Another Prizm Break

Well, at some point I decided to try out another blaster box of Prizm and pulled cards of the two big Red Sox rookies going into the 2021 season.

Up first is a base card of Bobby Dalbec.  Dalbec strikes out a ton, but when he makes contact, it's loud.  He hit 25 home runs as a rookie, and he even hit one in one of the games I saw in person last year.  His 2022 season has been mostly forgettable though and I suspect he's going to fall into the category of guys like Will Middlebrooks and Michael Chavis.  Guys who put up big power numbers right away, but Boston held onto them too long rather than trading at a time when their market was big.

Next is Tanner Houck.  This is a retail-only parallel.  Houck has seemingly settled in this year as the Red Sox closer.  Last year, he was more of an all-purposes pitcher, starting and relieving.  He started 13 games and also notched a save.  Houck is a former first round draft pick.

2021 Topps Chrome Break

Nothing terribly exciting from this break.  I am pretty sure it was a blaster box.  I pulled just the one base card.  And that base card was Andrew Benintendi, who was traded away just prior to the 2021 season.  I really cannot say that Benintendi was a bust.  The seventh overall pick from the 2015 Draft was great for the first three years of his career, finishing second in the Rookie of the Year vote in 2017.  Then, mysteriously, he declined dramatically.  For his Boston career, he hit .273/.353/.435 with 51 home runs, 119 doubles, 279 runs scored, 260 RBIs and 53 stolen bases.  Decent numbers, but given his decline the last two years, mildly disappointing.

Benintendi was traded to the Royals for Franchy Cordero, Josh Winckowski and three other minor leaguers.  He has since improved somewhat, winning the Gold Glove and improving his batting average, but he is still not close to the player he looked like he would be during the first three seasons of his career. 

Project 70: Mookie Betts by Morning Breath

I have a particular affinity for the 1990 Topps design.  So, I did decide to pick up this particular card for that reason.  Also, it was a rare Red Sox card of Mookie Betts.  There were a couple of them in this set as I recall.  Sometimes I wonder if Mookie is going to be remembered more for his time with the Dodgers when all is said and done.  As great as he was in 2020 in the shortened season with the Dodgers and for a couple months this season, he has not come up to the heights that he displayed in his time with Boston.  Time will tell I guess.

2021 Topps 206 Lot and the Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #971

Unfortunately, Topps decided not to bring back Topps Total in 2021.  I always thought the online-only format of the set was kind of a bad idea.  Who wants to buy a $10.00 pack online and get a bunch of middle-relievers and utility players?  I loved the set, don't get me wrong, but I always just bought the singles I wanted.  

With the loss of Topps Total, Topps did an online-only format for Topps 206.  I still just pick up the singles I want.  One wave had several I jumped on:

Jason Varitek:  Of course I had to add this one.  29 cards to go to make my goal.  Unfortunately, it is becoming harder to find them.

Frank Arellanes:  Arellanes is noteworthy because he was in the original T206 set.  It is kind of odd to see such an obscure player in a modern set.  Odd, and awesome.  Arellanes pitched just three seasons in the Majors, all with the Red Sox, from 1908-1910.  He had a great year as a starter and reliever in 1909, pitching in 45 games, starting 28 and finishing a league-leading 15.  He notched eight saves, though it was not an official stat at the time.  He had a 2.18 ERA and a 16-12 record.

Christian Arroyo:  Arroyo has started to get more cards in 2022, but in 2021 he was still pretty rare in sets.  Arroyo had some great moments, including a late pinch-hit grand slam against the Braves.  I thought he would be the primary second-baseman this year, but he is a bit too injury-prone and Boston signed Trevor Story.

Various Topps Now Cards

I keep getting too busy to post here.  I am WAY behind.  Let's do some Topps Now cards, shall we?

August 24, 2021

Hunter Renfroe took over as my All-Time One-Year Right Fielder after a terrific 2021 season in which he hit .259/.315/.501 with 31 home runs and 96 RBIs.  He led the league in assists, but also errors.  Renfroe had a great game on August 24, clubbing two home runs and driving in five runs in a win over the Twins.

July 1, 2021

I picked up a parallel of this card, primarily because I thought this would be Danny Santana's only card with the Red Sox.  It did not end up that way, which I will get to eventually, though no idea when.  Santana did not do much for the Red Sox, but he provided some valuable pinch-running appearances, including in the final game of the ALDS.  Oh yeah, Rafael Devers is on this card too, but there are plenty of Devers cards out there.

August 23, 2021

How about a walk-off grand slam?  Recently re-acquired first-baseman Travis Shaw did just that on August 23, leading to an 8-4 victory over the Rangers.  Shaw came up with the Red Sox and spent the first two seasons of his career with Boston, before being traded to the Brewers, for whom he had some very good seasons.  He was plucked off of waivers by the Red Sox to provide some pop primarily as a pinch hitter, and also to spell Bobby Dalbec on occasion.  This was his first game back with Boston and his biggest moment in his tenure with the Red Sox.

2021 Panini Prizm Break

The problem with being so far behind on posts is remembering how exactly I got some of these cards.  I am pretty sure I must have opened up some type of packs to get this one, but whether it was a blaster or individual packs or one of those jumbo packs, I cannot remember.  Nothing thrilling here, just a base card, but Rafael Devers is currently my favorite player on the team.  I really hope Boston does not make the same mistake with Devers that they did with Mookie Betts.  The best part about Devers is that he is still just 25 years old.  We may not have seen the best from him yet.   

2021 Topps Now Bonus Card

It is sort of hard to remember now, but at the All Star Break in 2021, the Red Sox were riding high.  They finished the first half in first place in the A.L. East.  They were 55-36 at the half, but were just a game-and-a-half ahead of the second place Tampa Bay Rays.  Their placement would not last much longer as the team struggled over the next several weeks, though they would ultimately sneak into one of the Wild Card spots.  

Pictured on this card are, from left to right: Xander Bogaerts, Alex Verdugo, J.D. Martinez and Bobby Dalbec. 

I Kind of Like These Uniforms

 

This was my first card with the City Connect uniforms.  When I first saw them, I thought they were kind of a dumb gimmick.  It was a commercial pairing between MLB and Nike and I just did not really see the point.  Besides, the uniforms were a vast difference from the team's traditional appearance.  But once I saw them in use, they kind of grew on me.  The Red Sox wore them quite a bit last year and even went on a bit of a tear at one point down the stretch in them.  Honestly, I kind of like them now.  

A Couple of Quintanas

Something that I feel I talk a lot about on this blog is how I was a big fan of Carlos Quintana when I first started watching baseball.  He was the first kind of obscure player of whom I was inexplicably a big fan.  Guys like Felix Doubront and Tzu-Wei Lin have joined him over the years.  I still grab cards when I can find them, though there are not too many left.  Last year, I picked up two off of Ebay on the same day.

Buybacks have been one was to expand this collection.  This is a Bowman buyback from his 1991 card.  That was not the most exciting set in the world.  Kind of boring design.  No action photos.

This one is a bit more interesting.  One of those unlicensed photo cards from the 1980's, commonly referred to as Broder's.  

On a somewhat related note, I kind of had this fascination with contributing to the SABR bio project by writing the bio on Quintana.  Unfortunately, someone beat me to it recently.  I was sort of devastated by that.  I had been harboring this idea for a few years now, but just had not gotten going on it.  I should have done it.  My biggest hangup was trying to find out what he was doing now.  How that was going to happen.  I will have to pick someone else to write about I guess.

A&G Blaster

Every once in awhile, I have been able to actually find cards at Walmart.  Usually when that happens I have to buy stuff quickly.  They never seem to last long.  It was on one of these trips that I managed to buy a box of Allen & Ginter.  That has never been my favorite set.  I may be in the minority, but I just do not really care for the non-baseball player cards.  But cards have been so scarce, I will buy just about anything.

My blaster netted me two base cards, but they are two of my favorite players: Rafael Devers and Alex Verdugo.  Devers is turning into a beast.  I really hope Boston manages to get him locked up for a long-term deal.  I am still waiting for Verdugo to break out in a big way.  Hopefully this will be the year he does just that.

Dalbec and Chavis Relics and More

One of these days I might get caught up.  I suppose it would help if I actually posted every day.  Anyway, here is a random insert/relic lot I picked up, primarily for the relics of Bobby Dalbec and Michael Chavis.  

This was my first relic of Dalbec.  I really do not have any idea what to expect from Dalbec this year.  He had a great Spring and he was excellent down the stretch last year, but he strikes out way too much.  Chavis is a cautionary tale.  He too came to Boston with some big power but high strikeout rates.  Eventually, the strikeouts ate him alive and he could not be a productive hitter with that strikeout rate.  He was dumped at the trading deadline last year for Austin "Big Fudge" Davis, a lefty middle reliever.  I did have a couple of Chavis autographs previously, but no relics.

Beyond the relics, the lot consisted of a bunch of inserts.  I really like the Select Phenom card of Dalbec and the die-cut Platinum Players card of Roger Clemens.  And then there is the parallel mini of Alex Verdugo, one of my favorite current Red Sox players.

The Jason Varitek Quest for 1,000: #970

Still going...strong...ish.

Anyway, 2021 had a few new Jason Varitek cards released.  Not enough to make the last hurdle easy, but there were some.  This is the Allen & Ginter relic card of Varitek.  Nothing too exciting.  Just a gray swatch of uniform, but still.  Any new Varitek cards are greatly appreciated.

Project 70: Rafael Devers/Nolan Arenado by Lauren Taylor

Of all of the artists that were involved with the Project 70 set last year, I have to say that Lauren Taylor was my favorite.  Her photo-realistic renderings of the players using elements from the cities in which they played caught my attention from the very beginning.  I seriously considered buying other cards from this set if there was not to be a Red Sox card.  Luckily, there would eventually be two. 

This one came from the subset of All Star starters that were released around the All Star Break.  Taylor had the two third base starters: Nolan Arenado from the Cardinals and Rafael Devers.  Devers made his first All Star team in 2021, though it likely should have been his second.  He had a huge season last year, hitting .279/.352/.538 with 38 home runs, 101 runs scored and 113 RBIs.  As good as he was, he is still just 25 years old.  The sky may very well be the limit with Devers.  Boston needs to lock him up.  Do not make the same mistake they made with Mookie Betts.

Zippy Zapped

Kenny hit me up with one of the Baseball Card Day singles last year.  Kenny, I want to personally apologize for not being great about sending stuff back.  I will start to compile something shortly for you.  These cards are tough to come by for me, so I always appreciate other collectors helping me out.

A Bunch of Topps Online Cards

Packs have been tough to come by the last couple years and I have been too busy to organize my tradelist to make trades.  So, a lot of cards have been coming through the various Topps online sets.  Player selection is generally pretty good, particularly with Topps Now.  The big drawback is the price.  So I usually buy my singles through sellers on Ebay who offer discounts.  Here are a whole bunch of them from various sets:

From the Sports Illustrated covers set, comes this Pedro Martinez.  The magazine this was taken from was released very shortly after the Red Sox acquired Pedro and locked him up on a longterm deal.  This was before he even threw a pitch for Boston, but his best years were yet to come.  I had to get this one because I actually bought this magazine at the time.  I don't think I still have it though.

I have always liked multi-player cards, so I grabbed this one from the Throwback Thursday ongoing sets.  It is a little odd to put Xander Bogaerts with Bobby Dalbec, instead of Rafael Devers.  Dalbec of course was the big, hyped rookie last year for the Red Sox, so Topps wanted to take advantage of that.  Still, it seems more natural to put Bogaerts and Devers together since they play right next to each other and seem to have a very close friendship.

June 11, 2021

The Blue Jays led this game 5-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning before the Red Sox bats came alive.  Jays reliever Tyler Chatwood came unglued, allowing two runs to score on a walk and a wild pitch.  In the eighth, Christian Arroyo homered to tie the game.  In the ninth, Alex Verdugo laced a single to left to score Danny Santana with the winning run.  Verdugo had three hits in four at-bats that game.

June 16, 2021

In one of the biggest clutch hits of the season, Christian Arroyo demolished a pitch in the seventh inning with the bases loaded.  Boston was down 7-6 at the time to the eventual World Champion Braves.  Arroyo was pinch-hitting in the pitcher's slot at the time.  You cannot ask for a bigger clutch hit.

July 17, 2021

Topps Now likes to highlight the first major achievements of the top prospects upon their debuts.  Jarren Duran was a bigtime prospect who made his Major League debut against the Yankees and ripped a single in his first at-bat.  Unfortunately, the Red Sox lost that game in a rain-shortened six innings 3-1.

Here is another multi-player card from Throwback Thursday.  The design here was the 1993 Topps All Star subset, which was a pretty decent design from the junk wax era.  Of course, the point at the time was to highlight players from each league at the same position.  Still, can't go wrong with the two most recent Red Sox Hall of Famers, David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez.

July 19, 2021

The Red Sox exploded for eight runs in the first inning against the Blue Jays en route to a 13-4 drubbing.  Duran drove in the first two runs with his first Major League home run, scoring Enrique Hernandez.  It was Duran's only hit of the day.

Gypsy Queen Blaster

Unfortunately cards have still been hard to come across in retail stores around me.  So, I grab them when they are available.  I was lucky to find a blaster of Gypsy Queen at one point last year.

It was a reasonably successful break, yielding four Red Sox cards.  All base cards, but still.  Two of them were rookie cards, so there is that.  Both Tanner Houck and Bobby Dalbec made appearances.  And the other two were the big, homegrown stars.

Houck bounced between the majors and minors all year, but seemed to nail down a permanent spot by the end of the season, even if he still alternated between the rotation and bullpen.  He finished with a record of 1-5, but had a 3.52 ERA with 87 strikeouts and 21 walks in 69 innings pitched.

Bogaerts and Devers had their usual huge seasons.  Bogaerts was an All Star and hit .295/.370/.493 with 23 home runs and 79 RBIs.  As good as he was, Devers was better.  Devers hit .279/.352/.538 with team-leading 38 home runs and 113 RBIs.  He was also an All Star.

Dalbec struggled at times and strikes out way too much, but had a couple months where he was on fine.  He ended up hitting .240/.298/.494 with 25 home runs and 78 RBIs.

Random Topps Now Cards

Still playing catch-up here.  Topps Now and the other online sets have become a go-to for me in the last couple of years.  Particularly due to player selection, but also because I can actually get my hands on them.

May 14, 2021

In the seventh inning of the game against the Angels, Red Sox rookie Bobby Dalbec crushed a two-run, go-ahead home run.  The Red Sox would not relinquish the lead.  It was Dalbec's only hit in the game, but he did walk and steal a base as well.

June 25, 2021

Unfortunately, Dustin Pedroia's career was cut short due to injuries.  He suffered a knee injury in a play back in 2017 when Manny Machado slid into him.  He attempted to come back a few times, but it became clear that he was not going to be able to make it back.  It sucks because Pedroia was on the verge of a Hall of Fame career.  On June 25, the Red Sox held a retirement ceremony for the long-time second-baseman.  Pedroia finished his career with a line of .299/.365/.439 with 1,805 hits, 140 home runs, 725 RBIs and 138 stolen bases.  He was a Rookie of the Year, AL MVP, four-time All Star and four-time Gold Glove winner.

June 27, 2009

And now for a Turn Back the Clock card.  I had to grab a Tim Wakefield card.  On this date in 2009, Wakefield tied Roger Clemens for the club record in games started.  Wakefield would end up blowing that number out of the water.  He started 430 games during his career.  That club record will hold for a long time.

Topps Series 2 Case Break

Here are the results from another one of those case breaks I bought into last year.  This was Topps Series 2.

Up first are the inserts.  There really is not anything mind-blowing here.  No relics or autographs, but it is a nice collection of players.  I got a couple of the Silver Pack cards, Tanner Houck and Alex Verdugo.  The Platinum Players die-cut of Ted Williams is definitely my favorite.  Then there is the Gold parallel of Christian Vazquez, a card I probably would have picked up on my own since Vazquez is one of my favorite players.  I love the 70 Years of Topps card of David Ortiz, primarily due to the action shot.  The Ted Williams is a nice shot that I have not seen before.

And here is the first scan of base cards.  I love the player selection here.  Sure there are stars like Xander Bogaerts and Chris Sale, as well as well-represented players like Matt Barnes, Tanner Houck and Michael Chavis.  Chavis also appears as the player riding the laundry cart in the home run celebration.  I want to bring attention to the fourth card in the scan.  That is Christian Arroyo and it is my first card of him.  Arroyo turned into a pretty important role player for Boston in 2020 and that continued into 2021.  And finally, the sixth card features Yairo Munoz, who does not have a Red Sox card of his own.

And here are the rest.  Jackie Bradley, Jr. makes an appearance, despite the fact that he was with the Brewers in 2021.  Jonathan Arauz also shows up with a nice action shot.  Speaking of nice action shots, check out this Enrique Hernandez card.  Hernandez has had great cards seemingly every year.  It's nice to see that with the Red Sox now.

All-Time One-Year Wonder Update: Utility

I did one of these updates recently, giving Hunter Renfroe the nod over previous All-Time One-Year Wonder Right Fielder Cody Ross.  Since Kyle Schwarber recently signed a free agent deal with the Phillies, it is fair to ask how he measures up.  Also, two other players, Marwin Gonzalez and Danny Santana fit the position as well.

Kyle Schwarber split his time with Boston almost evenly between left field, designated hitter and first base, so he would fall into the utility position.  Marwin Gonzalez appeared primarily at second base, but also spent significant time at first, left field and shortstop.  He also appeared at third, right field and even pitched.  Danny Santana primarily played first base and center field, but also played in left field and designated hitter.  The previous utility man who was my pick was Bill Hall.  Hall spent the 2010 season in Boston after being acquired from the Mariners.  Hall played in 119 games primarily between left field and second base, but also appearing at the other two outfield spots, third base, shortstop and even pitching.  Hall hit .247/.316/.456 with 18 home runs, 46 RBIs and nine stolen bases.

Schwarber was acquired at the trading deadline in 2021 for Aldo Ramirez.  He was injured at the time of his acquisition so it was a couple of weeks before he appeared in a game for the Red Sox, but he proved to be worth the wait.  He played in 41 games, hitting .291/.435/.522 with seven home runs, 18 RBIs and ten doubles.  He hit three more home runs with six RBIs in the postseason.  

Marwin Gonzalez and Danny Santana also fall into this discussion, but neither had numbers anywhere close to good enough to unseat Bill Hall.  Gonzalez played in 77 games, hitting .202/.281/.285 with two home runs, 14 doubles, 20 RBIs and three stolen bases.  Boston eventually released him and he returned to the Astros, where he had his most success.  Gonzalez was actually acquired by the Red Sox way back in the 2011 Rule 5 Draft, but was immediately traded to the Astros for Marco Duarte, who never played for Boston.

Santana had hit 28 home runs as recently as 2019 and was acquired to provide versatility as well as speed from the bench.  It did not work out well.  Santana hit just .181/.252/.345 in 38 games.  He did add five home runs and stole four bases, but only add two doubles, a triple and 14 RBIs.  He did notably score the winning run in the ALDS against the Rays. 

Hall played in more games, spending the entire season with the team and did have more in the way of counting stats, obviously.  He also has a slight edge in WAR (1.8 to 1.3).  Schwarber has the lead in the rate stats though.  Hall has more versatility, playing every position except first base and catcher.  He even pitched.  I think the fact that Hall played the entire season and is a bit more of a classic utility player will carry the decision.  Schwarber was fantastic and I am disappointed he is no longer with the team.  I just think for these purposes, Hall has a slight edge.

Topps Now: August 11, 2021

 

On August 11, the Red Sox beat the Rays 20-8 in Fenway Park.  Seven of the Rays runs came in the ninth inning when Boston left Phillips Valdez out to dry.  The offense exploded that day with 19 hits.  Every starter except Kevin Plawecki got a hit.  Topps Now of course issued a card, showing five of these hitters.  Xander Bogaerts was 2-4 with a home run and a double.  Hunter Renfroe went 3-5 with four RBIs and two doubles.  J.D. Martinez was 4-4 with a double.  Marwin Gonzalez, who was a big disappointment in 2021, had a rare good game as he had two hits in five at-bats.  Finally, rookie Bobby Dalbec drove in five runs on two hits, including a triple.  Boston had some difficulty with Tampa Bay during the regular season, but this was a hell of a game for them.  Lost in the offensive explosion was the pitching performance by Nathan Eovaldi who pitched seven strong innings, giving up just one run, one walk and struck out ten.