A Couple Rafaelas and Some Minis

Last Friday night reminded me why the Platinum Glove is probably the most irrelevant award in the sport.  And yes, I am mostly pissed because Ceddanne Rafaela did not win it.  But what makes it irrelevant is that it is purportedly an award for the best defensive player in the game, but it is determined entirely by a fan vote among the Gold Glove winners.  The Red Sox this year had THREE Gold Glove winners, including Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu and Caleb Durbin.  I said to someone on Twitter (or X or whatever) after the Gold Glove winners were announced that Red Sox fans needed to coordinate and pick a player or the votes would get split and something stupid like Cody Bellinger winning it would happen.  Guess who won?  Yep, Bellinger.  Now, Bellinger had a great year, but he plays a less-demanding position than Rafaela and his numbers are still not as good.  But Rafaela probably lost a lot of votes to teammate Abreu.  Whatever.  They need to overhaul that award if they want people to take it seriously. 

Here is the man himself on a couple of cards.  I keep getting the wrong card whenever I order the one on the left.  I got it right this time.  I expect him to get a lot more cards made next year because he had a great season, even at the plate, and was an All Star.  Boston needs to hold on to Rafaela.  I think even Abreu could be enticing in a trade package, though I am not anxious to move him, but I would much rather the Red Sox move him than Rafaela.  Besides, Rafaela just turned 26, he could be entering his prime.  He just needs to learn to be more selective at the plate, and during the summer he was doing really well at that.  

Up next is a trade that was four minis from A&G for four minis from A&G:

1.  Ceddanne Rafaela.  This wasn't originally in the trade offer.  It was originally a Marcelo Mayer card, but since he is no longer with the team and the other party had this Rafaela that I needed, it was a pretty easy decision to make a move on my part.

2.  David Ortiz.  This is the chrome parallel.  I sent a chrome George Brett, so HOFer for HOFer is a pretty good exchange.

3.  David Ortiz.

4.  Wade Boggs.  My current favorite player and my first favorite player came in the same package.  Pretty cool synchronicity. 

Topps Update Hobby Box and a Panini Prizm Blaster

Topps Update is one of my favorite releases every year because that's the set where a lot of obscure players show up.  In past years, the list of rare players in my collection that showed up in Topps Update for the first time in Red Sox cards included: John Olerud, Kevin Jarvis, Carlos Pena, David Aardsma, Kevin Cash, Nick Green, Casey Kotchman, Ramon Ramirez, Bill Hall, Darnell McDonald, Eric Patterson, Bobby Jenks, Alfredo Aceves, Matt Albers, James Loney, Franklin Morales, Mike Carp, Matt Thornton, Jonathan Herrera, Kelly Johnson, Edward Mujica, Jean Machi, Alexi Ogando, Carlos Peguero, Josh Rutledge, Aaron Hill, Brad Ziegler, Doug Fister, Ben Taylor, Hector Velazquez, Kyle Martin, Marcus Walden, Mike Shawaryn, Josh Taylor, Ryan Weber, Adam Ottavino, Garrett Richards, Matt Strahm, Richard Bleier, Narciso Crook, Caleb Hamilton, Chris Martin, Justin Slaten, Luis Guerrero and Hunter Dobbins.  So I was excited to pick up a hobby box, particularly after seeing some of the names that showed up on the checklist. 

1.  Jake Bennett.  The acquisition of Bennett in the offseason was met with some concern.  The Red Sox sent fireballing reliever Luis Perales to the Nationals for Bennett.  Bennett was not going to be on the 40 man roster, so this was a way to make some room.  It was kind of surprising then that he made his Major League debut this season, and even more surprising that he had a decent year.  He finished the season 9-7 with a 3.65 ERA.  I think there is a good chance that he could be used as trade bait to get a big bat this offseason, obviously not the main piece, but a good, controllable lefty starter is a valuable commodity.

2.  Sonny Gray.  If this does end up being Gray's only year in Boston, he will certainly dethrone Hideo Nomo as my All-Time One-Year Wonder for right-handed starters.  He will be in the Cy Young conversation and had a record of 18-5 (leading the league in wins) with a 2.72 ERA and 149 strikeouts versus 46 walks in 169 innings pitched.

3.  Jake Bennett.

4.  Alec Gamboa.  Here we go, this is what I was talking about.  Gamboa was originally drafted by the Dodgers in 2019 and never made the Majors with them.  He was a minor league free agent that Boston brought in and then he was getting outs in meaningful games down the stretch and even appeared in the postseason.  Gamboa had a 1.91 ERA in 33 innings and notched a save.

5.  Garrett Whitlock.  Whitlock is easily the best player Boston ever picked up in the Rule 5 Draft, and the fact he was taken from the Yankees is icing on the cake.  Whitlock has been in Boston for six years now and has a 32-16 record, a 2.93 ERA and 402 strikeouts in 366 innings with 14 saves.  He had one of his best years in 2026, going 7-2 with a 1.72 ERA in 52.1 innings.

6.  Ryan Watson.  Speaking of the Rule 5 Draft, Watson was taken by the A's in last year's draft and then traded to the Red Sox.  He pitched in 35 games with the Red Sox and had a 4.53 ERA in 55.2 innings with 43 strikeouts and 19 walks.  He picked up a save.  The Red Sox released him and he caught on with the Angels, so this is going to be a player unlikely to appear any further in my collection (other than parallels of this card). 

7.  Caleb Durbin.  After a brutal start to the season, Durbin ended up turning in a season more or less as expected from him.  The third-baseman hit .248/.332/.378 with 13 homers, 64 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.  Just recently he won his first Gold Glove Award to top off the season.  I could see Durbin being part of a deal this winter along with Bennett.  I like him, but this could be a position that could be improved.

8.  Tyler Uberstine.  Here's another obscure player.  How did Uberstine get a card?  He pitched in just one game this season, and it's the first Major League game he has ever pitched.  He pitched 2.2 innings, giving up a homer, a walk and striking out two.  He took the loss and has a record of 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA.  He was traded at the deadline to the Braves for Eli White.

9.  Roman Anthony.  It was an injury-plagued season for Anthony.  He has a lot of talent, but he has a lot to prove next season.  In 55 games, he hit .245/.339/.396 with five homers and 15 RBIs.  

10.  Willson Contreras/Roman Anthony.  Picking the best acquisition for the Red Sox this year is a bit difficult.  Sonny Gray was great, but so was Contreras.  Contreras was easily Boston's best offensive player, hitting .275/.386/.516 with 27 homers and 81 RBIs, leading the team in all of those stats except batting average.  

11.  Caleb Durbin.

I wasn't super successful with this hobby box, but later that same day I decided to grab a blaster of Panini Prizm and I did as well as I typically do with these:

1.  Roman Anthony.  Here is the Fireworks insert and my third Anthony of the day.  He is really taking off in my collection.

2.  Marcus Phillips.  Phillips was the 33rd overall pick in the 2025 draft, still within the first round.  He has not had a great transition into professional baseball, going 0-7 with a 6.71 ERA in 19 games.  On the bright side, he struck out 73 batters in 61.2 innings, but walked 51.  There is definitely some room for improvement.  I am rooting for him though as he was born in Sioux Falls, SD, a city about two hours from my location, and went to college in Council Bluffs, IA, a city just on the other side of the Nebraska/Iowa border, before moving on to Tennessee.  His future may be in the bullpen though.

3.  Mike Lowell.  2007's World Series MVP had a terrific season that year.  He was an All Star and hit .324/.378/.501 with 21 homers and 120 RBIs.  He finished fifth in the MVP vote.  

4.  Mike Lowell.

5.  Henry Godbout.  Godbout was the second-round pick by the Red Sox in 2025 and looks like a very good middle infield prospect.  In three levels in 2026, Godbout hit .291/.402/.530 with 15 homers, 35 RBIs and nine stolen bases in 61 games.  He might be pretty good.

6.  Henry Godbout.

2026 A&G Blaster

I have actually stumbled upon some cards out in the wild lately.  I have tried to take advantage of it as much as possible.  The first time, there was just one blaster of Allen & Ginter available.  I was skeptical as I have not had a ton of luck with A&G in the past.  This one worked out quite well though. 

1.  Cy Young.  I don't really know, but I don't think the Boston (they were not the Red Sox yet and were not really called anything) uniforms were red.  I think this is added in now to make it identifiable with the team they became.  Young was Boston's first huge star (though Jimmy Collins was also on the team) and helped them win the first ever World Series in 1903.  He was 2-1 with a 1.85 ERA in 34 innings pitched in four World Series games.  He notched 17 strikeouts and just four walks.  

2.  Roman Anthony.  Anthony is the odd man out in the category of World Series heroes with the Red Sox.  Anthony didn't play in the postseason last year due to injury and he played in just the first game this year, again due to injury.  Time will tell if he eventually joins the other four players in this post as World Series heroes.

3.  Carl Yastrzemski.  Yaz played in two World Series, in 1967 and 1975.  Yaz followed up his amazing 1967 season by hitting .400/.500/.840 with ten hits, four doubles and three home runs in the World Series loss against the Cardinals.  He drove in five runs, scored four runs, walked four times and struck out just once.  Had Boston won, he likely would have been the MVP.  He followed that up with a .310/.382/.310 mark in the 1975 Series loss to the Reds.

4.  Manny Ramirez.  Ramirez was the 2004 World Series MVP, the first such award winner in Red Sox history.  He hit .412/.500/.588 with one home run and four RBIs.  He kind of won it by default because no one really stood out above everyone else.  He also played in the 2007 Series, but hit a much more modest .250/.333/.313 with just two RBIs.

5.  Tris Speaker.  Speaker played in two World Series with the Red Sox, in 1912 and 1915.  In 1912 he hit .300/.382/.467 with a double, two triples, two RBIs and a stolen base.  In 1915 he hit .294/.429/.412 with a triple.  

Still Going on the Rafaela Collection

Ceddanne Rafaela is still my primary target in cards, though not to the same extent.  I still grab as many as I can, I just don't buy cards as frequently as I trade them.  That being said, here's a few:

The aqua refractor at the top as eluded me a couple of times.  I was supposed to get it in a trade, then I tried to buy it and each time it was a light blue version.  This is why it would be helpful to serial number everything.  The fire parallel that is the second card was a target of mine in a trade that was turned down.  I ended up getting it anyway alongside this other parallel.

I expect Rafaela to win the Gold Glove on Sunday.  He stands an outside chance at Platinum Glove and possibly even a Silver Slugger (though I think Mike Trout will win that one).

Topps Now: Sept. 13, 2026

 

An immaculate inning is when a pitcher throws nine pitches in the inning, all strikes and records three strikeouts.  It is a very rare thing.  I am not sure how long it has been tracked, maybe we can go all the way back to the beginning, no idea.  Anyway, Payton Tolle recorded this feat on September 13 in the first inning against the Royals.  Unfortunately, the offense didn't do much with him on the mound so he did not figure in the decision, despite pitching six solid innings, giving up just one run and striking out seven.  Eventually, the bats came to life and the Red Sox won 4-1.  Caleb Durbin homered and Adley Rutschman doubled.  Trevor Story drove in two runs.

Nine Cards from a TCDB Trade Version 2.0

Here is another quick trade.  I focused on All Star games last time, which was not initially intended, but worked out okay.  I won't be able to do the same this time for reasons that will become clear. 

1.  Xander Bogaerts.  Bogaerts has been an All Star four times, each time with Boston.  He has also won five Silver Slugger Awards, again all with Boston.  He still has a chance at the Hall of Fame, and if he gets in, he may still wear a Red Sox cap on his plaque based on the fact that he was so much better in Boston than he has been in San Diego.

2.  Payton Tolle.  Tolle could have been an All Star this year.  I think he has a reasonable chance of getting it next year.  He will likely finish third in the Rookie of the Year vote.

3.  Johanfran Garcia.  Last year the Red Sox called up an outfield prospect named Jhostynxon Garcia.  This is his brother and he is a catcher.  

4.  Alex Verdugo.  Verdugo never managed to make it to an All Star team.  I am not sure he was terribly close either.  He just did not hit as much as it was believed he would.  

5.  Ted Williams.  I talked about Williams plenty in the other post.  Simply put, Williams is Boston's all-time franchise player.

6.  Rafael Devers.  Devers was an All Star three times, all of them with Boston.  He has also won two Silver Slugger Awards, again, both with Boston.  

7.  Roger Clemens.  Clemens was an All Star eleven times.  With the Red Sox, he went to five, including 1986 when he was the All Star Game MVP.  He was an All Star both seasons he was with the Blue Jays.  With the Yankees, he was also an All Star twice.  And finally, he was an All Star twice with the Astros.

8.  Kristian Campbell.  I seem to get a lot of Campbell cards lately.  I suspect people are more than willing to move his stuff and there was a lot of it last year after his hot start.

9.  Rafael Devers.

Topps Now: Sept. 3, 2026

 

It did not take long for Adley Rutschman to haunt his former team.  In his first game against the Orioles since being traded to the Red Sox, Rutschman hit two homers, driving in two runs and scoring three times in a 6-5 victory.  Nick Sogard and Roman Anthony also homered in the game.  Jake Bennett started the game, but did not figure in the decision.  Deadline acquisition Erik Miller got the win with a scoreless inning of relief in which he walked two, but also struck out two.  Aroldis Chapman got the save.