More Wantlist Trades

It seems like we have entered a pattern.  I have a jury trial coming up, so I have not been able to do many research-related posts.  Mailday posts are easy.  Once I get through the trial, I should have more time.

Here is trade number one of the day:

1.  Andrew Benintendi.  I still really like the Diamond Kings set.  I am hoping Panini still releases one this year, even if they cannot include any current players.  I would absolutely buy stuff from a historical set.

2.  Craig Kimbrel.  Refractor of the former closer who had an electrifying three-year stint in Boston.  I choose to ignore how awful he was in the 2018 postseason.

3.  Rafael Devers.  This is the Holiday rookie card.  Devers is on the cusp of passing up Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts shortly.

4.  J.D. Martinez.  This is from the Panini Chronicles massive, and utterly confounding, set.  Martinez is bouncing back a bit with the Dodgers this season.

5.  Kyle Schwarber.  At some point during his Red Sox stint, Schwarber became known as Kyle from Waltham, despite the fact that he is actually from Middletown, OH.  No, I have no idea why.  He did kind of embrace it though.  It would have been nice to keep him around.

6.  Carl Yastrzemski.  The season Yaz put up in 1967 just might be the greatest Red Sox season of all time.  By WAR it was.  He put up 12.4 WAR that season.  

7.  Andrew Benintendi.

8.  Mookie Betts.  Betts's 2018 season was his best.  He put up 10.7 WAR that season.

9.  Manny Ramirez.  An interesting project might be to grab the entire run of a player from Topps Moments & Milestones.  I would probably pick somebody like Mike Lowell though.

10.  Ted Williams.  Part of the reason Yaz had such a high WAR in 1967 was due to his defense.  Williams put up the top season by oWAR for a Red Sox player in 1941 (10.7).  That was of course, his .400 season.

Here is trade number two:

1.  Mo Vaughn.  Vaughn's top season by WAR?  Surprisingly, it was a tie between 1996 when he had a career-high 44 home runs and 1998 when he had a career-high .337 average.

2.  Brian Daubach.  Daubach's best season was undoubtedly his rookie season when he hit .294 with 21 home runs. 

3.  Tim Wakefield.  Wakefield had a 5.0 WAR season in his first year in Boston when he went 16-8 with a 2.95 ERA and finished third in the Cy Young vote.

4.  Donnie Sadler.  I was disappointed Sadler never really developed.  He was supposed to pair with Nomar as a terrific, young double play combination.  His speed was his best asset.

5.  Nomar Garciaparra.  Nomar's best season by WAR?  2000, when he hit .372.  The biggest surprise was he put up 8.8 dWAR in his time with Boston.

6.  Pedro Martinez.  Martinez's best season by WAR?  Also 2000 (11.7!), when he had a 1.90 ERA in the middle of the Steroid Era.

7.  Jon Lester.  Lester's best?  2009 (6.2), when he went 15-8 and struck out 225 batters.

8.  Josh Beckett.  Beckett's best was unsurprisingly 2007 (6.5) when he finished second in the Cy Young vote.

Here is trade number three:

1.  Tanner Houck.  As will be seen, this trade was focused on 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary.  Houck has been one of Boston's better starting pitchers this year.

2.  Kevin Millar.  This is what I liked about this set, lots of outside-the-box players.  Millar was a good, and very popular, player, but he was not a star.

3.  Jim Rice.  Rice's best season by WAR was 1978, which is not a surprise either.  He was the MVP that year.

4.  Mo Vaughn.

5.  Michael Chavis.  Probably forgotten now, but Chavis had a good rookie season in 2019 when he hit 18 home runs.  

6.  Michael Chavis.

7.  Shea Hillenbrand.  See my discussion about Millar.  Hillenbrand is a downright shocking inclusion in this set.  He was an All Star for Boston in 2002 though.

8.  Hunter Renfroe.  I had to grab this Renfroe card.  I do not have a lot of cards of him and he had a very memorable season for the Red Sox in 2021.

9.  Pedro Martinez.

10.  Cy Young.  This another low-end insert set from A&G that I love.  Young threw the first perfect game in American League history.

11.  Rafael Devers.

12.  Carl Yastrzemski.

13.  Bobby Dalbec.  I suspect Dalbec's time in Boston is coming to an end.  He was great in 2020 and the second half of 2021, but has mostly struggled otherwise.

14.  Chris Sale.  Sale's best season by WAR?  In Boston it was 2018 when he was 12-4 with a 2.11 ERA, which is actually tied for his best season with the White Sox when he had similar numbers.

15.  Carl Yastrzemski.

16.  Tim Wakefield.

That's it for now.