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.

Several Trades and Lots of Scans

I do not really have much of an introduction here, this is several days worth of trades to show off, with a lot of cards.  Let's just get going.

Trade #1 is a nine-card deal, covering primarily 2022 cards.

1.  Rafael Devers.  As of this writing, Devers leads the league in home runs.  I am well on my way to making my goal of 300 cards of Devers.

2.  J.D. Martinez.

3.  Fred Lynn.  I have said before that I really like the A&G low-end parallels.  This one celebrates individual historic seasons.  Lynn of course won the MVP and Rookie of the Year in 1975.

4.  Trevor Story.  Hopefully Story comes back strong this season.  

5.  Marcelo Mayer.  Mayer is Boston's top prospect, picked fourth overall in 2021.  

6.  Xander Bogaerts.

7.  J.D. Martinez.

8.  Niko Kavadas.  Kavadas has huge power and was Boston's 11th round pick in 2021.

9.  Blaze Jordan.  I am guessing Jordan and Kavadas are somewhat redundant.  It is unlikely both will make it to the Majors with Boston.

Trade #2 features the wrong Connor and the wrong player acquired in the Mookie Betts trade.

1.  Jeter Downs.  Downs was supposed to be the best prospect in the Mookie Betts deal.  Downs made it to Boston last year, but his development seems to have been completely stunted after the COVID year.  He is currently struggling in Washington's system.

2.  Connor Seabold.  Seabold is pitching with Colorado this season and has struggled a bit.  He was mostly a disaster in Boston last season.

3.  Connor Seabold.

Trade #3 was a big one.

1.  Eduardo Rodriguez.  I really wish I had collected E-Rod more when he was in Boston.  I always liked him quite a bit, but he was pretty inconsistent most of the time.

2.  Bobby Poyner.  Poyner had a decent stint as a lefty out of the pen in 2018.  He made it into a handful of games in 2019 as well, but was not as impressive.  It is sort of odd that he has not been able to make it back to the Majors.  Teams are always looking for lefty relievers.

3.  Chris Sale.  Sale has been wildly inconsistent this season.

4.  Mookie Betts.  I was not aware I was missing this card.  I did not know it was a Red Sox card.

5.  Chris Sale.

6.  Andrew Benintendi.  The Benintendi deal, which was widely panned by a certain segment of Red Sox fans, is also looking better now that Josh Winckowski has been pitching well.

7  J.D. Martinez.

8.  Eduardo Rodriguez.

9.  Chris Sale.

10.  Rafael Devers.  Devers appears a LOT in this deal.

11.  Rafael Devers.

12.  Xander Bogaerts.

13.  Rafael Devers.

14.  Xander Bogaerts.

15.  Rafael Devers

16.  Rafael Devers.

17.  Rafael Devers.

18.  Dustin Pedroia.  

19.  Dustin Pedroia.

20.  Rafael Devers.

21.  David Ortiz.

22.  Rafael Devers.

23.  Rafael Devers.

24.  Rafael Devers.

25.  Rafael Devers.  Another City Connect uniform card.  I need one of these for Connor Wong.

26.  Rafael Devers.

27.  David Ortiz.

28.  Rafael Devers.

29.  J.D. Martinez.

30.  Ted Williams.  I LOVE this shot of Williams.  I don't care that it was probably colorized.  It's just a great picture.

31.  Michael Chavis.  Chavis is now with his third organization, playing with the Nationals this season.

32.  Nomar Garciaparra.

33.  Bobby Dalbec.

34.  Alex Verdugo.  Verdugo has proven to be a terrific clutch hitter, walking off two games already this season.

35.  Jackie Bradley Jr.  The trade in which Boston re-acquired JBJ also brought in a prospect named David Hamilton.  Hamilton is possibly on the cusp of a call-up and has blazing speed that would definitely help the Red Sox.

36.  Chris Sale.

Trade #4 is a one-card deal:

1.  Bobby Dalbec.  This is how ridiculous the Panini parallels can be.  This is the green version.  And the reason you can tell it is the green version is because of the outline of the shape behind the player.  That's it.

And finally, we have Trade #5, which is a decent-sized one and is relevant for the current mini-player collection.  It was also a good trade from a player selection standpoint.  

1.  Bobby Dalbec.

2.  Bobby Dalbec.  One thing that is irritating is companies using the same pictures over and over.  There is no reason that this needed to happen over two years.

3.  Rafael Devers.  Of course Devers appears a few times in this deal too.

4.  Carl Everett.  That takes me back.  I was a big fan of Everett in early 2000 when he was an electrifying player.

5.  Nick Yorke.  Yorke has started to turn things around this year after a slow start in Portland.  Boston is going to have some issues soon since many of their top prospects are middle infielders.  They do not really have a block at the Major League level, particularly if Trevor Story opts out (though that seems unlikely due to his injuries).  Enmanuel Valdez, Marcelo Mayer, Nick Yorke, Mikey Romero, Matthew Lugo and David Hamilton are all middle infielders.  Some will be moved to other positions, but there is no way the team can keep all of them.

6.  Rafael Devers.

7.  Rafael Devers.

8.  Marcelo Mayer.  Mayer is obviously the jewel of the organization right now.

9.  Connor Wong.  Here is the 2022 Donruss Signature Series autograph of Wong, the first autograph I have been able to acquire in a trade.  

10.  Jordan DiValerio.  I had to look this player up.  I had not heard of him, or if I had, I forgot about him.  He was an undrafted free agent in 2020, the COVID year when the draft was just five rounds.  A lot of players signed that way that year.  He is 25 and in Greenville, in the bullpen.  Sox Prospects projects him as a mid-minors organizational depth.  I am guessing he is unlikely to make the Majors.

11.  Blaze Jordan.  Blaze is going to need to hit for power to justify moving through the minors.  He hit 12 home runs last season across two levels.  He will need to step up.

12.  Michael Bowden.  I had to grab this card.  It is not a game-worn jersey, but it is still a damn cool card.  Bowden was a first round pick in 2005, pitched in 39 games across five seasons, then was traded to the Cubs for Marlon Byrd.  He just never quite clicked in the Majors.

13.  Garrett Whitlock.  There are not nearly enough Whitlock cards out there.  He has been a bit injury-prone lately, but his 2021 season was incredible.

14.  Alex Verdugo.  Short print card from 2020 Heritage High Numbers.  I was surprised I did not have this already.

15.  Ryan Weber.  There was always a lot of talk about Weber being a potential starting pitcher, but he always seemed to get hammered.  He had a 5.54 ERA in 89.1 innings with Boston.  That is not getting it done.

16.  Andrew Benintendi.

17.  Triston Casas.  I really like Casas, but he needs to start hitting more.  He takes his walks and can hit the occasional home run, and is really good defensively, but we are 151 at-bats into his Major League career now and he has an average of .166.  That is not good.

18.  Brayan Bello.  Bello had an encouraging start recently.  I remember Jon Lester was mostly awful in his first season, so it makes sense that there would be some growing pains.  Bello has great stuff.

19.  Marcelo Mayer.  And we close things out with the third Mayer card of the day.