Allen & Ginter and Heritage High Numbers Blasters

I must have had some money to burn the day I bought blasters of both Allen & Ginter and Heritage High Numbers.  One break went pretty poorly, the other went well, though no big pulls in either one.

Up first is Allen & Ginter.  A&G is not one of my favorite sets, but it had Jason Varitek in the set, so I decided to take my chances.

1.  Chris Sale.  Unfortunately, this was my only card from the A&G break.  Sale should be healthy going into the 2023 season.  I doubt we see him as dominant as he was in 2018, but he should be a valuable pitcher.  

Up next was Heritage High Numbers.  This had a couple of players I was looking forward to.  I always do like Update sets.

2.  Kutter Crawford.  Crawford had some hype going into the 2022 season as a potential bullpen weapon.  He pitched reasonably well for a little while, then was overused and got hurt.  He ended up with a 3-6 record, 5.47 ERA and 77 strikeouts to 29 walks in 77.1 innings.  He could get another chance at a bullpen job in 2023.

3.  Eric Hosmer.  This is one of the cards I was excited about.  It's my first Hosmer card.  Hosmer was acquired from the Padres at the trading deadline along with low-level prospects Corey Rosier and Max Ferguson for one-time elite pitching prospect Jay Groome.  Hosmer didn't do much in Boston and was DFA'd in the offseason and signed with the Cubs.  Hosmer played in just 14 games with the Red Sox and only hit .244/.320/.311 with no home runs, three doubles and four RBIs.  His days of being a star certainly appear to be over, but he has had a good career.  

4.  Kevin Plawecki.  I was a little surprised by Plawecki's inclusion since he was released in September.  After a couple of good seasons with Boston, Plawecki's 2022 was pretty rough, hitting just .217/.287/.287 with just one home run.   I would have preferred seeing Reese McGuire, who was acquired just prior to the trading deadline.  

5.  Chris Sale.  Another Sale card.  His inclusion is also a little odd, but this is High Numbers, not technically an Update set.  Sale finally made his season debut in July.  He was terrific in that game, pitching five innings with just three hits and a walk while striking out five.  Then, he broke his finger after being hit by a line drive in his second game.  Then suffered another injury and was out for the year.  Bad luck.