Season in Review: 2013

John Farrell was hired to replace Bobby Valentine as the manager and the Red Sox spent a lot of the money that they saved after trading away the contracts of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett.  Some of the more injury-prone players also came back in a big way.  Pretty much everything went right, and the result was their third World Championship since 1918.  They won the AL East, then beat Tampa Bay in the ALDS three games to one, beat the Tigers in the ALCS in six games, and finally won the World Series over the Cardinals in six games.

FIVE FAVORITE PLAYERS

Dustin Pedroia
Pedroia had his first All Star season since 2010 and also won a Gold Glove, his third.  It was an impressive season for the second-baseman as he hit .301/.372/.415 with nine home runs, 84 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases.  He only missed two games all season.

David Ortiz
David Ortiz hit 30 home runs for the first time since 2010 and came back from an injury-shortened 2012 season to lead Boston's offense in batting average, home runs, and RBIs.  Of course he had a legendary postseason at the plate.  He hit .309/.395/.564 with 30 home runs and 103 RBIs.

Jacoby Ellsbury
Like Ortiz, Ellsbury missed a significant chunk of time in 2012, and came back to have a more typical Ellsbury season, nothing like his monstrous 2011 season.  He hit .298/.355/.426 with nine home runs and stole 52 bases to lead the league in his final season for the Red Sox.

Jon Lester
Another player with a bounceback season was the left-handed Lester, who was Boston's best starting pitcher.  He lead the team in wins (15) and strikeouts (177) while pitching to an ERA of 3.75 and then was lights-out in the postseason.

Clay Buchholz
Had he stayed healthy, Buchholz could have won the Cy Young Award.  He was that good.  Instead, he had to settle for an incredible 12-1 record with a 1.74 ERA in 16 games.  He was named an All Star for the second time.  Unfortunately, it was obvious he was out of gas by the postseason.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Felix Doubront
The Venezuelan southpaw followed up a successful rookie season with a slightly better sophomore year.  His strikeouts were down slightly, but his rate stats all improved and he won the same number of games, while losing fewer.  He was impressive in the postseason out of the bullpen.

Daniel Nava
Nava had a breakthrough season in 2013, splitting time between the outfield and first base.  He hit .303/.385/.445 with 12 home runs and 66 RBIs.  Nava was in the Top 10 in the league in average and on-base percentage.

Junichi Tazawa
Tazawa settled in as the primary setup man after a brief failed audition for closer.  He pitched in 71 games, going 5-4 with a 3.16 ERA and 72 strikeouts versus just 12 walks in 68.1 innings.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia
One season after leading the Red Sox with 25 home runs, Saltalamacchia dipped to just 14 in 2013 but the rest of his hitting stats were more impressive.  Saltalamacchia, in his final season with the Red Sox, hit .273/.338/.466 and became the first Red Sox catcher to hit 40 doubles in a season.  He had a big moment with a walkoff hit in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Tigers.

John Lackey
Coming back from Tommy John surgery, Lackey had his best season to date for the Red Sox in 2013, winning 10 games and leading the team with a 3.52 ERA.  He had a 4:1 strikeout to walk ratio.  Lackey won the final game of the World Series, completing a terrific comeback season.

FAVORITE ACQUISITIONS

Shane Victorino
Boston signed a number of middle-tier free agents for the 2013 season, but none had a better year than Victorino.  The right-fielder won the Gold Glove award and hit .294/.351/.451 with 15 home runs, 61 RBIs, and 21 stolen bases.  He was particularly impressive down the stretch after giving up on switch-hitting.  Victorino had two huge moments in the postseason, hitting a grand slam in the final game in the ALCS and a bases-clearing double in the final game of the World Series.

Mike Napoli
The co-ringleader of the beard committee, along with Jonny Gomes, Napoli was supposed to be the biggest free agent signing.  He did hit 23 home runs and drove in 92 runs while learning a new position: first base.  He hit .259/.360/.482 for Boston and played a terrific first base.  He should have won a Gold Glove himself.

Koji Uehara
Something of an under-the-radar signing, nonetheless Koji was perhaps the biggest acquisition of all.  After Joel Hanrahan was injured, Boston needed a closer.  Koji stepped in and had one of the greatest seasons as a closer for the Red Sox of all time.  He saved 21 games with a 4-1 record and a mind-boggling 1.09 ERA while striking out 101 and walking nine in just 74.1 innings.  He was even better in the postseason, winning the ALCS MVP.

FAVORITE MIDSEASON ACQUISITION

Jake Peavy
Unfortunately, Peavy cost Boston Jose Iglesias, but he helped solidify the rotation while Buchholz was hurt.  He was 4-1 in 10 games with a 4.04 ERA.  He was the only major pickup Boston obtained during the season.

FAVORITE ROOKIES

Jose Iglesias
It is true that Iglesias was traded away at the trading deadline, but he was the only Red Sox rookie hitter to play any significant amount of time in 2013.  His glove was never a concern, but Iglesias actually hit very well with a slash line of .330/.376/.409.  His numbers declined somewhat with the Tigers, but he still finished second in the Rookie of the Year vote.

Brandon Workman
Workman made it into 20 games and struck out 47 in 41.2 innings.  He started three games and finished with a record of 6-3 and a 4.97 ERA.  He pitched his way onto the postseason roster and pitched his way to 8.2 innings without allowing an earned run.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS

Joel Hanrahan
Yet another trade for a closer gone awry.  Hanrahan cost the Red Sox Mark Melancon who became an All Star with the Pirates, as well as some young players.  Hanrahan only pitched in nine games, saving four, before going down for the season and had a 9.82 ERA.  His injury paved the way for Koji Uehara to become a dominant closer though.

Will Middlebrooks
After a strong rookie showing, Middlebrooks had trouble at the plate, hitting just .227/.271/.425.  He did hit 17 home runs, but struck out 98 times in only 348 at-bats and generally performing poorly in the field.  Boston eventually replaced him with Xander Bogaerts.

POSTSEASON HERO

David Ortiz
Was there any doubt?  Ortiz had a postseason for the ages.  He hit two home runs against Tampa Bay in the ALDS, both off of David Price.  Then he hit a dramatic game-tying grand slam off of Joaquin Benoit of the Tigers in Game 2 of the ALCS which Boston later won.  Then he went completely nuts in the World Series, hitting an otherworldly .688/.760/1.188 slash line, for an utterly insane 1.948 OPS.  He was the obvious choice for World Series MVP.

4 Small Packages in One Scan

Rather than doing one small post for each of the four packages I received in the mail all in one day, I decided to throw them all together.

Behold:

The first four cards all came from one trade.  I gave up a bunch of 2016 Heritage singles.

1.  Fred Lynn.  This card is one of many celebrating Lynn's rookie year, which was one of the greatest of all time.  Lynn was, of course, the first player to win the Rookie of the Year and the MVP in the same season.

2.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  This is one of the retail-only parallels from 2014 Topps.  I had Matt Thornton previously.

3.  Jim Rice.  Rice was almost as good as Lynn in 1975.  Boy, that Red Sox outfield in the 70's (Dwight Evans, Lynn, and Rice) would have been incredible to see.

4.  Jackie Bradley Jr.  This year's outfield could be terrific defensively though.  Bradley will be in center, Mookie Betts in right, and Rusney Castillo in left.

Up next is a card that was on my Top 10.  It was pretty low on the list, but it was still on there.

5.  Alexi Ogando.  Technically I had the base version of this on my list, but I am going to count this.  I only had one card of Ogando previously in my Red Sox collection.  He made it into 64 games in 2015 and was generally unimpressive.  But, this is my first autograph of Ogando, and only my second card.

Next is a two-card trade for a couple of former highly regarded pitching prospects.

6.  Dustin Richardson.  Richardson made it into 26 games with Boston in 2010 as a lefty option in the bullpen.  After the season, he was traded to Florida for Andrew Miller, a trade that worked out well for Boston, but poorly for Florida as Richardson never pitched in the Majors again.

7.  Daniel Bard.  Bard was so good for a couple of seasons and it is really sad that he completely fell apart.  He has not pitched in the Majors since a bad two-game stint in 2013.  He can not find the strike zone any more and has bounced from organization to organization.

Finally, a quick Ebay buy.

8.  Babe Ruth.  This was a card that was only available in Topps factory sets.  This card commemorates Ruth's three World Championships with Boston.

1991 Topps #629: Wes Gardner

In this series, I will look at my first team set: 1991 Topps. This was the set I started my baseball card collection with.

This is certainly not the most exciting of photos from this set.  Here we have just a profile shot from Spring Training.  Gardner was not the most exciting of pitchers in Boston either.  Gardner was acquired in the same trade that brought Calvin Schiraldi over from the Mets.  Boston sent Bob Ojeda and others to New York in that deal.  

Gardner typically pitched in relief while with the Red Sox, though not typically with a lot of success.  In 1990, Gardner was 3-7 in 34 games, starting just nine of them.  His ERA was a less-than-good 4.89 and his WHIP was a frightening 1.448.  

Boston apparently grew weary of Gardner not reaching his potential and traded him to the Padres in December for two minor leaguers who never made it to the Majors.  Gardner did not last long in San Diego either and was released in May.  He caught on with the Royals, continued to not pitch well and was done as a Major Leaguer.

My Most Wanted has Been Caught

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that my Top 10 Most Wanted has had a little bit of a shake-up at the top.  That is because the #1 card on the Top 10 was added to my collection:

This card has been #1 on that list since I acquired the only Red Sox card of James Loney ever made (2012 Topps Update SSP) and then shortly later an Oil Can Boyd card some time back in 2013.  This card has spent more than two and a half years as the #1 card on my Most Wanted list, longer than either of the other two.

As I have mentioned before on this blog when talking about this card, this is just an incredibly cool-looking card of a player who was not with the team for very long.  It is a die-cut card of J.T. Snow, who only played in 38 games for Boston in 2006, and is just my fourth card of Snow in my Red Sox collection.  There was a Jason Varitek card from the same set, which I picked up right away as it was during a time when picking up Varitek cards was my highest priority.

Snow had been acquired by the Red Sox as something of a stop-gap option at first in case Kevin Youkilis did not work out.  Ultimately, Youkilis turned into a terrific first-baseman and Snow was superfluous.  It helped that Snow only hit .205/.340/.205 with no power whatsoever.  He was released in June.

I am thrilled with this pickup.  Now, there is a new #1 on my Top 10 Most Wanted.

1 for 1 SP Trade

I traded my 2016 Topps Heritage Buster Posey short print for this Red Sox short print from the same set:

That was a pretty good trade in my eyes.  I am looking forward to Mookie Betts building upon his successful career so far in 2016.

The New MLB Showdown?

I was browsing around Ebay looking for some cards of Red Sox players without many cards, when I stumbled upon this kind of odd-looking Ryan Hanigan card.  Apparently, there was a game kind of similar to MLB Showdown released last year.  The game is apparently pretty much the same, and the game came with 30 cards.  I bought a number of the cards after discovering them:

As you can see, there is no MLB license, and the pictures of the players have been altered quite bit, leaving the pictures looking like video game graphics.  But that is fine.  I am pretty happy with this selection of players.  There are more Red Sox, but I picked up a bunch that I was excited about.  Here is a brief discussion of each player:

1.  Allen Craig.  Craig has been a big disappointment in Boston after being acquired in the trade with Joe Kelly that sent John Lackey to St. Louis.  Craig has hit .139/.236/.197 with just two home runs for the Red Sox.  A far cry from his numbers in St. Louis.

2.  Anthony Varvaro.  Varvaro was picked up from the Braves after putting up a very impressive season in 2014.  Unfortunately, he did not do nearly as well for Boston.  He only pitched in nine games and was 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA and spent most of the season in the minors.  This is the first card of Varvaro with the Red Sox that I have seen, and so I had to have it.

3.  Brock Holt.  Holt is the player that is the largest in my collection from these six cards.  But I really like Brock Holt so I jumped at a chance to add an unusual card of Boston's sole All Star in 2015.

4.  Robbie Ross.  Ross was picked up in a deal with the Rangers in exchange for Anthony Ranaudo.  Ross was one of the principal members of Boston's rotation over the course of the 2015 season.  The left-hander pitched in 54 games with a 3.86 ERA and went 0-2 with 6 saves.  Like Varvaro, this is the first card I have seen of Ross, so again, I had to have it.

5.  Wade Miley.  Miley was traded this offseason to Seattle in a pretty good trade that brought Boston Roenis Elias and Carson Smith.  Miley lead Boston in innings pitched in 2015.

6.  Ryan Hanigan.  This is the card that lead to me buying these singles.  I only had one card of Ryan Hanigan from before.  I have not had the greatest luck getting Hanigan cards with the Red Sox.  His 2015 base card is the last one I need to have the full team set.  I still have not gotten his 2016 Topps card either.  He is expected to be Boston's backup catcher in 2016.

I would like to see this game continue in the future.  I loved MLB Showdown for its player selection, and this set seems to be in the same vein.  

A Barely Serious Ebay Bid

Every once in awhile, I will see something ending in just a few minutes and throw a bid out just for fun.  If I don't get it, fine, but if I get it, great.  Recently I did one of those which resulted in this beauty:

If you can see the bottom right-hand corner, it is a serial number 4/5.  This is the red refractor of up-and-coming southpaw Henry Owens.  Owens is hoping for a rotation spot in 2016 as he is coming off of a season in which he went 4-4 with a 4.57 ERA and 50 strikeouts versus 24 walks in 63 innings over 11 games.  It was a fairly successful brief stint in Boston.

A Pile of Base Cards from My Wantlist

I have mentioned before that my wantlist is kind of my major goal right now.  I missed out on a bunch of 2015 cards, so there are quite a few cards on my wantlist.  This trade knocked off a bunch of my 2015 and 2014 needs:

There are not a lot of really interesting cards here.  The Rusney Castillo at the end commemorates his first home run and the Daniel Nava card talks about his grand slam which he hit on the first pitch he ever saw as a Major Leaguer.  That is just one of the reasons that Nava was such a fascinating player.  The rest of the cards are fairly basic base cards.  Nothing massively exciting, just some cards that I missed out on.

My Current Red Sox Focus Is...

...to not focus on any one or more players and just get as wide a variety as possible.  Sure, it's nice to get players that are currently with the team, particularly young up and coming stars like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts.  But I also like getting cards of the players that had short stints with Boston and did not get too many cards.  That is why I have been particularly happy with my recent acquisitions of cards of players like Kelly Johnson, Scott Schoeneweis, Heinie Manush, Edward Mujica, and others.  And it is why I am happy with this card, that only cost me a couple of cards that did not have a place in my collection:

This is Jeff Bailey.  Bailey was your classic 4A player, too good to be in Pawtucket, not good enough to play in Boston.  He had some big power numbers for a years in Pawtucket, but could never stick around in the Majors.  It didn't help that he did not make his Major League debut until he was 28.  He spent parts of three seasons in Boston, hitting six homers in 159 plate appearances.  He just could not crack a Red Sox roster that already featured Kevin Youkilis at first base.  Bailey is listed as an outfielder here, but he mostly played first.

2009 was a great Upper Deck set.  Not only did they have Bailey with the Red Sox, but the set also featured cards of Mark Kotsay, George Kottaras, Javier Lopez, Takashi Saito, and Jonathan Van Every, a bunch of players who had very few cards for their Red Sox stints.  That is my kind of set.

Red Sox With No Cards: 1994

In this series I take a look at players who played for the Boston Red Sox but, for some reason, never had a Major League card produced of them with the team.

We are skipping 1993 since there were no players that played for the Red Sox that did not have at least one card made, including Ernie Riles, Jeff Richardson, and Jim Byrd, who each only had one card.  The strike season of 1994 produced a few though and there would be a number almost every year after that as card companies produced progressively smaller sets and skipped the players that only had a handful of games.

TODD FROHWIRTH

Todd Frohwirth was a side-arming middle reliever and Boston always seems to get screwed out of getting cards of side-armers.  I may only be basing that on Frohwirth and Chad Bradford, but still.  Frohwirth pitched in 22 games with the Red Sox in 1994, going 0-3 with a scary 10.80 ERA and 13 strikeouts versus 17 walks.  He had previously been a pretty decent middle reliever with the Orioles, particularly in 1991 when he was 7-3 with a 1.87 ERA in 51 games.  Frohwirth does have a minor league card with the Pawtucket Red Sox, but nothing with the Major League club.

GREG LITTON

Litton was a pretty versatile role player while with the Giants and Mariners before joining Boston in 1994.  He only made it into 11 games with the Red Sox and only picked up two hits and an RBI in 21 games.  But he appeared at second base in four games, three games at first base, two games at third base, and one at designated hitter.  Litton's Major League career was over after 1994.  Like Frohwirth, Litton has a minor league card with Pawtucket from the same set.

STAN ROYER

Another player whose versatility helped him make it to the Major Leagues, Royer had previously appeared in Major League games with the Cardinals after being one of the players involved in the deal that brought Willie McGee to Oakland in the 1990 season.  Felix Jose was the major piece that moved to St. Louis in that trade.  Royer could play both corner infield spots.  Royer was placed on waivers in July and was picked up by the Red Sox.  He appeared in just four games with the Red Sox and only had one hit and one RBI while appearing in three games at third and one at first.

ANDY TOMBERLIN

Tomberlin was in only his second Major League season in 1994.  He made it into 18 games, mostly as an outfielder, and managed to hit a home run pinch-hitting for Luis Ortiz against the Royals.  He also picked up a triple and a stolen base but only had a slash line of .194/.310/.333.  He had his greatest success with Boston though on the pitching mound.  He pitched the last two innings in a game that Boston was losing 21-2 to the Twins and actually managed to keep the Twins from scoring any more runs while only giving up a hit and a walk.  He recorded one strikeout.  That should have been worth a card.  Tomberlin did appear in the same minor league set as Frohwirth and Litton.  Tomberlin went on to play for the Athletics, Mets, and Tigers, but only had a couple of team issued cards and one Pacific card for those teams, despite actually playing in 147 games over the next four years.

RICKY TRLICEK

Another waiver wire pickup early in the season, Trlicek had appeared in 41 games for the Dodgers in 1993, but was squeezed out of the bullpen picture in 1994.  Trlicek appeared in 12 under-whelming games for the Red Sox in 1994.  He was 1-1 with an 8.06 ERA, but the real trouble was with his control.  He only struck out seven batters compared to 16 walks in 22.1 innings.  Trlicek would not have any Major League cards released after his 1994 Dodgers cards and certainly none with the Red Sox, but he would appear in 32 more Major League games over the next few seasons, including a return to the Red Sox in 1997.

If I had to pick just one of these players that it is most disappointing to not see commemorated on cardboard, it would have to be Andy Tomberlin.  None of the players performed particularly well, and as much as I like the idea of a nice side-arm action shot of Todd Frohwirth, I think having a card showing Tomberlin pitching would be pretty cool.

One-Year Wonder Pt. 23: David Cone

Every once in awhile, the Red Sox pick up a veteran player for a year, or just the stretch run that was a star at one point that I become fascinated with. It's a player that is basically only a role player at that point in their career, but may show flashes of their old brilliance. It's so unusual to see them as a member of the Red Sox, that I try to find as many of their cards as possible. This series will be about some of those players.

David Cone was one of those rare players that left the Yankees to join the Red Sox.  Of course, he was well past his prime when he did so, at 38 years of age and coming off of a season in which he was 4-14 with a 6.91 ERA.  Cone had previously been one of the top pitchers in the game, back when he was with the Mets, Royals, and Yankees.  He was a two-time 20 game winner and lead the league in strikeouts two years in a row while with the Mets.  He won the 1994 AL Cy Young Award while with the Royals in 1994, and he was an All Star five times.  He also threw a perfect game while with the Yankees.

But, as previously mentioned, Cone was 38 years old when he signed as a free agent with the Red Sox and coming off of the worst season of his career.  All that is not to mention the fact that he was hurt and would not make his debut in 2001 until mid-May.  But Dan Duquette loved reclamation projects, especially pitchers.  He had previously signed Tim Wakefield and Bret Saberhagen, who worked out, and Ramon Martinez and Steve Avery, who didn't, on the cheap.  He was looking to add David Cone to that list.

Unfortunately, this was one much more like Ramon Martinez than Bret Saberhagen.  Boston was pretty desperate for pitching help, especially after Pedro Martinez went down with an injury, leaving the rotation in the somewhat shaky hands of Hideo Nomo and Frank Castillo.  Cone went 9-7 with a 4.31 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 135.2 innings.  It was not a terrible season for Cone, but it certainly was not what the front office had in mind when bringing Cone in.  

Cone only lasted the one season in Boston.  He did not play in 2002 due to injuries.  He returned in 2003 for four games early in the season back with the Mets before retiring for good due to an ongoing hip problem.  

My First Contender for Pack Pull of the Year

I like buying packs on occasion because I like the thrill of an exciting pull.  Inserts, parallels, anything pretty much can be exciting to pull for my collection.  This is the first pull of the year that I have been very excited about, though it is not the first insert:

This is the Chrome Refractor version of David Ortiz, which is already a short-printed card.  It is serial-numbered 038/567.  It is not hugely exciting, but it is still a nice enough pull from a pack.  Currently it takes over first place for pull of the year from the Rusney Castillo Perspectives insert.  Unfortunately it was the only Red Sox card from a blaster box, and only the third Red Sox card I have pulled in two blasters and a hanger pack of Heritage so far.  I am not having the best of luck right now.

Some Random One-Card PWEs

My mailday on Saturday consisted of four PWEs, each with only one card:

Up first is a refractor of Rusney Castillo and Anthony Ranaudo.  This is the third version of this card in my collection.  The next is a Todd Benzinger card only available with the Starting Lineup.  The figure shows him with the Reds, so I did not want to get it to get this card.  The next is a 1961 Topps card of Vic Wertz.  Wertz was a decent power hitter in the 1950's and 1960's.  He hit 19 home runs for Boston in 1960.  A little bit of trivia: Vic Wertz hit the ball that Willie Mays caught over his shoulder that has been seen in so many highlight reels.  It occurred in the 1954 World Series when Wertz was with Cleveland.  Finally, the last card was seen on my blog recently and is the only card of Heinie Manush with Boston of which I am aware.

Gold Mailday

I traded two gold parallels for two other gold parallels.  Here are my new cards:

Kelly Johnson is a bit of an interesting inclusion in this set.  He was acquired from the Yankees for Stephen Drew, then one month later, he was traded again, with Michael Almanzar for Jemile Weeks and Ivan DeJesus.  He played in all of 10 games with the Red Sox and only managed four hits in 25 at bats.  I only had one card of Johnson before this trade, so I wanted to increase that number.  I love the David Ross picture, so I like to get parallels whenever I can of it.

I had a decision to make with this trade.  The other member had a bunch of other gold cards.  He had Jonathan Herrera from the same set and I had to decide between that card and these two.  I wanted Johnson because I only had one card of him.  I wanted Herrera because I only had two cards of him.  And I wanted Ross because I really like the player and I love the shot.  So I decided on Johnson and Ross.

So, I Had a Kris Bryant Snow Camo...

It did not last long.  I thought about selling it but when someone made a huge offer for it, I decided I would move it.  It took some thought before I pulled the trigger, but I think it worked out well:

Here is the first scan from the haul.  The major cards are the Brian Johnson autograph, the Bryce Brentz autograph, and the Babe Ruth Medallion card.  The Babe Ruth is the centerpiece of the haul.  It is one of those manufactured relic cards Topps has been pushing.  And of course, Babe Ruth is one of my favorite players to get cards of in my collection, along with Ted Williams, Jason Varitek, and others.  Brian Johnson is one of Boston's Top 10 prospects.  Bryce Brentz is likely trade bait.  Other than those three there are a few Blake Swihart cards, including a Bazooka insert from Topps Heritage that are somewhat harder to find.  And there is a base card of Andrew Benintendi, one of my current favorite Red Sox prospects, next to Yoan Moncada and Rafael Devers.

The next scan from the haul features a Green Refractor auto of Edwin Escobar as the centerpiece.  Escobar is still in the Red Sox system and could help out in the bullpen.  The Mookie Betts card in the top left corner is numbered to 50.  The Blake Swihart, the fourth in the package is a short print.  And then there are some random inserts and parallels to fill it out.

And finally we have the last of the new cards for my collection.  There is a buyback of a 1966 Topps Dave Morehead card.  Morehead pitched a no-hitter in 1965.  The Desert Shield card of Carlos Quintana is one of the few needed Quintana cards out there.  And finally, Sam Travis may be Boston's best first base prospect since Anthony Rizzo.

There were a few doubles in the package as well, including an autograph and another manufactured relic.  All in all, I am pretty happy with this package.

A Panda Jersey and Some Wantlist Hits

The mailday train keeps rolling.  This package brought a bunch of wantlist hits to close out the Topps Heritage High Numbers update set and knocked off a bunch of Stadium Club needs.

Here is the first card:

This is my second Sandoval relic.  I am hoping that Sandoval will come back from his bad season in 2015.  He has hit well in the past in a bad hitter's park, so he should be able to hit well in Fenway Park.

And here are the wantlist hits:

I am adding all of the needed Stadium Club base cards to my wantlist.  There are only really a handful of ones from before 2008 which were not already on my wantlist.  The photos from Stadium Club have always been the big draw to Stadium Club and there are some great ones here for Brock Holt, Mookie Betts, and David Ortiz.  The cards of Rick Porcello, Pablo Sandoval, and Matt Barnes are not quite as interesting.

The other three cards are from Heritage High Numbers and include an insert of the up-and-coming Blake Swihart, and base cards of free agent bust Justin Masterson, and terrific rookie Eduardo Rodriguez.

Another Trade Package

I am kind of running out of titles for trade posts when they are not remarkably exciting.  Don't get me wrong, I love getting Red Sox cards in the mail, but I have no idea what to call this post.  There are some nice photos in this thing though.

1.  Jacoby Ellsbury.  This is one of the 1989 Bowman is Back inserts from 2014.  I will always appreciate Ellsbury for being Boston's first 30/30 man and setting the team record for stolen bases in a season.  I just wish he had been healthier and had not missed so much time in 2010 and 2012 or he might have set the career stolen base record.  That record is held by Harry Hooper with 300.  Ellsbury had 241.  He was a rare Red Sox player blessed with speed.

2.  Jackie Bradley Jr.  I love this photo of JBJ laying all out to catch a ball.  Bradley is expected to be Boston's starting center-fielder this season and he is terrific defensively.  He also had a very impressive month at one point last year.  Hopefully he can be at least an average hitter, his defense will make him a very valuable player.

3.  Craig Breslow.  Breslow has not caught on with another team yet after struggling for the last two seasons.  He is a left-handed reliever so he should be able to find some work somewhere.  If he does not return to Boston, his performance in the ALDS and ALCS in 2013 will always stick out in my mind.

4.  Brock Holt.  Holt is one of my favorite players because of his versatility and durability.  He hit for the cycle in a game last year, becoming the first Red Sox player to do so since 1996 when John Valentin did it.  Holt was also Boston's only All Star last year.  He is not likely to repeat that as utility players frequently don't make All Star teams.

5.  Alfredo Aceves.  I love this photo too.  It is not as clear with this card as the base card.  But Aceves has just converted a save and is celebrating with catcher Kelly Shoppach.  Aceves lead the team in saves in 2012 with 25.

6.  Ted Williams.  This is the Rarities insert and I apologize that it can't really be seen that well.  This card celebrates his home run in his final at-bat in 1960.

7.  Ted Williams.  And this card celebrates the 530 foot home run he hit to right field that broke a spectator's straw hat.

8.  David Ortiz.  Ortiz is entering what is likely to be his final season of his career.  It has been a hell of a career.  He has been responsible for a lot of my favorite moments in Red Sox history: Game 3 of the ALDS in 2004, Game 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS, Game of the 2013 ALCS, and the 2013 World Series when he was unstoppable.  Ortiz will be missed.

9.  Rusney Castillo.  This is apparently a short-printed variation.  I did not even know there were such things in last year's Diamond Kings set.

10.  Christian Vazquez.  He is coming back from Tommy John surgery and will hopefully be ready to step back into the Major League club.  He is a terrific defensive catcher, something Boston does not have too often.

Wantlist Hit Surprise

I received a package recently with three cards, all of which knocked stuff off of my wantlist.  I was a little surprised by it though because I was not really sure what a couple of the cards were when I worked out the trade for them.  I will explain after the picture:

The David Ortiz is one of the patterns from last year's High Tek.  I am not collecting all of the patterns for each of the Red Sox players, but I would like a sampling of a lot of them among each player.  I don't focus as much on the Red Sox players in Tek as I do with Sandy Alomar Jr., but I do like to get one of each player.  The Henry Owens and Anthony Ranaudo cards were the surprises.  When I worked out the trade I thought these were just mini Bowman Chrome cards, I did not know they were the Top 5 organizational inserts.  I needed three of those still when I worked out the trade.  That is two of them right there.

One-Card Wonder Pt. 25: James Loney

James Loney was the only veteran Major Leaguer Boston acquired in the trade colloquially known as the "Nick Punto Trade".  For those who are not Red Sox or Dodgers followers and don't remember, Boston sent Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Nick Punto to the Dodgers in exchange for James Loney and four minor leaguers.  The Dodgers picked up most of the salary for the four players they acquired, over 200 million dollars.  The minor leaguers Boston picked up were Ivan DeJesus, Jerry Sands, Allen Webster, and Rubby De La Rosa, all of whom were later traded away for Joel Hanrahan, Brock Holt, and Wade Miley.  The trade was mostly made to knock a bunch of money off of the books for Boston for years to come.

Loney immediately took over for the newly-departed Adrian Gonzalez, but was not expected to stick around.  He was a free agent after the year and he did not really perform all that well for Boston.  Loney only hit .230/.264/.310 with two home runs and just eight runs batted in in 30 games.  Not exactly impressive numbers.  Loney has been much better since signing on with the Rays after the season.

This card is one of the ultra short-printed variations from the 2012 Topps Update set.  There were a number of these cards, commemorating some of the big-name players who switched teams during the season, including all of the players that went to LA (including Nick Punto who never managed to appear on a card in a Red Sox uniform), Kevin Youkilis (who was also traded by Boston), and Jim Thome.  The cards were very hard to find and expensive.  It took quite a while for me to find this card at a reasonable price.  I never did, technically, I just decided to splurge on it to add to my collection.

None of these cards had parallels available and Loney was gone after the season.  He did not appear in any other sets with Boston.  This is the only card of Loney with the Red Sox, unless he goes back at some point, which seems unlikely.

The New Red Sox

Now that Spring Training games have begun, it is time to look at the new players wearing a Red Sox uniform this year:

DAVID PRICE:
This is the big one.  Boston signed him to the biggest contract in team history.  Price is just turning 30 this year and coming off an 18 win season in which he lead the league in ERA.  He is the ace Boston missed so much last year.  By the way, I just got this card in recently, my first card of Price with Boston.  Yes it is photoshopped, but I don't care.

CRAIG KIMBREL:
I am not thrilled with this trade personally.  I am happy Boston got a great closer, but they gave up four good prospects to get him.  They gave up Manuel Margot, Javy Guerra, Carlos Asuaje, and Logan Allen.  Kimbrel will be with the team for a couple of years, but that prospect haul hurts.  And Boston has bad luck trading for closers.  They have previously acquired Andrew Bailey, Mark Melancon, and Joel Hanrahan in trades, none of whom worked out.  The players they gave up included Jed Lowrie, Josh Reddick, and Mark Melancon, who became an All Star after he was traded away.  Kimbrel is better than all three of those closers, but the history gives me pause.  Kimbrel's first card will appear in Topps Heritage.

CHRIS YOUNG:
A rare player who left the Yankees to join the Red Sox, Young is expected to be the fourth outfielder after Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Rusney Castillo.  Young does quite well against left-handers.

ROENIS ELIAS:
Acquired in a trade with the Mariners for Wade Miley, Elias is a young left-hander with some potential.  He could easily step into Miley's shoes, or find a place in the bullpen.  I think it is more likely that he starts out in the bullpen and then pitches his way into more playing time.

CARSON SMITH:
Smith was the key piece Boston picked up in the Wade Miley trade.  Smith was dominant in the bullpen in 2015, striking out 92 in 70 innings.  He joins an already impressive back end of the bullpen with Kimbrel, Koji Uehara, and Junichi Tazawa.  It is not as strong as the Yankees' bullpen, but it should be a strength this year.  Smith has been announced to be in the Topps Heritage set.

More Parallel Madness

Well, most of these are parallels anyway.  This was part of a fairly large trade that I pulled off recently.  The main piece to the trade almost held up the whole deal though.  Just for the hell of it, let's look at each of the players involved:

-Carlton Fisk.  This is the first Red Sox player to be named to the Hall of Fame since I have been collecting.

-Junichi Tazawa.  He has been quietly sneaking into more and more sets lately.  I still only have 17 cards of him though.

-Will Middlebrooks.  Man, his career has really stalled.  In 2012 he looked like a future star.  In 2013, he lost his job to Xander Bogaerts.  In 2014, he fell off the depth chart and was banished to the minors.  In 2015, he was traded to San Diego for Ryan Hanigan.  Now, this year he had to settle for a minor league deal with the Brewers.

-Tzu-Wei Lin.  Speaking of falling off the depth chart.  Lin does not hit, but is a very good defensive shortstop.  He is still just 22 and in Double A, so there is still some time.

-Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  He recently signed a deal with the Tigers.  His career has kind of fallen on hard times too.

-Koji Uehara.  Now a setup man with the acquisition of Craig Kimbrel, Uehara is one of my favorite current players.

-Daisuke Matsuzaka.  After a couple of good seasons early on and a sort of resurrection with the Mets, Dice-K is headed back to Japan.

-J.D. Drew.  I still think Drew was worth his contract.

-Dustin Pedroia.  This card almost held up the trade, but I am very glad it worked out.  This is one of the many manufactured relic cards Topps has been saturating the market with.  I don't get too many of them, but I enjoy them when I do.

Snowblind

I love that song.  I saw Black Sabbath live a few weeks ago and they were terrific.  Or rather, the band was.  Ozzy had a bit of a rough night.  But why am I posting a Black Sabbath song?  Isn't that for my other blog?  No, it is being done to show off my first Snow Camo parallel:

I actually pulled a Kris Bryant from a pack, which was traded for a huge haul that I am expecting any day now.  This is the card for my permanent Red Sox collection though.

Red Sox in Cooperstown Pt. 15: Heinie Manush

HEINIE MANUSH
Years with Boston: 1936 (.291/.329/.371, 45 RBIs, 15 doubles, 5 triples in 82 games)
Best Year in Boston: 1936 (.291/.329/.371, 45 RBIs, 15 doubles, 5 triples in 82 games)

Heinie Manush was the fifth future Hall of Famer acquired by Tom Yawkey within just a few years of buying the Red Sox.  Manush was 34 years old though and his best years were behind him.  He had already solidified his Hall of Fame case with the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns, and Washington Senators when he was acquired by Boston.  Boston gave up Roy Johnson and Carl Reynolds to get Manush, two players who had been pretty good with Boston.  None of the three players involved in the trade did much afterwards.

The idea in acquiring Manush was to solidify the outfield by manning left field.  The Red Sox outfield that season mostly consisted of Doc Cramer, Mel Almada, and Dusty Cooke, as injuries and less than stellar hitting stats kept Manush from contributing much to the team.  Manush's batting average was not bad, but it was significantly lower than his career average and he provided no power or speed.  He also only made it into 82 games, 72 in the field.

Manush was released after the season and caught on with Brooklyn for whom he had a nice comeback season in 1937.  He played two more years after that, but his days as a regular were gone.

Manush did not have a good season for Boston, one of the worst seasons in his career.  His time in Boston is mostly irrelevant to his Hall of Fame case.

Unknown Heroes Pt. 40: Jonny Gomes

Jonny Gomes is one of those players that has a ton of intangible qualities that are hard to measure.  He is a terrific clubhouse presence and keeps things loose.  His teams generally perform better after he is brought in.

Gomes had been with Tampa Bay for quite some time, and been a player that Boston had some trouble with, particularly during brawls.  In 2013, he was brought to Boston on a short, two-year free agent deal.  Immediately he brought a lot of levity to the team.  He was one of the principal players to start the whole beard-growing trend that took over the team.  Gomes hit .247/.344/.426 with 13 home runs and 52 RBIs in 2013.  He was in a semi-platoon with Daniel Nava for most of the season.  He generally had more power, but Nava was better at getting on base and much better defensively.  Gomes though, had a flair for the dramatic.  He walked off with a home run on a couple of occasions, usually doing something humorous, like drop-kicking his helmet, upon reaching home plate.

In the World Series, Gomes contributed a very important three-run home run in Game 4 that eventually won the game for Boston, tying the World Series and putting Boston back in control after losing Games 2 and 3 and struggling most of Game 4.

Gomes's numbers declined a bit in 2014, and so did his playing time.  He was eventually traded at the trading deadline along with Jon Lester to Oakland for Yoenis Cespedes.  Oakland made it to the postseason.  After the season, Gomes signed with the Braves and was traded to Kansas City late in the year.  So Gomes got his second World Championship.

My First Strata Card, and More

Keeping going with a bunch of recent trades, I had a recent package of stuff come in on Friday with a lot of 2015 cards that I needed.  Unfortunately I am not making much headway on my wantlist.  Only one of the following 11 cards was on my wantlist.

Here is the first batch, with a Coco Crisp parallel leading things off, as he often did for the Red Sox in his three years with the club.  Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury are the subjects of cards celebrating their first home runs, both with Boston obviously.  Then there are various cards of Matt Barnes, Brock Holt, and Rick Porcello to round things out.

The Brock Holt All Star Access card is the card that knocked a card off my wantlist.  Holt was Boston's only All Star in 2015 and stole a base in the game.  After that we have cards of Rookie Sensations Dustin Pedroia and Ted Williams.  I still think Sandy Alomar Jr. should have been in this set.  Then there is a Mookie Betts card.  Betts is quite possibly going to break out into a Top 5 player in the game this season.  And finally we have the promised Strata card.  Strata is a bit out of my price range for buying boxes.  But getting a card in a trade is much cheaper.  This is a fairly decent sized jersey piece and an on-card autograph of Rick Porcello.  Not a bad card, hopefully Porcello will pitch better this season.