Random Forum Lot

I have not been active much on the trading forums of late, mostly because my tradelist is woefully out of date.  I need to work on it before I can really return to trading, which has always been one of my favorite things to do.  I did buy a bunch of random cards recently from a seller though, and there are some big ones in this lot.

And here we go:

1.  Xander Bogaerts.  Technically, Dustin Pedroia is the largest current Red Sox player in my collection with nearly 400 cards.  But of course, given Pedroia's uncertain future, Bogaerts would be most likely to take over that distinction.  At the very least, I need to get him above Mookie.

2.  Matt Barnes.  Barnes has been an underrated performer in the Red Sox bullpen.  He will be a free agent at the end of the season and it will be intriguing to see if Boston brings him back.

3.  Andrew Benintendi.  Benintendi has been on a bit of a downward slide for the last year and a half.  Hopefully that will change if the 2020 season ever gets under way.

4.  Mookie Betts/Ted Williams/David Ortiz.  The idea behind this card was to find a current player, a recent player and a historical player that are the most notable players for the franchise.  Of course Williams and Ortiz remain important, but now that Betts has gone, Rafael Devers or Bogaerts are likely the current face of the franchise.

5.  Michael Chavis.  Chavis, Benintendi, Barnes and Bradley are all first round draft picks of the Red Sox that are currently on the team. 

6.  Xander Bogaerts.

7.  Mike Carp.  I have been thinking a lot about the 2013 team for some reason lately.  Mike Carp was such an important bench player for that team, hitting .296/.362/.523 with nine home runs.  His biggest moment though was hitting a grand slam in the tenth inning of a game against the Rays which eventually won it.

8.  Rafael Devers.  I was very excited to see how Devers built upon last season.  He became one of the most exciting players on the team last year after having a season in which he eclipsed 100 runs, 100 RBIs, 200 hits, 30 home runs, 50 doubles and a .300 batting average.  Those numbers are insane.

9.  Roger Clemens.  This is one of my favorite cards from the lot, one of the photo variation cards.  It is a photo I have never seen before, which is one of the great things about these variations. 

10.  Rafael Devers.

11.  Rafael Devers. 

12.  Mike Gardiner.  One day I was thinking about how with some players, I may never get another new Red Sox card, and it kind of made me sad.  Luckily, there are things like buybacks occasionally to help out.  Gardiner was not real good with Boston, but I still like adding cards of players like this.

13.  Bobby Poyner.  This is one of those Advanced Stats parallels and it is numbered to 150.  Poyner was impressive in 2018 as a lefty reliever, but struggled in 2019.

14.  Brock Holt.  Holt does not qualify as an Unknown Hero for my series, the All Star appearance in 2015 disqualifies him, but as a utility man who has had a number of important accomplishments (hit for the cycle twice, including becoming the only player to do so in a postseason game), he was a huge fan favorite.

15.  J.D. Martinez.  Here is another of the photo variations, though it is not quite as good.  Especially since it shows him at Yankee Stadium. 

16.  Eduardo Rodriguez.  E-Rod finally broke through last year.  He was acquired in a deal with the Orioles back in 2014 for Andrew Miller and has long been considered a promising starter but he really showed why last season.

17.  Eduardo Rodriguez.

18.  Shane Victorino.  Another member of the 2013 team, I remember Victorino being absolutely on fire down the stretch.  He then had some huge hits in the postseason. 

19.  Chris Sale.  Sale is one of the best pitchers to never win a Cy Young, and I am not sure he has a strong likelihood of returning to form after his Tommy John surgery.  He will be 32 next year, which is not old for a pitcher, but it is not young either.

20.  Chris Sale.

21.  Christian Vazquez.  Of course I added a Vazquez card.

22.  Ted Williams.  Here is the third photo variation, this one showing Williams engaging in his other great passion, fishing.  He was actually a world-renowned fisherman and is actually in the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame as well as Cooperstown.

23.  Carl Yastrzemski.  And my favorite card of the package, the fourth variation.  This is a terrific picture of Yaz.