Several Trades and Lots of Scans

I do not really have much of an introduction here, this is several days worth of trades to show off, with a lot of cards.  Let's just get going.

Trade #1 is a nine-card deal, covering primarily 2022 cards.

1.  Rafael Devers.  As of this writing, Devers leads the league in home runs.  I am well on my way to making my goal of 300 cards of Devers.

2.  J.D. Martinez.

3.  Fred Lynn.  I have said before that I really like the A&G low-end parallels.  This one celebrates individual historic seasons.  Lynn of course won the MVP and Rookie of the Year in 1975.

4.  Trevor Story.  Hopefully Story comes back strong this season.  

5.  Marcelo Mayer.  Mayer is Boston's top prospect, picked fourth overall in 2021.  

6.  Xander Bogaerts.

7.  J.D. Martinez.

8.  Niko Kavadas.  Kavadas has huge power and was Boston's 11th round pick in 2021.

9.  Blaze Jordan.  I am guessing Jordan and Kavadas are somewhat redundant.  It is unlikely both will make it to the Majors with Boston.

Trade #2 features the wrong Connor and the wrong player acquired in the Mookie Betts trade.

1.  Jeter Downs.  Downs was supposed to be the best prospect in the Mookie Betts deal.  Downs made it to Boston last year, but his development seems to have been completely stunted after the COVID year.  He is currently struggling in Washington's system.

2.  Connor Seabold.  Seabold is pitching with Colorado this season and has struggled a bit.  He was mostly a disaster in Boston last season.

3.  Connor Seabold.

Trade #3 was a big one.

1.  Eduardo Rodriguez.  I really wish I had collected E-Rod more when he was in Boston.  I always liked him quite a bit, but he was pretty inconsistent most of the time.

2.  Bobby Poyner.  Poyner had a decent stint as a lefty out of the pen in 2018.  He made it into a handful of games in 2019 as well, but was not as impressive.  It is sort of odd that he has not been able to make it back to the Majors.  Teams are always looking for lefty relievers.

3.  Chris Sale.  Sale has been wildly inconsistent this season.

4.  Mookie Betts.  I was not aware I was missing this card.  I did not know it was a Red Sox card.

5.  Chris Sale.

6.  Andrew Benintendi.  The Benintendi deal, which was widely panned by a certain segment of Red Sox fans, is also looking better now that Josh Winckowski has been pitching well.

7  J.D. Martinez.

8.  Eduardo Rodriguez.

9.  Chris Sale.

10.  Rafael Devers.  Devers appears a LOT in this deal.

11.  Rafael Devers.

12.  Xander Bogaerts.

13.  Rafael Devers.

14.  Xander Bogaerts.

15.  Rafael Devers

16.  Rafael Devers.

17.  Rafael Devers.

18.  Dustin Pedroia.  

19.  Dustin Pedroia.

20.  Rafael Devers.

21.  David Ortiz.

22.  Rafael Devers.

23.  Rafael Devers.

24.  Rafael Devers.

25.  Rafael Devers.  Another City Connect uniform card.  I need one of these for Connor Wong.

26.  Rafael Devers.

27.  David Ortiz.

28.  Rafael Devers.

29.  J.D. Martinez.

30.  Ted Williams.  I LOVE this shot of Williams.  I don't care that it was probably colorized.  It's just a great picture.

31.  Michael Chavis.  Chavis is now with his third organization, playing with the Nationals this season.

32.  Nomar Garciaparra.

33.  Bobby Dalbec.

34.  Alex Verdugo.  Verdugo has proven to be a terrific clutch hitter, walking off two games already this season.

35.  Jackie Bradley Jr.  The trade in which Boston re-acquired JBJ also brought in a prospect named David Hamilton.  Hamilton is possibly on the cusp of a call-up and has blazing speed that would definitely help the Red Sox.

36.  Chris Sale.

Trade #4 is a one-card deal:

1.  Bobby Dalbec.  This is how ridiculous the Panini parallels can be.  This is the green version.  And the reason you can tell it is the green version is because of the outline of the shape behind the player.  That's it.

And finally, we have Trade #5, which is a decent-sized one and is relevant for the current mini-player collection.  It was also a good trade from a player selection standpoint.  

1.  Bobby Dalbec.

2.  Bobby Dalbec.  One thing that is irritating is companies using the same pictures over and over.  There is no reason that this needed to happen over two years.

3.  Rafael Devers.  Of course Devers appears a few times in this deal too.

4.  Carl Everett.  That takes me back.  I was a big fan of Everett in early 2000 when he was an electrifying player.

5.  Nick Yorke.  Yorke has started to turn things around this year after a slow start in Portland.  Boston is going to have some issues soon since many of their top prospects are middle infielders.  They do not really have a block at the Major League level, particularly if Trevor Story opts out (though that seems unlikely due to his injuries).  Enmanuel Valdez, Marcelo Mayer, Nick Yorke, Mikey Romero, Matthew Lugo and David Hamilton are all middle infielders.  Some will be moved to other positions, but there is no way the team can keep all of them.

6.  Rafael Devers.

7.  Rafael Devers.

8.  Marcelo Mayer.  Mayer is obviously the jewel of the organization right now.

9.  Connor Wong.  Here is the 2022 Donruss Signature Series autograph of Wong, the first autograph I have been able to acquire in a trade.  

10.  Jordan DiValerio.  I had to look this player up.  I had not heard of him, or if I had, I forgot about him.  He was an undrafted free agent in 2020, the COVID year when the draft was just five rounds.  A lot of players signed that way that year.  He is 25 and in Greenville, in the bullpen.  Sox Prospects projects him as a mid-minors organizational depth.  I am guessing he is unlikely to make the Majors.

11.  Blaze Jordan.  Blaze is going to need to hit for power to justify moving through the minors.  He hit 12 home runs last season across two levels.  He will need to step up.

12.  Michael Bowden.  I had to grab this card.  It is not a game-worn jersey, but it is still a damn cool card.  Bowden was a first round pick in 2005, pitched in 39 games across five seasons, then was traded to the Cubs for Marlon Byrd.  He just never quite clicked in the Majors.

13.  Garrett Whitlock.  There are not nearly enough Whitlock cards out there.  He has been a bit injury-prone lately, but his 2021 season was incredible.

14.  Alex Verdugo.  Short print card from 2020 Heritage High Numbers.  I was surprised I did not have this already.

15.  Ryan Weber.  There was always a lot of talk about Weber being a potential starting pitcher, but he always seemed to get hammered.  He had a 5.54 ERA in 89.1 innings with Boston.  That is not getting it done.

16.  Andrew Benintendi.

17.  Triston Casas.  I really like Casas, but he needs to start hitting more.  He takes his walks and can hit the occasional home run, and is really good defensively, but we are 151 at-bats into his Major League career now and he has an average of .166.  That is not good.

18.  Brayan Bello.  Bello had an encouraging start recently.  I remember Jon Lester was mostly awful in his first season, so it makes sense that there would be some growing pains.  Bello has great stuff.

19.  Marcelo Mayer.  And we close things out with the third Mayer card of the day.