Mailday Madness Pt. 11

Keeping this thing going.  Let's get into this.

This was just a one-card trade for Hanley Ramirez.  That's right, that's Hanley, not Manny.  I believe I have talked about this before, Hanley was the first prospect I really collected from the Red Sox.  I got in on the ground floor, grabbing his very first minor league card as soon as it came out.  Then in 2003 when he started getting Major League cards, I grabbed a lot of them.  As such, I have a rather impressive amount of his first year cards, including an autographed X-fractor and a printing plate.  I probably could have made some decent money had I sold my cards in the first few years of his Major League career when he was one of the most exciting players in the game.  Unfortunately, Ramirez was traded after he made just two at-bats in Boston before he was traded to the Marlins in the Josh Beckett/Mike Lowell deal.  Ramirez did come back to Boston in 2015 and had a really good year in 2016.  

1.  Jarren Duran.  As I am typing this I just picked up Duran for my fantasy team.  Hopefully he can build on his season from last year.

2.  Alex Verdugo.  This is a nice-looking Verdugo card.

3.  Enrique Hernandez.  Hey, the border of this card matches Hernandez's socks.

4.  Bobby Dalbec.  Dalbec is probably at the turning point in his Boston career.  With C.J. Cron on hand now, it becomes less likely that Dalbec will stick around.

1.  Nick Pivetta.  Pivetta is in the running for Opening Day starter.  He is not my first pick, I would go with Brayan Bello.  Pivetta is a reliable starter though and fun to watch.

2.  Trevor Story.  I am predicting a 20/20 bounceback season for Story this year.  He looks healthy and has been playing well this Spring.

3.  Jackie Bradley Jr.  It looks like JBJ has retired.  He finishes with a line of .225/.303/.381 with 109 home runs, 449 RBIs and 69 stolen bases.  His most impressive stat is his 10.3 career dWAR.  

4.  Manny Ramirez.  This is one of my favorite insert sets of recent years, particularly the non-Chrome cards where they are actually die-cut.

5.  Johnny Damon.  It is sort of odd looking over Damon's career that he was only an All Star twice.  And both of those came during his time with Boston.  That's right, never with Kansas City and never with the Yankees.  

6.  Cecil Cooper.  Cooper spent six seasons with the Red Sox and hit .283/.324/.447 with 40 home runs.  He was then traded to the Brewers in the deal that brought back George Scott and Bernie Carbo and got a lot more playing time and blossomed.

7.  Kyle Schwarber.  It looks like the pitcher Boston gave up in the Schwarber deal stalled out.  Aldo Ramirez looked like a decent prospect in 2021, but struggled after the deal and hasn't pitched since.  I am not sure what happened.

1.  Hirokazu Sawamura.  Sawamura had a pretty good ERA during his two seasons in Boston, but his FIP was a less-than-impressive 4.59 and his release becomes a little more clear.  I still liked him though and was disappointed when he was simply released.

2.  Jonathan Arauz.  A Rule 5 pick by Boston prior to the 2020 season, Arauz hit .204/.280/.320 with four home runs and 18 RBIs in 59 games played as a utility infielder.  He has played with the Orioles and Mets since, but has never hit much.

3.  Xander Bogaerts.  

4.  Rafael Devers.  Here's another City Connect uniform card.

5.  Dustin Pedroia.  Pedroia will be on the Hall of Fame ballot for next season.  

1.  Michael Chavis.

2.  Rafael Devers.

3.  Hirokazu Sawamura.

4.  Tanner Houck.  Houck looks like a good bet to make the starting rotation this season, giving Boston three home-grown starters for the first time in a very long time.

5.  Chris Sale.  Sale and Houck are almost mirror-images of each other on the mound.

6.  Rafael Devers.

7.  Mookie Betts.  Betts has a lot of really cool cards that I missed out on.

8.  Jarren Duran.