parallels I still needed and a Starting Lineup card of the massively underrated Dwight Evans.  There were a few duplicates in the PWE but the majority were cards I needed.

Thanks Nick!

Ryan LaMarre, We Hardly Knew Ye

Ryan LaMarre is headed to the Angels.  LaMarre played very briefly for the Red Sox in 2016.  And by very briefly, I mean six games.  He had six plate appearances with no hits, though he walked once and scored.  More interesting, LaMarre actually pitched an inning.  He gave up two hits, but no runs.  He did have a good year in Pawtucket though, hitting .303/.369/.445.  Somehow, his very brief stint was enough to get him a card in Allen & Ginter, which I am thrilled about, but definitely surprised.

All-Time One-Year Wonder Team: Second Base

I'm going to do something a little different with the One-Year Wonder posts. I have decided to go position-by-position and see if I can determine who the best player at each position would be who only spent one year with the Red Sox. This requires a lot of time and research. I am not naming every single player who spent just one season with the Red Sox at each position, but just the better-known players. At the end of the post, I will pick the single best player for each position.

SECOND-BASE

FRANK LAPORTE - 1908

More of a rental than anything, LaPorte was traded to the Red Sox by the New York Highlanders as part of a three-team deal in which original Boston shortstop Freddy Parent was sent to the White Sox and Jake Stahl moved from Chicago to New York.  LaPorte had been a decent infielder with New York, playing a variety of positions.  He played just 62 games with Boston before being traded back to New York in August for Harry Niles.  LaPorte hit .237/.296/.282 with one single and three triples.  He drove in 15 and scored 14 times.  LaPorte would hit over .300 three times before his career was over.  One of those seasons was with Indianapolis of the Federal League when he also led the league in RBIs.

JOHNNY HODAPP - 1933

Hodapp had been a pretty good player with the Indians for several seasons and was just 27 in his sole season with the Red Sox, yet that was the end of his Major League career.  Hodapp was terrific in 1930, leading the league in hits and doubles and batting .354 with 121 RBIs.  Hodapp struggled with injuries in 1932 and was traded to Boston in a multi-player deal along with Bob Fothergill, Greg Mulleavy, and Bob Seeds for Ed Durham and Hal Rhyne.  He had an impressive comeback season, hitting .312/.365/.424 with three home runs, 27 doubles, and 54 RBIs.  Hodapp was an impressive contact hitter and only struck out 14 times while walking 33 times in 452 plate appearances.  After the season he was sold to the Cardinals in a transaction that brought Fritz Ostermueller to Boston.  But Hodapp never played in the Majors again.  Hodapp had suffered from knee injuries prior to coming to Boston, but those issues looked to be in the past during the 1933 season.  But it was not enough to keep him in the Majors.

BILL CISSELL - 1934

Johnny Hodapp's position was taken by another player who managed just one season with the Red Sox.  Oddly enough, the two were once traded for each other, with Hodapp going to Chicago and Cissell to the Indians.  Cissell was a step down from Hodapp but was still a decent enough player.  Previously a pretty good player with the White Sox in the late 1920's, Cissell was acquired in a trade with the Indians for Lloyd Brown.  He had been a shortstop for the White Sox, but was moved to second due to defensive deficiencies.  Cissell hit .267/.315/.346 with four home runs and 44 RBIs for the Red Sox in 1934 and stole 11 bases.  After the season, Cissell was sold to a minor league team.  He made it back to the Majors in 1937 with the Philadephia A's.

BOBBY AVILA - 1959

Mexican native Bobby Avila was the AL batting champ in 1954 and a three-time All Star with the Indians.  He was nearing the end of his career in 1959 when he played for three teams.  He started the season with the Baltimore Orioles then was placed on waivers when he was picked up by the Red Sox in May.  He spent two months with the Red Sox playing in 22 games and hitting just .244/.333/.444.  He did hit three home runs, but with just six RBIs.  Avila was placed on waivers again in July and picked up by the Milwaukee Braves.  1959 was Avila's last season in the Major Leagues.  

LUIS ALICEA - 1995

The switch-hitting Alicea was acquired in a trade with the Cardinals prior to the strike-shortened 1995 season.  All he cost was a couple of former prospects that would never play in the Major Leagues with St. Louis.  And Alicea put up a pretty decent season for the Red Sox and was one of the more underrated players to help the team win the AL East.  Alicea hit .270/.367/.375 with six home runs and 44 RBIs and scoring 64 times.  Alicea also stole 13 bases and walked more than he struck out.  He was a decent defensive second-baseman and was also one of the few players to perform well in the postseason, hitting .600 with a home run and a stolen base in the three postseason games Boston played.  He also homered from both sides of the plate in one game.  All of this was not enough to keep Alicea with Boston however.  After the team acquired Wil Cordero from Montreal, Alicea was likely headed for a bench role.  He was placed on waivers and re-acquired by the Cardinals.  He continued to play for several more seasons with the Cardinals, Angels, Rangers,and Royals and returned as a coach for the Red Sox in 2007.

MARK LEMKE - 1998

"Lemmer" was a favorite under-the-radar player of mine from his days with the Braves.  He was never really that great of a hitter, but he was a good defensive second-baseman and was a player who did the little things.  He spent his entire career with the Braves prior to being signed as a free agent by the Red Sox prior to the 1998 season.  But Lemke never really hit with the Red Sox, even less than he had with the Braves.  He played in just 31 games, hitting .187/.232/.231 with four doubles.  He continued to play good defense, not making a single error, but his season, and ultimately his career were cut short by a concussion in May.   

REY SANCHEZ - 2002

Sanchez was a longtime Cubs middle-infielder who also played with the Yankees, Giants, Royals, and Braves before coming to Boston in 2002.  Boston had been cursed with poor defense from the likes of Jose Offerman and Mike Lansing for several years and decided to go in a more defense-oriented direction.  It was a very good move as Sanchez made just four errors at second base all season and one as a shortstop.  Surprisingly, Sanchez was fairly decent at the plate, hitting .286, though it was an empty .286 as he did not have any power.  After the season, Sanchez was allowed to leave as a free agent and went on to play for the Mets, Mariners, Devil Rays, and then again with the Yankees.

TODD WALKER - 2003

Surprisingly, after having a decent experience with the glove-first Sanchez, Boston went back for a more offensive-minded second-baseman in 2003, acquiring Todd Walker in a deal with the Reds for minor leaguers Josh Thigpen and Tony Blanco.  Walker paid off from an offensive perspective, hitting .283/.333/.428 with 13 home runs and 38 doubles.  Eight players from the Red Sox drove in at least 85 runs, and Walker was one of them.  Walker was also on fire during the postseason and could have won the ALCS MVP if Boston had won it as he hit .370 with two home runs, a double, and a triple against the Yankees.  Walker was a free agent after the season and signed with the Cubs where he continued to produce.

TONY GRAFFANINO - 2005

The 2005 season can best be described as a giant hangover after the Red Sox finally won the World Series after 86 years.  A number of big producers from the 2004 season declined dramatically.  One of those was Mark Bellhorn who had a very good, underrated season.  But in 2005, he seemingly forgot how to hit entirely.  Boston eventually realized they needed a better second-baseman to stay in contention as production from the position was non-existent.  They traded with the Royals for Graffanino in July and released Bellhorn a month later.  Graffanino fit right in and batted .319/.355/.457 with four home runs and 20 RBIs down the stretch.  He was not great defensively though and made a critical error in the postseason.  Prior to the 2006 season with Mark Loretta taking over at second, Graffanino was exposed to waivers and was picked up by the Royals again.

MARK LORETTA - 2006

Somehow, Boston managed to trade a backup catcher for a solid, everyday second-baseman.  The Red Sox sent Doug Mirabelli to San Diego for Mark Loretta.  Loretta ended up starting the 2006 All Star game, beating out the Yankees' Robinson Cano.  At the end of the season, it was hard to imagine how that happened, but Loretta had a pretty good season.  He ended up hitting .285/.345/.361 with 33 doubles, 5 home runs, 75 runs scored, and 59 RBIs while making only four errors at second base all season.  It was a very solid season from the second-baseman.  But Loretta was only a stopgap as Dustin Pedroia was ready to take over by the end of the season.  So Loretta was allowed to leave as a free agent, joining the Astros.

THE BEST ONE-YEAR SECOND-BASEMAN

It was close.  Other players hit for higher batting averages (Hodapp), other players hit for more power (Walker), and other players played better defense (Sanchez), but Luis Alicea was the best all-around player.  It helps that Alicea leads all of the other players in WAR for his one season (2.3) and had one of the higher OPS scores (.740).  Alicea also performed very well in the postseason, which certainly helps his case.  I have mentioned before that I really liked Alicea in 1995, but that did not effect my decision.  I really thought as I was putting this together that I was going to go for Hodapp, but he was not good defensively.  Alicea wins it for being the best all-around player, playing very good defense, and playing well in the postseason.