A Big Connor Wong Update

Connor Wong has been one of the biggest surprises on the team this season.  I predicted prior to the season that Wong would be an All Star this season.  That looks like it could actually happen.  There is still a chance he is snubbed as there are several deserving catchers this season, including Adley Rutschman and Salvador Perez.  Wong is hitting .328/.388/.475 with seven homers, 30 RBIs and three stolen bases.

There is one big consequence that I have been feeling from this improvement.  Wong cards are becoming more expensive and the rare ones are harder to get as more people want them.  I am still going though.  This post is showing off a bunch of new additions to the Wong collection.  The first scan is all cards I picked up in a recent COMC order.

1.  2022 Topps 1st Edition Green.

2.  2022 Donruss Optic Black Prizm.

3.  2023 Topps Chrome Update Green Refractor.

4.  2022 Topps Gallery Printer Proof.

5.  2022 Topps Factory Set.  The RC logo on the Factory Set variation is larger.

6.  2022 Bowman Sterling Refractor.

7.  2022 Topps Tier One Break-Out Autographs Silver Ink.

8.  2022 Topps Clearly Authentic Red.

The next scan features some random pickups from Ebay.

1.  2024 Topps Vintage Stock.

2.  2024 Topps Blue Crackle Foil.

3.  2024 Topps Holiday Flowers.

4.  2022 Donruss Optic Teal Velocity Prizm.

5.  2022 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary Orange Wave Refractor.

6.  2022 Panini Select Orange Pulsar.

7.  2024 Topps Green Crackle Foil.

8.  2022 Panini Immaculate Platinum.  This is a 1/1 with an autograph and laundry tag.

9.  2024 Topps Yellow Foil.

As usual, there are many more to come.

Living Set: Tim Wakefield

For this Living Set card, I reached back to one that has been out for awhile.  This Tim Wakefield card came out in 2022.  I decided to get it one day when I was thinking about his unfortunate passing.  Wakefield was truly one of my favorite pitchers I have ever seen.  By all accounts he was an incredible human being.  Wakefield was also the winning pitcher in the first Red Sox win I ever saw (my second Red Sox game).  That day he pitched 8.2 innings, giving up just two hits and one run while walking one and striking out five.  Wakefield was a big part of my fandom and his death hit me particularly hard.  I know he will never be enshrined in Cooperstown, but he is in my own personal Hall of Fame.

Still Trying to Catch Up

Up first are a couple more Connor Wong cards.

These are not terribly exciting, just the standard Rainbow Foil and Gold bordered parallel cards.  But, of course I have to add them.  A year ago I said I would probably not super-collect Wong.  Now here I am with well over 500 cards of a player who has only one full season in the Majors.

1.  Alex Verdugo.  Verdugo has hit a rough patch at a bad time for the Yankees.  Jasson Dominguez is close to returning and Verdugo won't get more playing time than either of the other two outfielders.  It looks like his time is coming to an end.

2.  Chris Sale.  It is frustrating to see how good Sale has been this year.  He hasn't been this impressive since 2018.  Of course Boston's pitching is plenty good as well.  The offense on the other hand...

3.  Chris Sale.

4.  Brayan Bello.  Bello is back from his injury.  Hopefully he will return to form soon. 

5.  Masataka Yoshida.  Yoshida is still hurt, Boston could desperately use his bat in the lineup.

6.  David Ortiz.  This shot is from the 2013 World Championship celebration.

7.  Trevor Story.  Another bat Boston could sorely use back in the lineup.  Unfortunately, Story looks like he is out for the year.  Again.

8.  Rafael Devers.  Devers seems to be heating up.  He has homered in each of the last three games.

9.  Wade Boggs.  Nice shot here of Boggs making contact.

10.  Jarren Duran.  Duran has been very impressive this season.  He has built upon his successful season last year and currently leads the league in triples.

11.  J.D. Martinez.  

12.  Alex Verdugo.

13.  Xander Bogaerts.  Bogaerts's rough season has continued.

14.  Trevor Story.

15.  Ted Williams.

16.  Ted Williams.  This card is an error.  It lists Williams as winning the Triple Crown and MVP.  He did win the Triple Crown, but he came in second (ridiculously) for the MVP.  Williams hit .343/.499/.634 with 32 home runs and 114 RBIs.  MVP winner Joe DiMaggio hit .315/.391/.522 with 20 home runs and 97 RBIs.  The only category DiMaggio led Williams in was stolen bases (three to zero).  This was one of the absolute worst screw jobs in MVP voting history.

17.  Enrique Hernandez.  Hernandez is hitting just .212 so far this season.

That's it for now, but there is obviously more to come.

Living Set: Luis Tiant

Absolutely I had to grab the Luis Tiant Living Set card.  One of these days, one of the Eras Committees needs to right the wrong of Tiant not being in the Hall of Fame.  I love that this card captured Tiant's charisma.  Plus, you gotta love the fu manchu.  

A Few Rare Wongs

Connor Wong is having an impressive season, at least at the plate.  His defense has struggled at times and he has not had much success throwing out baserunners, but he is still a solid defensive catcher.  Where he has really surprised has been at the plate.  He has drastically cut down his strikeouts (33.3% last year down to 20.9% this year) and is hitting .360/.385/.581 with five home runs and 14 RBIs.  If he can increase his walk rate, get his defense back on track and start utilizing his speed on the basepaths more, he could be a big star.

Anyway, here are the next batch of Wong cards.   

1.  2023 Topps Chrome Update Red/Orange Lava Lamp.  This one is serial-numbered to just 10.  The scan does not do it justice.

2.  2022 Panini Chronicles America's Pastime Swatches Holo Platinum Blue.  This is another 1/1 added to my collection.

3.  2023 Topps Holiday Skeleton.  Not nearly as rare, but it took a long time to find this one.  It is serial-numbered to 50.

Several Scans Here Today

I need to try to get caught up, so I will be combining a bunch of packages into this post.

1.  J.D. Martinez.  Martinez recently made news upon hitting Wilson Contreras with his swing, breaking Contreras's arm.

2.  Bobby Dalbec.  Dalbec has been extremely frustrating this season.  He struggles greatly at the Major League level.  Boston is having difficulty finding a first-baseman to fill in for Triston Casas.

3.  Michael Chavis.  Chavis is playing for the Mariners' minor league team and hitting well.  

4.  Ted Williams.  My favorite stat of all time is Ted Williams's career .483 OBP.  That is really crazy.

5.  J.D. Martinez.

6.  Xander Bogaerts.  Bogaerts is struggling greatly in his second season in San Diego.

7.  Xander Bogaerts.

8.  Manny Ramirez.  Ramirez hit .313/.407/.592 with Cleveland and .312/.411/.588 with Boston.  Those numbers are remarkably consistent.

9.  Bobby Dalbec.

10.  Kyle Schwarber.  Schwarber is hitting .211, but with nine home runs this season in Philadelphia.

11.  Rafael Devers.  Devers has been struggling the last several days, but is still hitting .289/.405/.485.

1.  Connor Wong.  This is the team color parallel.  I probably paid too much for this, but I wasn't sure how rare it was.

2.  Connor Wong.  This is the Blue parallel from Panini Chronicles Rookies and Stars and is serial-numbered to 50.

1.  Masataka Yoshida.  Yoshida is another hitter who has been having injury issues this season.  Hopefully he will come back strong, he was on fire before he went down.

2.  Wade Boggs.  Boggs was a much better third-baseman than his reputation with the Red Sox.  He probably deserved to win a couple more Gold Gloves.

3.  Rafael Devers.

1.  Connor Wong.  This is the Cracked Ice Green Prizm from Donruss Optic.  It is serial-numbered to just seven.

1.  Connor Wong.  This is the Red Crackle Foil.  

2.  Ceddanne Rafaela.  Rafaela has not hit much, but has played terrific defense and his ability to play both shortstop and center field well has been extremely valuable.

3.  Wes Chamberlain.  I really liked Chamberlain during his time in Boston.  He was a valuable fourth outfielder, particularly in 1994.  And he hit a walkoff pinch home run on my birthday in 1995.

1.  Marty Barrett.  Barrett was the ALCS MVP in 1986.  He had a terrific postseason, though he was notably the final out in the World Series.

2.  Don Baylor.  Recently I was thinking about an Immaculate Grid category.  Of all the players to play for both Boston and the Yankees, Babe Ruth is the only one to have a 30-homer season for the Yankees.  Baylor, along with Butch Hobson, George Scott and Jacoby Ellsbury all did it for Boston.

3.  Nick Pivetta.  Pivetta is back in the rotation after an injury.  Hopefully he will get back on track.

4.  Rafael Devers.

5.  Alex Verdugo.  Verdugo has been playing well lately for the Yankees.  We will see how long that lasts, he had a great first half last year before completely falling apart in the second half.

6.  Jarren Duran.  Duran already has five triples this year.  He is on pace to equal the team record of 22, but I am not holding my breath.

7.  Joe Jacques.  This is a great card of a very minor pitcher.  He had a 5.06 ERA in 26.2 innings last year and pitched in just one game this season.

8.  Team Card.

9.  Enmanuel Valdez.  Valdez was recently sent to the minors after struggling at the plate.  His defense has been improving though.

10.  Kutter Crawford.  Crawford has been great this year.  He has a 1.75 ERA in eight starts, leading the league in both categories.  Who saw that coming?

1.  Mikey Romero.  Romero has been injured most of the season this year.

2.  Bobby Dalbec.  

3.  Juan Chacon.  Chacon is in High-A this season.  He has yet to start playing well in the minors.

4.  Adam Duvall.  A One-Year Wonder post is due on Duvall.  He hit .247/.303/.531 with 21 homers and 58 RBIs.  

5.  Jason Bay.  Bay's 2009 season was a terrific one, which helped make up for the loss of Manny Ramirez.  He hit .267/.384/.537 with 36 home runs and 119 RBIs, plus 13 stolen bases.  He also walked 94 times.  He was an All Star and won the Silver Slugger and finished seventh in the MVP vote.

6.  Jacoby Ellsbury.  Ellsbury is one of just two players to have a 30/30 season for the Red Sox, which was shocking because it was the only season he hit more than 16 home runs.

7.  Christian Vazquez.  The players Boston received after trading Vazquez have both made impacts on Boston with Wilyer Abreu looking like the real steal in the trade.

8.  Ian Kinsler.  Kinsler only hit .242/.294/.311 with one homer and 16 RBIs in his short stint with Boston, but he won a Gold Glove.

9.  Mookie Betts.  Betts is the other 30/30 player in Red Sox history.  He was not surprising as he came close a couple seasons earlier.  His stolen base numbers have declined significantly since joining the Dodgers.

10.  J.D. Martinez.

11.  Matt Barnes.  Barnes was recently DFA'd by the Nationals.  Could a return to Boston be possible?

12.  Dave Roberts.  Roberts is a Boston legend due to just one stolen base.  He didn't do much in his stint with the Red Sox, but that steal was huge.

13.  Kyle Schwarber.

That's it for now.  More to come.

A Couple Blue Wongs

One of these days I swear I will get caught up.  It doesn't help that I have been too busy to post more than once every few days or so.  

Today's cards are both blue Wong cards from 2024 Topps.  The first one is the Royal Blue parallel.  The second is the Father's Day Powder Blue, which is serial-numbered to 50.  The Wong collection keeps going and if he continues to play as well as he has so far this year, it is likely he will get a lot more cards made soon.

More TCDB Mailday Madness

I have a couple more packages to show off today.

1.  Xander Bogaerts.  I do not get a ton of relics these days, but this came as part of this trade package and I am not going to turn it down.  I just don't target them as much, except in rare occasions.

2.  Bob Stanley.  This is a Topps Tiffany card.  Stanley was a subject of my Loyalty and Longevity series as he played his entire 13-year career with the Red Sox and retired as the team career leader in games pitched and saves.  He is still the career leader in games pitched (637), and that appears safe for the foreseeable future.

3.  Dave Valle.  For awhile, it seemed like every year Boston acquire a player who was a big disappointment.  Valle was one of these as he hit just .158/.256/.250 in 30 games before he was traded for the return of Tom Brunansky.  Other players that were disappointing were Matt Young, Ivan Calderon, Mark Whiten, Mark Portugal, Jeff Fassero, Dustin Hermanson and Tony Clark.

4.  Jose Canseco.  If only Canseco would have been healthy the entire time he was in Boston.  His Red Sox tenure is something of an afterthought now, but he hit .298/.389/.571 with 52 home runs in 198 games.  His .960 OPS and all three slash numbers were higher than with any other team.

5.  Roger Clemens.  Clemens will be up for possible induction in the Hall of Fame again in December, 2025 for the 2026 induction.

6.  Aaron Sele.  Sele was the first big prospect I remember making it to the Red Sox.  He was a first-round draft pick in 1991 and made it to the Majors in 1993.  He was great to begin with and looked like he might contend for the Rookie of the Year before fading down the stretch and ultimately finishing third.  He had a solid 1994 season and was pitching well in 1995 before suffering a season-ending injury.  He never really recovered with the Red Sox and was traded to Texas after the 1997 season where he resurrected his career.

7.  Troy O'Leary.  O'Leary's most underrated season was probably 1997 when he hit .309/.358/.479 with 15 home runs and 80 RBIs.  It was his career high for average and one of only two times he hit above .300.  He was a solid player for the Red Sox for several seasons.  

8.  Jose Offerman.  Offerman was great his first season in Boston after signing a big free agent deal.  He was the subject of a lot of jokes as he was signed shortly after Mo Vaughn left, but Offerman hit .294/.391/.435 with 107 runs scored, 96 walks, 37 doubles and a league-leading eleven triples.  Unfortunately, he went downhill after that.

9.  Jerome Gamble.  I wonder if Gamble is the largest player in my collection that never played in the Majors.  I have 21 cards of him.  He was on the 40 man roster in 2004, so he got a ton of rookie cards made even though he did not actually make it to the Majors.  He was a fourth-round pick in 1998 and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2001.  Boston lost him to the Reds in the Rule V Draft, but was returned to the Red Sox.  He reinjured his elbow in 2003 and that pretty much killed his chances of making the Majors.

10.  Troy O'Leary.

11.  Mike Shawaryn.  Shawaryn was a fifth-round pick by the Red Sox in 2016 and made it to the Majors in 2019, pitching in 14 games, but with a 9.74 ERA.  That was his only Major League experience.

12.  Jose Vinicio.  Vinicio was a highly-touted international free agent signed to a big contract.  His bat never caught up to his glove at shortstop though and he stalled out in the minors.  He made it to Pawtucket in 2016, but was released after the season.  He bounced around after that, but never made it to the Majors.

13.  Ceddanne Rafaela.  Boston is putting a lot of hopes into Rafaela.  His defense has been great, but he has struggled at the plate.  He had a big game last Saturday though when he drove in seven runs.

14.  Jackie Bradley Jr.  JBJ is kind of the template for what Boston is hoping Rafaela will be.  A great fielder with an average bat.  JBJ had a couple of very good seasons at the plate though and was an All Star in 2016.

15.  Pedro Martinez.  One of my big regrets is not being able to see Martinez live in person.  I never seem to get to see Boston's aces, or if I do, it's before the pitcher becomes an ace.  

16.  Enmanuel Valdez.  Boston recently sent Valdez to the minors after he failed to impress with the bat this year.  It's strange because he has always hit well before.

17.  Blake Loubier.  It's strange to see Loubier in a 2023 set since he was released prior to the season.  The 13th-round pick from the 2019 draft struggled in the pros.

1.  Dustin Pedroia.  It's sort of weird to see Pedroia showing up in retired player sets.  

2.  Pedro Martinez.  I loved Upper Deck 40 Man.  Too bad we don't have anything like that now.

3.  Shea Hillenbrand.  I am not a big fan of minor league cards, but this trader insisted on adding this.  I did like Hillenbrand though, who was an All Star in 2002.  He hit .293/.330/.459 with 18 home runs and 83 RBIs that season.

4.  Rafael Devers.  One of the many players who has had injury problems this season for Boston.  They have been teetering on the edge of disaster for awhile, but have held it together.  I love this card.

5.  Rafael Devers.

6.  J.D. Martinez.  Martinez has finally made it back this year after some injury problems with the Mets.

7.  Tris Speaker.  Speaker was the first massive talent Boston traded away in his prime, though that is somewhat forgotten since Ruth was sold so soon thereafter.  Speaker was traded to Cleveland for a package including Pinch Thomas and Sad Sam Jones and some money.  Jones was a reliable starter for a few years and a 20-game winner in 1921.  Thomas hit .257 in 44 games as a backup catcher.  

More Topps Wong Parallels

1.  The first card is the Golden Mirror parallel.  Every card in the set has a Golden Mirror parallel that features a different photo on the front.  This takes the place of the limited photo variations.  

2.  This is the Purple parallel, a retail-only parallel.

3.  This is the 2022 Black parallel.  I was a little surprised I did not have this already.  I missed on an auction for it at one point, then a new auction came up the next day.

Minis and More

Up today are a couple more TCDB trades.  Just some randomness for the day.

The first deal featured a number of A&G minis: 

Of particular interest in this scan is the Xander Bogaerts blue parallel from Topps UK.  I don't think there is a Topps UK set any more, but I suppose I could be wrong.  I like the green parallel of Alex Verdugo from last year's Archives set.  The Ted Williams is from the Chrome A&G set.

This package was primarily some random base cards I needed to complete team sets.  The Nomar Garciaparra was an All Star subset card.  Derek Lowe came from 2003 Topps Opening Day.  

So, not the most exciting of mailday posts, but I need to get caught up.

A Bunch of Wong Parallels

Connor Wong had a big game today.  He had four hits in four at-bats with two home runs and three RBIs.  We will see if he gets a Topps Now card tomorrow.

Anyway, here are a bunch of the 2024 Topps parallels.  The first one is the True Photo variation.  These are not serial-numbered, so I am not sure how rare they are.  The second is the Holiday Rabbits parallel, serial-numbered to 50.  The third is the Independence Day, serial-numbered to 76.  And the fourth is the black parallel, numbered to 73.  

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Today's post is some rando stuff that I've gotten in recently, along with a blaster break.

Up first is a two-card TCDB trade with some boxed oddball cards from the 1980's:

1.  Wade Boggs.  Unfortunately, I was not collecting at the height of the oddball craze in the 1980's when you could walk into Rite-Aid and pick up a special box of cards.  So, I still have to work to find some of these things.  

2.  Mike Greenwell.  Greenwell was once one of the brightest young stars in the game and looked like a superstar for years to come.  After 1988 though he just sort of settled into being a good, occasionally very good, player.  He still hit .303 for his career, which is often overlooked.

Up next is a blaster of 2024 Topps:

1.  Masataka Yoshida.  Yoshida started off the season a little slowly, but has started getting it going in recent days.  

2.  Ceddanne Rafaela.  Rafaela signed an extension shockingly.  His defense has been terrific, but there have been some growing pains offensively.  He's a bit of a free swinger, which is a bit problematic.  We will see where that leads.  He will likely settle in at shortstop for this season.

3.  Kenley Jansen.  He has had a couple of rough outings but seems to be stabilizing.  I still think he is going to get traded.

1.  Keith Foulke.  This was a one-card deal that got me a jersey relic of Boston's closer for the 2004 season.  That season he was 5-3 with a 2.17 ERA, 79 strikeouts against 15 walks in 83 innings, and saving 32 games.  Unfortunately, he was never again a reliable closer, but he made a big impact in 2004.

1.  Trevor Story.  Unfortunately, one of my big predictions for the year will not come true.  Story suffered a season-ending shoulder injury a couple weeks ago.  I really thought he was going to be healthy this season and turn in a 20/20, Gold Glove season.

2.  Manny Ramirez.  Ramirez is still playing professional baseball in Asia and just hit a home run the other day.  He says he is not officially retired.

3.  Bobby Dalbec.  One of my more negative predictions was that Dalbec would be released by the Red Sox.  That hasn't happened yet, but considering he has just one hit in 32 plate appearances with 18 strikeouts, it probably is not far off.

4.  J.D. Martinez.  Martinez had a bounceback season last year with the Dodgers but has yet to play for the Mets this season.

5.  Alex Verdugo.  I expect his tenure with the Yankees to be short.  I just do not see him enjoying the much more strict clubhouse culture of the Yankees.  He's not playing great right now either.

R.I.P. Dave McCarty

 

McCarty was a member of the 2004 World Champion Red Sox, hitting .258/.327/.404 with four home runs in 89 games as a bench player and even had a 2.45 ERA in 3.2 innings with four strikeouts.  He was a top prospect for the Twins in the early 1990's but just never seemed to find his way into regular playing time.  He also played with the Giants, Mariners, Royals, Devil Rays and A's.  He spent his last three seasons with the Red Sox from 2003 to 2005.  I always liked McCarty and he was a subject of my Unknown Heroes series.  

Wong Update

The next couple of packages were a couple of the 2024 Topps parallel cards.  This is the Orange Crackle Foil and the Aqua parallels.  Wong has started the year off fairly well.  As of today, he is hitting .342/.333/.605 with three home runs and eight RBIs.  For awhile there it looked like Reese McGuire was going to overtake Wong for playing time, but that has changed this week.  Wong had a really bad game defensively last week, but seems to have come back around.

Mailday Madness (Yet Again)

I am way behind.  I have a long way to catch up.  I have spent a bunch of time lately getting all of my Red Sox cards into binders, something I have been neglecting for about the last three years or so.  But recently, my parents gave me the card collections of my brothers (who did not want them) and I picked up three binders that I could use for my cards.  So, here we are.  This is two of the recent TCDB packages.

1.  Ellis Burks.  Burks is one of those players that has much better numbers than I remember.  For his career, he hit .291/.363/.510 with 352 home runs, 1,206 RBIs and 2,107 hits.  Those are some very impressive career numbers.

2.  Dwight Evans.  A lot of Evans's numbers are even better than those of Burks.  He hit .272/.370/.470 with 385 home runs, 1,384 RBIs and 2,446 hits.  Given that he played in a much weaker offensive time period and has eight Gold Gloves to his name makes him a good candidate for the Hall of Fame.

3.  Coco Crisp.  I remember when Boston acquired Crisp, he looked like a younger version of Johnny Damon.  Injuries slowed him down in 2006 and he was basically an average player in his three years in Boston.  Good, but not what he was expected to be.

4.  Alexi Ogando.  Here's a guy that people probably forget spent time in Boston.  He was 3-1 with a 3.99 ERA as a reliever with the Red Sox in 2015.

5.  David Price.  Price's contract is probably largely a bust, but he was a massive part of their 2018 World Championship.  I still believe he should have been the World Series MVP, going 2-0 in three games with a 1.98 ERA, ten strikeouts and six walks in 14 innings pitched.

6.  Garrett Whitlock.  Whitlock is still Boston's greatest acquisition in the Rule 5 Draft even though he has been mostly inconsistent since his amazing season in 2021.  He is a part of the rotation this season and has been pretty good until an injury last night.

7.  David Ortiz.  This is a shot of Ortiz delivering his terrific speech after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, an event that solidified Ortiz as a folk hero.  This was one of his greatest moments.

8.  Caleb Hamilton.  Yeah, this card features several other players, but Hamilton is the only one I care about.  This was a short print from last year's Heritage.  Hamilton played in five games in 2023 for Boston and was hitless (though he did walk once) in six plate appearances.

1.  Jon Lester.  Lester will be on the Hall of Fame ballot for 2027.  He has an interesting case, enhanced by postseason success and intriguing storylines such as his cancer fight and helping the Cubs win their first World Series in over a century.

2.  Chris Sale.  Sale's Red Sox stint started off so well, but he has been absolutely wrecked by injuries since 2018.  

3.  David Price.

4.  Xander Bogaerts.  Padres fans are already complaining about Bogaerts.  It's going to be a difficult contract for him to live up to.  

5.  J.D. Martinez.  Martinez is going to be with the Mets this season, but has yet to play a game for them.

6.   Jeff McNeely.  I remember when McNeely was a major Red Sox prospect.  He was going to be the fastest player on the team since Tommy Harper.  Well, he was fast, stealing six bases in just 21 Major League games.  I don't really know why he never got another shot.  He hit .297/.409/.378 in his only shot with Boston, but he had a rough year in the minors in 1994 and then was traded to the Cardinals in the Luis Alicea deal and never made it back.

7.  Julio Lugo.  Lugo was another fast Red Sox player.  He led the team with 33 stolen bases in 2007, but a 65 OPS+ and being an adventure on defense caused the team to look for other options at shortstop.

8.  Adrian Gonzalez.  Gonzalez was definitely the offensive force Boston wanted when they finally acquired him, hitting .338/.410/.548 with 27 home runs, 117 RBIs and a league-leading 213 hits.  But he was not the clubhouse leader he was expected to be and caused some issues that led to him being packaged in the giant Dodgers deal in 2012.  

Zippy-Zapped with a TTM Auto

I am way behind again.  I haven't been posting much because work is busy.  I will try to eventually catch back up.

Up first is a Zippy-Zapping:

This is a TTM auto of former Red Sox prospect Cole Brannen.  Brannen was Boston's second-round pick in the 2017 draft, the one in which current starter Tanner Houck was the team's first-round choice.  Brannen made it to High-A ball, but never hit higher than .231 and never developed any power.  It just did not work out for him and he was released in Spring of 2022.

Thanks for the card Kenny!

Red Sox Opening Day Lineup 2024

I do this occasionally.  Actually, I'm not even sure if I can say that.  I know I have done it before.  Maybe a couple times.  Anyway, here is the Red Sox Opening Day Roster for 2024 along with some predictions.  A lot of my predictions are somewhat positive.  I really do think this team has some good, young talent.  This is a year to determine what it is that they have and supplement it going forward.  I do not think this team will contend, but they will win some games.  I do think they will be active during the trading period, hopefully bringing in young pitching.  

WILYER ABREU

2024 Prediction: Abreu will turn out to be the best player Boston got in the Christian Vazquez deal, becoming the regular right-fielder by mid-season.

CHASE ANDERSON

2024 Prediction:  Anderson will not even be with this team by May 1.  He will only have a couple of mop-up appearances and a bloated ERA.

BRAYAN BELLO

2024 Prediction:  Bello will make big strides toward becoming a potential ace and win 15 games.   

ISAIAH CAMPBELL

2024 Prediction:  Campbell will turn out to be the best under-the-radar pick-up for the team in 2024 and be a valuable member of the bullpen.

TRISTON CASAS

2024 Prediction:  Casas will have his first season with 30 home runs.

KUTTER CRAWFORD

2024 Prediction:  Crawford will become Boston's #2 pitcher, finishing with 12 wins and an ERA below 3.50.

BOBBY DALBEC

2024 Prediction:  This year is the end of the road for Dalbec in Boston, and possibly very early.

RAFAEL DEVERS

2024 Prediction:  Ho-hum, just another 30 homer/100 RBI season for Devers.  

JARREN DURAN

2024 Prediction:  Duran will steal the second-most bags in a single season in Red Sox history.  The number to beat is 54.

TANNER HOUCK

2024 Prediction:  Houck will be the closer by the end of the season.

KENLEY JANSEN

2024 Prediction:  Jansen will be traded at the Trading Deadline, but will be an All Star before he goes.

CHRIS MARTIN

2024 Prediction:  Martin has another ridiculously good season and actually gets his first card since 2020.

REESE MCGUIRE

2024 Prediction:  McGuire's numbers continue to slide and he is released by the end of the season.

TYLER O'NEILL

2024 Prediction:  O'Neill has a renaissance season in 2024, but is traded at the deadline.

NICK PIVETTA

2024 Prediction:  Pivetta has another solid season, but is also traded at the deadline.

CEDDANNE RAFAELA

2024 Prediction:  Rafaela contends for the A.L. Rookie of the Year and wins a Gold Glove in his rookie season.

PABLO REYES

2024 Prediction:  Reyes will be a valuable utility infielder.

JOELY RODRIGUEZ

2024 Prediction:  Rodriguez will be the first player to be dropped from the roster and Brennan Bernardino will be brought back.

JUSTIN SLATEN

2024 Prediction:  Slaten, a Rule 5 pick, will stay on the roster all season and gradually work into more of a trustworthy arm out of the bullpen.

TREVOR STORY

2024 Prediction:  Story has a 20/20 season and wins a Gold Glove.

ENMANUEL VALDEZ

2024 Prediction:  Valdez hits well, but his defensive problems make it impossible to keep him on the roster and he is eventually traded.

GREG WEISSERT

2024 Prediction:  Weissert becomes a fan favorite and makes the Verdugo trade worthwhile.

GARRETT WHITLOCK

2024 Prediction:  Whitlock solidifies his place in the rotation and wins 12 games.

JOSH WINCKOWSKI

2024 Prediction:  Winckowski becomes one of the team's setup men with another strong season.

CONNOR WONG

2024 Prediction:  Wong is an All Star in 2024.

MASATAKA YOSHIDA

2024 Prediction:  Yoshida contends for the batting title in 2024.