Severino (+ Sabathia) Sunday: January Edition

What a wild weekend for the NFL. All three road teams have won thus far into Wild Card Weekend, and we have witnessed the strengths and weaknesses of the league as a whole. The Bengals organization was a complete embarrassment last night against a gritty Steelers team that barely held on to win. Earlier today, Vikings kicker Blair Walsh missed a game winning field goal opportunity to allow the Seahawks to advance. Seattle will take on the Carolina Panthers next week.

In hobby related news, I added some more cards of Luis Severino to my collection. It may be Football Sunday, but it is also Severino Sunday!

2014 Bowman Chrome Green Refractor 74/75

2015 Topps Pro Debut Orange Parallel 6/25

2015 Bowman's Best High-Def Heritage Orange Parallel 5/25

I'm beginning to compile a very orange Severino collection. However, in recent years most Bowman and Topps products limit orange refractors and parallels to just 25 copies. The only lower parallels commonly outside of 1/1's are red parallels, which are normally numbered out of just 5. The Pro Debut and Bowman's Best cards are the 4th and 5th orange parallels in my PC, and will hopefully not be the last. I'd rather buy the lowest numbered cards when I can find them for cheap costs over just about anything else. But once in a while, I have to splurge.

2015 Bowman Inception Jumbo Patch Autograph 41/50

I bought this card several months ago, and somehow never showed it off. This is my current favorite Severino card that I own and probably will be for quite a while. The patch is bright, differing from the common base colors of blue and white you see on most Yankees relics. The relic should be from the 2014 Future's Game, but who really knows anymore. It still looks pretty cool if you ask me. I really like the way the Yankees have worked this kid into their rotation. Everyone knows how good he can be, but until the team becomes a World Series contender again he will likely be overlooked. This should give him the chance to work his way into becoming the potential ace the Yankees need.

I don't believe this season's team has a true "ace" caliber pitcher. Masahiro Tanaka is a good pitcher but doesn't appear to be any better than a #2 or #3 in the rotation. Their former ace is towards the end of his deal, and shocked us all when he left the team late last season to treat his alcoholism in rehab.

2015 Topps Triple Threads Triple Relic Autograph Gold Parallel 8/9

CC Sabathia has given the Yankees an awful lot over his seven year stint in the Bronx. His overall record with the team is 97-56 with a 3.73 ERA. He's made three All Star teams and has finished in the top five in Cy Young voting three times. If he were to retire today, he would be viewed as a Yankee great and a borderline Hall of Fame pitcher. I'm not going to let his alcoholism affect my admiration for the man and player he has been for much of years as a fan. In fact, I think he did the right thing by treating his issue and I really hope rehab has gotten him back on track. Who knows, perhaps he'll get back to his winning ways next year if all goes well.

I was able to find this card at the White Plains Thanksgiving show for $30, and I worked the seller down to $20. I'll do that any day for an autograph this nice of a Yankee great such as C.C. I love the three different relic colors, and that it is only numbered to 9 copies.

Luis Severino and C.C. Sabathia may be on different career paths at this point, but I would be so happy if Severino became the workhorse C.C. has been. I felt like it was only right to include the big lefty in this edition of 'Severino Sunday'.

Enjoy the rest of Wild Card Weekend!

Ten Years of Baseball - My Pitching Staff!

Hey guys, Drew back here. I really appreciate all the feedback I've been getting on yesterday's post about my "All Time" Yankees team constructed with players I've gotten the opportunity to watch growing up. It may not be applicable to many of you out there, but I know there are some people who can relate as Yankees fans especially that we've gotten to see some special baseball over the course of the last decade. If you haven't read yesterday's post yet, I highly recommend you do before coming back to this article.

Today, we'll take a look at the other 12 men who cracked my roster. I've created a 5 man pitching rotation and a bullpen, making sure to give each role to a season and player that fulfills it. For example, there is one pitcher on this list who built up his career as a set up man, but because the set up man position was already filled, I used one of his earlier middle relief positions instead. 

Starting Rotation

1 - C.C. Sabathia

Season: 2011

Statistics: 237.1 IP, 19-8 W-L, 3.00 ERA, 230 SO

Today, it may feel like we threw a lot of money away with the Sabathia contract. How could it not? He's starting to break down considerably, and he still has 3 full seasons left on his contract making at least $23 million per year. But before we give him the A-Rod treatment, let's just remember that this is the same man who helped the Yankees win the World Series in 2009 and finished in the top 5 of Cy Young Award voting in his first three years in New York. We could almost build an entire rotation based off of his Yankees tenure alone, but I ultimately chose his 2011 season as his best in the Bronx. Between his Yankee best 3.00 ERA and 230 strikeouts, C.C. was in dominant form during his age 30 season.

2 - Mike Mussina

Season: 2008

Statistics: 200.1 IP, 20-9 W-L, 3.37 ERA, 150 SO

Jeter and Mariano may have had a going away tour filled with gifts and recognition, but Mike Mussina ended his career with his best season since the start of his Yankee tenure in the early 2000's. "Moose" won 20 games for the first time of his 18 year career at the age of 39, and was the most dependable pitcher on the team that season. He is the only player from the 2008 season that made my list, and it was well deserved.

3 - Chien-Ming Wang

Season: 2006

Statistics: 218 IP, 19-6 W-L, 3.63 ERA, 76 SO

I remember when Wang was first called up, and by watching him pitch it was hard to believe he would amount to what he did in that short time span. But he was dominant as a ground ball pitcher early on in his career, until a freak baserunning injury in Houston took him out of the zone he had been growing accustomed to. He was arguably the best pitcher in the league during that two year stretch alongside Johan Santana, but the longevity wasn't there. It's pretty sad, actually. On this list, however, we acknowledge the best seasons around, and there isn't a doubt in my mind that Wang belonged right in the thick of this staff.

4 - Hiroki Kuroda

Season: 2012

Statistics: 219.2 IP, 16-11 W-L, 3.32 ERA, 167 SO

I was skeptical of Kuroda when the Yankees first signed him the offseason going into the 2012 season. He was always falling a bit short of being regarded as an All Star caliber pitcher thanks to little to no run support with the Dodgers. Eventually, I warmed up to him, and he earned every bit of my appreciation. In case his first season under the bright lights of New York wasn't good enough, he topped it off with a few great postseason starts. Kuroda pitched pretty well in each of his three seasons here, and is now headed back home to Japan to pitch for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, his former team. Good luck, Hiroki.

5 - Andy Pettitte

Season: 2007

Statistics: 215.1 IP, 15-9 W-L, 4.05 ERA, 141 SO

Believe it or not, I originally did not have a spot on this list for my all time favorite starting pitcher. I had to move him ahead of Randy Johnson's 2005 season to put him on the list, and I don't think it was too far fetched to do so. Johnson had a better ERA, 2 more wins, and a considerable amount of strikeouts more than Andy in his first year with the Yankees. But Pettitte, unlike Johnson's Yankees playoff performances, was known as one of the most clutch Yankee playoff pitchers in history. I would take him over any of the previous men on the list in a Game 7, must-win situation, because he came to compete every chance he had. Also, Johnson gave up 32 home runs in 2005, and at 41 years old, he couldn't be counted on nearly as much as his contract suggested. So, in the end I went with Pettitte, because I could not fathom a Yankee team in my lifetime without him in it.

Bullpen

Long Relief - Alfredo Aceves

Season: 2009

Statistics: 84 IP, 10-1 W-L, 3.54 ERA, 69 SO

Aceves was the guy to call in 2009 when the starter didn't perform up to par. He came in any situation at any given time and could even work multiple innings when necessary. The 84 innings he threw in 2009 were over the course of 43 games, meaning that a majority of his appearances were not small roles in the outcome of the games. No wonder why he won 10 games that year.

Middle Relief - 

Luis Ayala

Season: 2011

Statistics: 56 IP, 2-2 W-L, 2.09 ERA, 39 SO

He had been a consistently good reliever since 2003, and the Yankees gave him a call in 2011, signing him to a Minor League deal. Ayala made the Opening Day roster and was one of Joe Girardi's go to options in the bullpen that year.

David Robertson

Season: 2009

Statistics: 43.2 IP, 2-1 W-L, 3.30 ERA, 63 SO

It was so difficult to go against some of Robertson's better years in New York and place him in this position. He had simply been outplayed over the ten year span by other even better seasons, thus we see his rookie year appear on this list rather than when he was a set up man or closer. He had electric stuff from the very beginning, punching out batters left and right. I'm sure he will only continue his successful career with the White Sox in 2015.

Adam Warren

Season: 2014

Statistics: 78.2 IP, 3-6 W-L, 2.97 ERA, 76 SO

I had no idea how good this guy was until I saw his statistics from last year. 2014 was the busiest year of my life, and I didn't get the chance to watch nearly as much baseball as usual. Besides, I wasn't particularly impressed with the Yankees team thanks in part to constant injuries and chemistry issues. But Warren was one of the lone bright spots, and will only continue to develop as years go by. He has the potential to replace himself on this list as a middle reliever, because it appears that the set up and closer position will be filled for the foreseeable future. I look forward to seeing more of him this year, and hopefully seeing why I made sure to put him on this roster.

Lefty Specialist - Boone Logan

Season: 2013

Statistics: 39 IP, 5-2 W-L, 3.23 ERA, 50 SO

Logan may not have been the force he had been for New York in his first year with the Colorado Rockies in 2014, but we as Yankee fans don't forget his contributions to several seasons. He was Girardi's left handed wizard, coming in to over power left handed batters and leave shortly after. Due to all of the appearances he made over his four years in the Bronx, he may have cut his career a bit short. He has had two elbow procedures removing bone spurs since the end of the 2013 season, and may never be the same pitcher again. 

Set Up Man - Dellin Betances

Season: 2014

Statistics: 90 IP, 5-0 W-L, 1.40 ERA, 135 SO

One of the two "no-doubters" in this bullpen; Betances brought every bit of his stuff and more to the table last year. Although I didn't get to watch too much of the season, I made sure to tune in to see him blow smoke past even the best hitters in baseball. He averaged 13.5 strikeouts per 9 innings, one of the best ratios in the league, and no statistic could speak for Betances like watching him does. If you wish to see why he was included, go to YouTube. I can't wait to see this 6'8 beast of a man close off games next season!

Closer - Mariano Rivera

Season: 2005

Statistics: 78.1 IP, 7-4 W-L, 1.38 ERA, 80 SO, 43 SV

What more is there to say about this man that hasn't already been said? Mo was one of the first names to come to mind when this idea came about, and sure enough I couldn't let David Robertson or Rafael Soriano take his place. Similarly to Pettitte, there is no other reliever I'd want in a pivotal moment other than him. I know Luis Gonzalez got the best of him, but if he faced him another 9 times, you could bet that he would've shut him down every other time. His cutter was transcendent to baseball, and nobody has thrown it with as much confidence as he did. There is no better way to close off this list.

Total Salary (Starting Pitchers): $77,853,093

Average Salary (Starting Pitchers): $6,487,757.75

Notable Omissions: Rafael Soriano, Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Randy Johnson, Ivan Nova, Masahiro Tanaka, Clay Rapada

Total Team Salary: $215,579,189

Average Salary: $8,623,167.56

This team chock full of superstar seasons was about $20 million less than the Dodgers' 2014 payroll. Obviously, this is a "perfect world" sort of team, and it's near impossible to predict for an entire team to be this successful, but this really goes to show that sometimes, things really can pay off. I had a tough time choosing my team manager, because I liked Joe Torre more than Joe Girardi. But in the end, I went with 2009's Joe Girardi to lead the club, since he did take them to a World Series and all. It may be a little while before that happens again in New York.

I had so much fun making this list for you all, and I hope you all enjoyed that brief intermission from my 2014 season preview! I will have the NL West, playoff, and award predictions coming soon; so stay tuned for more here on drewscards!

See Ya!

Recent Mail from Around the Blogosphere!

Hey guys, Drew back here! I know I haven't been around in a while, but I hope all of you had a nice Thanksgiving! I've been trying to savor my holiday break, but unfortunately tomorrow will be the start of the pre-Christmas school stretch. It won't be fun, but hopefully if I keep it up, I'll have more money to spend on the hobby! Around a month from now, I'll be beginning to sell pieces of my collection on Check Out My Cards, and I'll be sure to provide a link when my store goes live. I'm just trying to get rid of stuff that I don't personally have a connection with, so I can buy a few higher end cards for my collection. 

Anyhow, for now, check out the mail I've recently received from a few awesome members of our blogosphere:

William just never seems content with the amount of cards he's sent me over the years. A few weeks ago, he sent me a nice small box filled with mixed cards of the players and teams I like. Most of the cards were from the late 80's, and I probably have all of these laying around somewhere, but I'd prefer not to hunt through binder after binder for them. This is much easier, so thanks man.

As usual, he also caught me up a little bit with what I've been missing since I've basically given up buying products. The cards are awesome, however I prefer buying cards for my PC's over spending $20 on a blaster box or $10 on a rack pack. Money doesn't grow on trees for me, and I think I finally realized that. With that said, I love the All Star cards from 2012 Topps, which I finally got to see courtesy of my good friend. And nothing is cooler than getting my first Ichiro card in a Yankees uniform, although it's most likely photoshopped. He was a great asset to the team last year, and I would love to see him back this upcoming season.

Next, I received a small package from Larry of My 2008 Topps Set Blog, which I have to admit is one of my favorite blogs to read these days! He included his blog card in the package, which was really cool as well (I need to do that one of these days). 

A few weeks ago Larry posted this Topps Update SP card of CC Sabathia to his blog, asking if anyone was interested in it. He wasn't asking for a whole lot in return, so I decided to put an offer in, and we agreed to a nice small deal. CC sat out this year's All Star Game, as did Matt Kemp, so they had plenty of time to talk. 

Lastly, my buddy James (or Chunter as many of you know him by) of Chipp 'n' Dale felt it was necessary to hook me up with a nice addition to my collection, out of the kindness of his heart! He emailed me recently telling me he had a nice card to help me out with a trifecta collection, which completely shocked me considering I've been as close as dead on this website as possible the past few months. Sure enough, a small package came in, with these nice extras on top of the main event:

Out of 1977 Topps, a very nice Rick Cerone rookie card to add to my Yankees collection. Sorry, bad joke. The Dale Murphy rookie card has been a card I've pursued ever since I met him in person a couple of years ago! Finally, thanks to a Dale Murphy collector, I have my own copy of his rookie card to put towards my Murphy trifecta! I may need to go get a relic, because when I met him I had him sign a relic card, which looks fantastic by the way. A trifecta should consist of three cards, so I'll have to fulfill that, but for now, I want to thank James for doing this for me! It takes a lot for me to give up my Yankees cards for other people, so I know it couldn't have been all that easy for him. But, it means a lot, and it's in good hands.

A big thank you to William, Larry, and James for all of the awesome stuff! I'm glad to see that I'm still in the back of some collector's heads even though I'm knee deep in the most difficult year of my life.

Have a nice Sunday everybody! See Ya!

June 7th Yankee Game Recap!

Hey guys, Drew back here, and this time I'm sticking around, I swear! My family just returned from an incredible cruise in the Carribean Sea, where we enjoyed great food and excursions on St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Maarten. Everything was phenomenal and I miss it already, however, I've still got 2 months of freedom to go, so I'm going to make the best of them! 

So, in order to do so, I need to take you all on a time machine, back into the beginning of last month, because, well, I never got around to posting about it. It was the second to last day of school, before finals began, and Dad, my Uncle Scott, and my cousin Jayen were gearing up to go to the big pitcher's dual in Yankee Stadium! We were given tickets by my Grandpa Walt, who normally joins us for a game once a year, however due to him feeling pretty sick he gave my dad a chance to go this time around. I remember I was really looking forward to seeing CC Sabathia face off against David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays, and spent the whole school week thinking about it. But the day had finally come, and after a train ride, we arrived to the home of the Bronx Bombers!

Unfortunately, as soon as we left the train and started walking to the stadium, it started to absolutely pour. We all got a bit nervous, but we had a little hope that it would clear up because the clouds were moving by pretty quickly.

Fortunately, we were most definitely right. It wasn't the most beautiful day for a ballgame by any means, but that full double rainbow we saw that stretched from left field to right field was pretty darn cool to see! The rainbow simply told us not to worry because baseball would soon be played! The players started to trickle out of the clubhouse a little at a time and before you knew it most of the team was warming up for the game and getting ready to go!

My camera was good enough to catch former Yankee manager Joe Torre in the dugout talking to Jeter, which was cool to see. Torre was there for some charitable reason, along with a few other celebrities, such as  Paula Abdul. 

Torre got a much larger ovation than the former American Idol judge, but that was only fitting considering the man led the Yanks to 4 championships in 5 years.

So, the game was finally underway after about a half hour rain delay, and while it started off looking to be a close game, the Rays pulled away by the 4th inning, taking a 5-1 lead. Sabathia never had his game that night, without question, and while Price had a high pitch count, he fared much better than the Yankee ace. It came down to the bullpen holding the game for us to have any shot at a comeback victory, but Corey Wade and Clay Rapada couldn't get the job done as well, and by the 8th inning the score was 7-2 Rays. 

Eppley

Rapada

One thing that was pretty cool was Girardi's transition from right handed sidearmer Cody Eppley to left handed sidearmer Clay Rapada. Sidearmers are definitely fun to watch because their windup is so much more unique than the typical pitchers style. As I said though, nothing positive came of it, as Rapada gave up an RBI double to increase the Rays lead.

Nick Swisher

Russell Martin following PH HR

It definitely turned out to be a nice night in Yankee Stadium, even though things weren't going so well for my team. However, it wasn't over yet, as Russell Martin hit a pinch hit home run to make it 7-3. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as Rays All Star closer Fernando Rodney shut it down in the 9th to give the Rays the W. 

The results weren't pretty, but like every time I get a chance to see a game, I had a great time with my family and they did as well. I want to thank my Grandpa for treating us once again, even though he probably isn't reading this, it meant a lot that he was thinking of us even when he's had a tough past few months. We definitely appreciated it. 

Before I close this post up for good, I want to quickly show some scans of the results of 2 2012 Bowman rack packs I opened at the game! Check em' out!

Just about all of these are for trade, including the purple refractor of Mariners prospect Anthony Fernandez numbered 48/199! Let me know if you like anything by leaving me a comment. Thanks!

Last but not least, Happy 4th of July everyone! Hope you've all got some fun plans for the night, and well, God Bless America. God Bless America's Pastime. Ok, I'm out. See Ya!

Mail from "Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle"!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Boy, am I taking my time with this whole "catching up" thing. I've got about 3 trades sitting on desk, along with a few TTM's, and some eBay pickups that haven't even posted yet. Oh well, I'll get to them eventually. First, I want to share my results of a trade I made with Greg from "Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle". Hopefully I will soon make enough trades with Greg that I will remember how to spell Plaschke without having to go to his blog. Anyways, Greg sent me all sorts of great stuff after I sent over my Russell Martin autograph, which he needed for his Martin collection. Take a look at what I got in return:

First off, Greg sent over a lot of very nice Knicks and Nets cards for my basketball collection! I prefer the Knicks over the Nets, but I am a big fan of Brook Lopez; and former Nets Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson, and Devin Harris! A lot of the players were out of my time period in this case, but I recognized most of the names, and its cool to see Celtics coach Doc Rivers on a card as a Knick!

Getting back to my favorite sport, I was also sent a bunch of nice Yankees for my collection! I never saw the Daryl Strawberry and Alfonso Soriano cards before, so I'm glad I was able to finally add them.

There is nothing more exciting than opening packages that contain multiple relics and autographs inside them! Greg sent 5 of which in this package! The first was this awesome 2011 Topps CC Sabathia relic card, which is just a really great card all around. The relic isn't the plain white jazz you always get these days, but instead looks to be a different part of the jersey. I'm not exactly sure where, or if this is even from his Yankees uniform (I'm guessing Brewers), but if anybody has a reasonable guess, please leave it in the comments because I'm very curious to find out where this is from!

I doubt many of you have seen my "Secondary Collections" page, which contains a list of all of the other things I collect, and my current status at achieving Trifectas of as many people that I've met yet. If you can recall, I happened to meet Steve Garvey way back when, and after adding an autograph of his to the collection, I still was in need of a game used relic and a rookie card to complete his trifecta. While I'm still in need of the 1971 Topps Steve Garvey, Greg helped me out by sending over this 2001 SP Authentic "Cooperstown Calling" relic! Unfortunately, Garvey has never gotten a call from Cooperstown, but after looking back at his career statistics, he honestly deserved more of a chance. 

Hey, what do you know? It's a 2005 Just Minors autograph card of Russell Martin! If you remember correctly, I mentioned at the beginning of the post that I traded my Martin autograph in order for this trade to work out. It turned out that Greg is a big Russell Martin Supercollector, and he had duplicates of a rookie autograph of his that he could send over to me in exchange for the one I had, which he needed badly for his collection. I was fine with dealing my autograph, and I'm certainly content with this one here. It's numbered 75  out of 100, and while the design is lacking something in my opinion, the autograph is there which is all that matters. As a side note, I really like Martin's signature; in my opinion its one of the better ones in baseball today.

The final two cards were both of my beloved yet disappointing Jets. First up was this awesome "War Room" prime relic of rookie running back Bilal Powell. I don't know much about Powell, besides the fact that he was the 4th round pick last year and he didn't get much playing time last season. This card is supposedly a patch card, although no other colors are showing. It's also numbered very low, at 9/50! Hopefully he'll pan out someday!

The final card was of everyone's favorite wide receiver who doesn't like to shut up, Santonio Holmes! Holmes has certainly had issues on and off the field during his entire NFL career, but somehow I still love watching him play. If people have a problem with him as a team captain, don't make him a captain then. Other players can fill the roles much better. He has a lot of talent but that doesn't translate into a good leader always. He already signed a lengthy contract with NY prior to last season, so he won't be going anywhere. I love watching him make great catches in clutch moments, and hopefully the best is yet to come! This career is numbered 2/99, out of 2011 Panini Crown Royale!

Thanks so much Greg for the trade! I really appreciate it and I hope to deal with you again! Everyone please go give his blog a look!

See Ya!

Triple Threads Addition to the PC!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, I hope everyone had themselves a nice Thanksgiving, filled with amazing food and some good football! Now we're on the road to Christmas, and it should be a nice way to cap off 2011. Anyways, getting back to what I normally do here, let's have a look at the most recent card I spent my money on off of eBay!

I saw this card with a few minutes left a couple weeks ago, and I knew immediately it would fit nicely into the collection. Out of 2011 Topps Triple Threads, this is a triple relic card numbered out of 36, featuring jersey relics from Boston's Jon Lester, New York's CC Sabathia, and Tampa Bay's David Price. All 3 of them are considered one of the top two pitchers on their respective teams, and they all play in the AL East, as shown by what the relics spell out. It's a really nice card to look at in person, as Triple Threads never fails to disappoint in appearance. I picked it up not only for my Yankees collection, but also because I like Price a lot as well. As for Lester, well, I respect him more than most Red Sox, but still, he's a Red Sox player. 

Anyways, I got the card for around $10 and I'm glad I purchased it to add to the collection! If you were a fan of either of these teams, would you buy the card even though it also features relic pieces from a rival team? 

See Ya!