The Most Underrated Red Sox Player of My Lifetime

I have just a one-card trade package from TCDB to show off today.  And it's not even Connor Wong.  I have been thinking about this a lot because it seems like everyday someone on Twitter talks about underrated players.  So, I was thinking about who the most underrated player of my lifetime is, and this is an appropriate time to talk about it because I got this Stadium Club Bash & Burn card of John Valentin.

This is the front:

And this is the back:

John Valentin spent the first ten years of his career with the Red Sox.  From 1993 through 1998 (his most productive seasons), he hit .288/.370/.475 with 101 home runs, 223 doubles, 426 RBIs and 46 stolen bases.  During those six years, he averaged more than 5.0 WAR per season.  Yet, he was never an All Star.  He only once got MVP votes (1995, he finished eighth).  He did win a Silver Slugger Award, but that was the only real accolade he ever received.  He once turned an unassisted triple play and hit three home runs in a single game.  He also performed in the postseason, hitting .347/.407/.639 with five home runs and 19 RBIs in 17 games.

On top of all of that, Valentin is extremely underrated in the hobby.  This card is one of the very few non-base insert cards of him out there (and almost all of them are from 1996, after his amazing 1995 season).  I counted seven, though I counted quickly.  In addition, he has never appeared in an autograph or relic set.  If it were not for parallels, there would be very few Valentin cards.  So yes, I believe this is a pretty easy call.  With apologies to Trot Nixon, John Valentin is the most underrated Red Sox player of my lifetime.

Wong-ton Soup

You know what I haven't done for awhile?  A Connor Wong update.

Up first is the Orange Prizm parallel of the Donruss Optic Signature.  I have already amassed a fairly large number of autographs of Wong.  His stuff started climbing in price temporarily after his huge game against the Blue Jays (I'm still pissed there was no Topps Now card from that).  But they seem to have settled down a bit since then.  It is still a bit more expensive than it was at the beginning though.

I really like this card.  I targeted it.  This is the Aqua Wave Refractor from Topps Chrome.  Also an autograph.

I have not really grabbed much from Panini Mosaic so far.  That's a set with a ton of parallels that I should probably get moving on.  This is the Reactive Orange parallel.

This is another one I targeted  This is the Antique Frame parallel from Panini Diamond Kings.  This is serial-numbered to 18.  I like the look of the frame.

And for the last card of this post, this is the Negative Refractor from Topps Chrome.

As usual, there are a lot still to come.  I need to work on picking out a few cards to really focus on.  I have one in mind, the Stadium Club rookie variation with the 1992 design.  I have never seen that one for sale.  I would really like to add it.

My First TCDB Trade

As I discussed earlier on this blog, I decided to start cataloging my collection on Trading Card Database.  I am still working my way through my tradelist, which is taking a LONG time.  Nevertheless, I have enough on there to start making deals.  For now I am focusing on my Connor Wong collection there rather than put my entire Red Sox wantlist up.  

I have been able to make a few deals so far.  I recently got the first one in.  I started out focusing on one Wong card, but the other party declined that one and said he would work out a deal if I came up with a few more cards.  He was a Royals collector so I started putting up more of my Royals tradelist and worked out this deal:

1.  Eduardo Rodriguez.  I was always a big E-Rod fan.  He is having a nice season for Detroit right now.

2.  Carlton Fisk.  I liked this insert set that features players with two of their teams.  It is even better that the pictures have not been used hundreds of times.  

3.  Rick Porcello.  This is actually my favorite card from the deal.  Porcello should be a lot larger in my collection since he is one of just four Red Sox pitchers to win the Cy Young Award.  

4.  Bill Lee.  You can't argue with a card that features Lee's "Spaceman" nickname.

5.  Connor Wong.  And here is the Wong card.  This is the Lime Green Prizm parallel from Donruss Optic.

6.  Darwinzon Hernandez.  This is the third card from my wantlist to get in this deal (Fisk and Porcello were the others).  For some reason I have been getting a few more Hernandez cards lately.  Seems odd.

This is the first TCDB trade, but a few more are coming.  

2023 Topps Now Road to Opening Day (My First Yoshida!)

Almost every year since they have been available, I have been ordering the Road to Opening Day Team Set.  I believe I missed 2019.  Things have changed quite a bit over the years.  The set is significantly smaller than it was even last year.  It was 15 cards last year, this year it is only ten.  The price is lower though, which is a good thing.  I have not gotten the autograph set for awhile, and I do not think there even was one the last couple of years.  Still, I look forward to it as a way to add new players.

So here is the set this year:

1.  Rafael Devers.  In Boston's 10-9 loss to the Orioles on Opening Day, Devers had two hits in five at-bats, including a double.  He scored twice and drove in a run.

2.  Triston Casas.  My parallel in the set is the blue version of Casas.  Only three players were available as parallels.  This card is numbered to 49.

3.  Triston Casas.  Casas was 0 for 2 on Opening Day with a walk and two RBIs.  He has had a rough start to the season.

4.  Enrique Hernandez.  Hernandez was hitless in three at-bats to start the season.  He played shortstop.

5.  Chris Sale.  Surprisingly Sale did not start on Opening Day.  Corey Kluber drew the start and does not appear in this set.

6.  Alex Verdugo.  Verdugo led off the game and had two hits in five at-bats, scoring two runs.  He had a triple among his two hits.

7.  Kenley Jansen.  The first new player in this set.  Jansen did not pitch on Opening Day due to the loss.

8.  Justin Turner.  The second new player.  Turner was the DH on Opening Day and had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI.

9.  Brayan Bello.  Bello started the season in the minors rehabbing from an injury.

10.  Tanner Houck.  Houck started the season as the third starter.

11.  Masataka Yoshida.  Here we go.  My first Yoshida card.  I have been waiting for this.  Yoshida started off strong, picking up two hits, a run scored and an RBI in four at-bats.  He cooled off eventually significantly, but made some adjustments and is a hitting machine.  I am very excited about Yoshida.

The Wong Way

People may already be getting tired of Connor Wong posts.  I am pretty excited about this collection right now.  I am trying to vary things a little bit, but these are the frequent maildays right now.

Up first is a card I acquired in a trade on one of the forums:

I have not been able to do many trades specifically for Wong cards, but I have gotten a few as throw-ins in deals.  This trade was for this card in particular.  This is the 2022 Finest Green Refractor Autograph.  I had the Green Wave Refractor earlier.  

Up next is a two-card lot I made an offer for on Ebay, featuring a couple more shades of green:

Here I have the Green Refractor from the largely unnecessary Ben Baller set.  The other card is my first parallel of the Panini Prizm Rookie Autographs.  This is the Teal Donut Circles card serial-numbered to just 13.  The second card was the big draw.

The scan does not do much for this card.  This is the Black Stars Prizm parallel of the Donruss Optic card.  Some of the stars might be slightly visible if you look closely.

Here is the Orange/Black Sonic Pulse Refractor from Topps Sonic.  These are still some of the more interesting parallels I have in this collection to date.  I was not sure I was going to do much with Topps Chrome Sonic, but I find myself really liking these parallels.

I started to feel like the Bowman set was kind of underrepresented in my collection (I only have one parallel to this point) so I grabbed this Neon Green parallel for relatively cheap.  I still have a ways to go on the Bowman stuff.  

The next scan is a collection of four cards I picked up from one big Ebay seller who had a number of cheaper parallels available.

So here are the Orange Prizm from Donruss Optic, the Red Foil from Stadium Club, the Green Dragon Prizm from Optic and the Silver Holo from Optic.  The Green Dragon is my favorite of the bunch, and definitely the most unique.

I splurged a bit on this one, but I targeted it from the beginning.  This is the Red Refractor from Topps Finest Flashbacks.  This picture only appears on this card and its parallels, so I kind of liked it immediately.  Unfortunately, it was not cheap, and I did not think it likely to find another copy any time soon.

This is my favorite Sonic Pulse Refractor so far.  This is the Blue/Yellow.  It kind of reminds me of the City Connect jerseys.  There needs to be a Connor Wong card in that uniform.

In keeping with the effort to add more Bowman variations, I grabbed the Bowman Chrome Autograph Green Refractor, my first Bowman auto of Wong.  This is numbered to 99.  The seller tossed in a freebie.  Eduardo Lopez was Boston's top international free agent signing in the 2018/2019 signing period.  He has had trouble staying on the field.  He is still just 21, but does not appear likely to make the Majors.

This is the Panini Capstone Rookie Materials card, just a basic gray swatch this time.  This is another of those great Panini cards of a catcher in full equipment so you can't tell Panini does not have a Major League license.

Also from Panini Capstone, and using the same photo, is this Crown Autograph.  I can overlook that it is the same photo.

And for the last card today, this is the Refractor version of Stadium Club Chrome.

As usual, there is still a LOT to come.  

2023 Factory Team Set

I have mentioned a few times that I have been mostly unable to get any of the new releases.  My local Walmart has not gotten anything in most of the year.  I did manage to find the factory team set recently though, so at least there is that.  Let's see who made the set, who should have, and who shouldn't have:

1.  Triston Casas.  Not at all surprising that he made it.  Casas was one of the top rookies coming in to the season and a former first round draft pick.

2.  Justin Turner.  This is my first Turner card.  Turner was one of the bigger names Boston picked up over the offseason.  He is a welcome addition.

3.  Nathan Eovaldi.  Here is the first player who should not be here.  Eovaldi signed with the Rangers somewhat late in the offseason, but still, he was not on the Red Sox roster at the time these sets went to print.  There are several other players that could have been included.

4.  Rafael Devers.  Of course Devers has to be in it.  He is the team's biggest star.

5.  Trevor Story.  Story should be here too.  He still has a reputation as a star player, even if last season was rough and he is not starting this season active.

6.  Christian Arroyo.  This is a bit of a surprise.  Arroyo has been solid for Boston, but seems to be better in utility-type role.  He has been thrust into a starting role this season due to injuries.

7.  Enrique Hernandez.  Yes, he should be here.  The biggest surprise is the somewhat pedestrian photo.  Hernandez has frequently had awesome photos on his Topps cards.

8.  Nick Pivetta.  Pivetta was a workhorse last season.  He should be here.  Plus, he is wearing the City Connect uniform.

9.  Alex Verdugo.  Next to Devers, this is the easiest call.

10.  Bobby Dalbec.  Here is the second City Connect uniform card.  Dalbec is not a surprising inclusion.  There is still hope for him to be a productive Major Leaguer, even it is severely waning.

11.  Jarren Duran.  In the same boat as Dalbec, but Duran has started coming around this year.

12.  Tommy Pham.  Pham is another player to not return to Boston.  He probably should not be here.

13.  Michael Wacha.  And here is another one.  I am happy to see Wacha in the set because he had VERY few cards with the Red Sox last year.  But still.

14.  Josh Winckowski.  I am very happy to see him here too.  Winckowski has been very good this year and is giving the Andrew Benintendi trade a chance at looking decent.

15.  Kutter Crawford.  Another somewhat surprising addition.  Crawford has also been good out of the bullpen this year.

16.  Brayan Bello.  Like Casas, Bello is one of the top rookies on the team this year.

17.  Chris Sale.  And of course Sale should be here.

Okay, so we have three players who should not be here: Eovaldi, Pham and Wacha.  Everyone else is fine, even if Arroyo and Crawford are a bit odd.  So, are there any notable misses?  Well, the biggest one is Masataka Yoshida.  He should have replaced Pham.  Yoshida had signed before Turner did, so there is no real good reason for him not to be here.  I suspect the major culprit was not having a good photo of him.  Kenley Jansen is also noticeably absent.  He is probably the biggest star player Boston brought in.  As for the last spot, I would probably go with Corey Kluber.  He also signed early enough in the offseason that he could be here.  There is also no catcher here.  Either Connor Wong or Reese McGuire probably could have made it, though McGuire would get the edge since he was expected to be the starter coming into the year.  Still, Kluber, a former two-time Cy Young winner, should be here. 

A Couple Shiny Trades

It is my birthday today.  Up next are a couple more forum trades that seem to be very focused on shininess.

Here is Trade #1:

1.  Tanner Houck.  This is a Lime Green Prizm parallel of starting pitcher Tanner Houck.  Houck has a chance to be a decent starting pitcher, something Boston has been unable to really develop in the last 15 years or so.  Houck has struggled the last couple of games, but he has shown resiliency.

2.  Daniel Bard.  Bard resurrected his career last year with the Rockies, but suffered an injury during the World Baseball Classic.  Bard had been a promising reliever with Boston until they tried to turn him into a starter.  That caused some major issues with his development.

3.  Mike Napoli.  The only non-pitcher in this package is fan favorite Napoli.  His biggest moment in Boston was homering off of Justin Verlander in Game 3 of the ALCS in 2013.  It was the only run of the game and gave Boston a 2-1 series lead.  

4.  Darwinzon Hernandez.  Hernandez was maddening.  Clearly he had talent, but his frequent inability to find the strike zone made him untrustworthy in big situations.

5.  Curt Schilling.  Like the other pitchers in this trade, Schilling made his professional debut in the Red Sox organization.  He was traded to the Orioles prior to making his Major League debut in the deal that brought Mike Boddicker to Boston.

Here is Trade #2:

1.  Ian Kinsler.  Kinsler did not produce much offensively for the Red Sox, but he did have a few big moments in the postseason.  He also won a Gold Glove Award.  

2.  Rafael Devers.  At this rate, Devers may hit 300 cards by July.

3.  Xander Bogaerts.  Bogaerts is off to a hot start with the Padres this season.  But there was not much question he would still be good the first few years of his eleven year deal.

4.  Triston Casas.  Casas continues to struggle.  If he can't get going soon, he may have to go back to the minors for a bit.  Adam Duvall will be back soon and Justin Turner could move from DH to first to accommodate him.

5.  Rafael Devers.

6.  Pedro Martinez.  

That's it for now, but there are a couple more trades incoming.

The Wong Show

Connor Wong had a great weekend the last weekend in April and a HUGE game on May 2.  He had a couple hits in each game, including a home run on Sunday.  He also continued to throw out runners attempting to steal.  On May 2, he had four hits, including two home runs and a double.  One of the home runs eventually won the game.  He is starting to make a name for himself.  Unfortunately, Topps did not give him a Topps Now card.  Not sure what more he would have needed to do to get one.

Anyway, on to the new cards:

These two came in on the same day and I intended to have a short post, then the next day I got a bunch more.  These two are the Panini Select Scope parallel and the Aqua/Pink Sonic Pulse Refractor from Topps Chrome Sonic.  I kind of like these Sonic parallels, even if the color schemes are a little strange.  

Here is another Sonic parallel, this one is the Purple/Yellow.  I have a couple more of these coming.

This is the Field Gear Dual from Panini National Treasures.  This is a great-looking card, made even better by the fact that you cannot even tell Panini does not have a Major League license here.  Two patches on the card make it that much more appealing.

I think I may have bid on a copy of this card a few months back, long before I even considered a Connor Wong collection.  I just liked the look of it.  Well, now I actually have it.

I got a hell of a deal on a lot that included this Topps Chrome Gold Wave Refractor autograph.  The pictures were not terribly good.  I got this and the below cards in the lot:

This is the Purple Prizm and the Blue Donut Circles Prizm parallels.  They were in the lot as well.  Not quite as exciting, but it's two more to add to the collection.

Here is the Purple Shimmer parallel, serial-numbered to just seven.  

This is the Donruss Optic Purple Pandora Prizm parallel.  This is a really bad scan that does not show the holographic box pattern.

This may be one of my favorite Wong cards.  This is from Panini Immaculate Collection and is a part from his name on the back of his jersey.  Looks like it might be from the O and N.  It is serial-numbered to two.

Here is another lot I purchased.  I actually lost an auction with these same cards, which was then re-listed.  I won it this time and added the Topps Pristine, Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Signature and Finest Green Wave Refractor Autograph.

And finally, this is the Ben Baller Rose Gold Refractor.  I really do not understand the Ben Baller set.  But, it's more Wong cards to track down.

That's it for now, but there are still a LOT to come.

Topps Now: April 1, 2023

My first Topps Now post of the 2023 season features new Red Sox outfielder Adam Duvall, who was swinging a hot bat right away in the season.  In the second game of the season, Duvall had a four-hit day, socking two home runs, including a walk-off two-run shot with Rob Refsnyder on base.  Duvall was a single short of the cycle.  Kenley Jansen got the win, his first in Boston.

Unfortunately, he went down with an injury a few days later.  Thus far, he has played in eight games with Boston and is hitting .455/.514/1.030.  It would be great to get his bat back in the lineup.

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.

Wong Update

Anybody bored with the Connor Wong cards might need to ignore this site for a little bit.  I try to keep them together as best I can, but there are a LOT coming.

Anyway, here is the next update:

This one is sort of odd.  This is a 2022 Topps Transcendent VIP Baseball Party card that is a 1/1.  I have seen a few other Wong cards out there that are the same thing, but with a different pattern on the front.  This was the least expensive so I grabbed it.  The issue here is that these cards are not listed on TCDB.  The information I have been able to pick up on it is that each box of Topps Transcendent includes an invitation to a VIP party where attendees are given a bunch of random items, including special packs.  Because there is no checklist available of what is out there, TCDB has not been able to verify what is out there and has not listed the cards.  So, my actual count of Wong cards is one higher than TCDB shows I have.

The first card in this scan is the Silver Shimmer parallel of Prizm.  This card is serial-numbered to just seven.  The second card is not a mistake, it was an extra in the package.  I suppose I could refer to Seabold as Connor Wrong from now on.  Still, I didn't have this card, so I added it to my collection.

This is the Red Donut Circles parallel from Prizm, just one of the many mindless parallels out there.  And yet, I still try to grab them.

This is more like it.  This was a lot that I picked up with five new cards, including two autographs.  There was a second copy of the Chrome auto and a Sepia Refractor as well, but those were duplicates.  This was one of my best buys so far.  This is the Chrome Rookie Autograph, Xfractor, Refractor, Sonic Refractor (the RC logo is larger and swapped sides with the Topps Chrome logo) and Stadium Club autograph.  A couple of the lower-end cards I had coming in a huge COMC order that I have yet to receive, but these made it first.  The Stadium Club auto is my favorite here.

This is the Topps Gallery Blue Pattern parallel and is serial-numbered to 50.  The Topps Gallery cards are nice because the picture is not used anywhere else at this time.

I think this is the Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Signature Carolina Blue Velocity parallel.  I said I think because it and the Teal version are both serial-numbered to 49.  When I bought this, it was listed as Teal, but I am pretty sure that color is Carolina Blue.  See what I mean about mindless parallels?  Now, I originally bought one that was numbered to 49 that was listed as Blue, but looked either Teal or Carolina Blue in the picture, but the seller cancelled the listing saying they must have previously sold it, so I grabbed this one, that was listed as Teal, but appears to be the Carolina Blue.  I will look for the Teal later, I am happy to have one of the two right now.

The last card of the day is the Diamond Kings Rookie Expression relic card.  This is actually the first plain relic I have picked up so far.  

That's it for now, like I said, there is a LOT coming.