2016 East Coast National High-End Pickups!

Hey everyone! How's life? I know I can say nothing but positive things these days, as I've managed to get really involved on campus for the first time. College is actually enjoyable now that I've broken through some barriers and allowed myself the chance to branch out more. I've been working towards advertising some of our local school events, and have even gotten the privilege to meet broadcaster Ian Eagle and talk to him about working in sports. Also, I've been covering a lot of my school's football and soccer games for my Sports Reporting course. So yeah, no complaints at all here.

Because I've been interning so often on campus, I haven't had time to actually work and make money. I was on a roll with this hobby up until then, but I've got to get a jump start on my future career before I get back to spending a fortune. I have spent some of the money I saved from working literally every single day this summer at a few card shows, and I'll start catching you up by showing you what I got at the East Coast National in August! 

At this show, I had the pleasure of meeting Kenny from Torren' Up Cards (which I talked about a while back). Dad was unable to join me for this one, but he did come with me last weekend to the Fall Classic show that will more than likely be posted next year at this rate (that was a joke). But for now, here's some sweet certified goodness I've had the pleasure of calling my own.

We kick things off with some refractor autographs of Yankees farmhands Domingo Acevedo and Ian Clarkin. I've been working on adding refractor autos of my team's top prospects, and these two were both affordable. I previously owned a graded 9.5 version of the Acevedo, but I accidentally purchased the base instead of the refractor. 

Acevedo is ranked 8th among the Yankees prospects according to MLB.com's Prospect Pipeline. He is making a name for himself by averaging 96-100 mph consistently, and has even hit 103 mph during his time in the minors. At 6'7, he appears to have the prototype and build of a guy named Dellin Betances. I don't know if he'll ever get to that level, but the potential is there for sure.

Ian Clarkin was drafted 33rd overall and was taken with the supplemental pick the Yankees received when the Nationals signed Rafael Soriano in 2013. He has battled several injuries early on in his big league career, but did pitch to a 3.31 in 18 starts last season for the Tampa Yankees. He currently ranks as the Yankees 17th best prospect in their loaded farm system.

I also took home this 2015 Bowman Chrome refractor auto of new Yankee Dillon Tate! Tate was the fourth overall selection by Texas in the 2015 Draft, and was dealt to New York in the Carlos Beltran trade this summer. He was originally compared to former Oakland A's hurler Dave Stewart, but hasn't quite lived up to the hype so far. However, since coming to New York his velocity has increased from the high 80's to low 90's in Texas to the mid 90's he was expected to throw. If the velocity can stick as he transitions out of his current bullpen role back to the rotation, he could have a future in pinstripes.

My basketball collection isn't all that large, but at this show I was able to add a couple big cards to my minuscule Knicks collection. I couldn't believe how cheap these two autographs above of legends Walt Frazier and Willis Reed were. Not only are they both gorgeous on card signatures from high end products, but they're also both extremely limited (Frazier numbered to 20 and Reed to 49). 

Walt 'Clyde' Frazier was a great player in his day, but I know him more for his colorful personality, crazy fashion statements, and, of course; "swishin' and dishin'". He previously held a majority of the team's franchise records until Patrick Ewing eventually surpassed all but Frazier's assists mark. Willis Reed was a former MVP and two-time NBA Finals MVP who was named to the 1996 '50 Greatest Players in NBA History' list. He once played through a torn muscle in his thigh and helped the Knicks win their first of two championships; defeating the Lakers in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals.

Between the two, there were an awful lot of accolades. For the price I paid, I'd do it all over again.

I wasn't done. I had been shopping for a Carmelo Anthony for some time, but couldn't decide which card I preferred to add. This National Treasures beaut numbered to 25 caught my eye that day, and I was able to work the seller down on the price. 'Melo is one of my favorite players to watch in the NBA, and I love the fact that he uses his celebrity platform to try and make a difference in the world. When comparing generations, I can see him going down as this generation's edition of Charles Barkley: both great players who could never quite win it all. The three-color relic that coincides with the autograph on this card is actually really nice and adds to the card's appeal.

Going forward, I would like to add more Knicks greats to my collection, as well as a few of the stars from my childhood. I don't really follow the NBA as much as I used to, but it's still fun (when the Knicks are competitive).

The same seller I bought the Carmelo autograph off of had this Gregory Polanco refractor autograph for a pretty fair price as well. With the money I had remaining at the end of the day, I made an offer and got this for an absolute steal compared to what it sells for on eBay. Polanco is a talented young player who really came into his own in 2016, hitting 22 home runs while driving 86 runs and scoring 79 of his own. Pittsburgh has even talked about trading Andrew McCutchen due to the emergence of Polanco and Starling Marte, plus top prospect Austin Meadows on the cusp of the majors.

The biggest card I bought that day was something a little out of the ordinary for me. I had been debating whether to invest in a top tier prospect the entire day, and eventually after talking to a major Alex Bregman collector I decided he was the one I would add. This 2016 Bowman Chrome refractor autograph is absolutely beautiful, and is currently being graded in a BGS group submission. I'm looking forward to getting it back and seeing if it can pull out a 9.5! I could've bought the card as a 9.5 for about $50 more, but I had confidence that this raw copy would be good enough to match the grade.

Bregman made his MLB Debut in 2016 after absolutely mashing the ball in the minor leagues. He batted .306 with 20 home runs and 61 RBI between AA and AAA before getting the call-up the day after my 20th birthday! He did not immediately translate to the big leagues in the way that Gary Sanchez did, but continued to progress until a hamstring injury ended his season midway through September.

I'm starting to really enjoy buying Bowman autographs of top prospects. It's really fun taking a gamble on player's futures and getting to root for them in the way I have for Bregman. It has been able to bring me even closer to the game than I knew was possible.

Until next time, See Ya!

TTM Mailday: Jed Lowrie

Hey everyone, Drew back here! How about that World Series? First of all, I never would have expected the Mets to come anywhere close to the Fall Classic, but boy they sure did make a run for it. The Royals were the better team, and deserved the title in the end, but the Mets showed plenty of promise for the future (as long as they can keep their offense from falling to shambles this winter). The parade in Kansas City was unbelievable yesterday, with more people in attendance than the entire population of the city! Good for them.

This morning, it was announced that the Mets' Matt Harvey and Rangers' Prince Fielder took home the NL and AL Comeback Player of the Year Awards, respectively. This was the first major 2015 award handed out based on this year's performance, and I think the voters got it right. Many wondered if Alex Rodriguez would have a chance at surpassing Prince Fielder after not playing at all in 2014 due to a suspension, besides myself. There was no way he was going to be handed an award after making a mockery of the MLB for as long as he had, no matter how well he did in 2015 on and off the field (he was fantastic on Fox Sports).

I'm interested to see how the voting for the NL Cy Young Award goes down over anything else though. I personally rode Zack Greinke all year long into my second consecutive fantasy baseball trophy, so I would have to side with him, although Jake Arrieta presents a spectacular case as well with perhaps the greatest second half ever pitched in baseball history.

Anyway, I have one offseason TTM to show off for you today, and it came by way of the up and coming Houston Astros.

Jed Lowrie: 1/1 (c/o Houston Astros)

Jed Lowrie feels like he's been around for a long time. He debuted in 2008 with the Red Sox before going to Houston, then to Oakland, and most recently back with Houston once more. He's always been a consistently average middle infielder similar to players like Stephen Drew, who are capable of picking up a bat and helping a team win in many different ways. His best career season was in 2013 with Oakland, when he batted .290 and hit 15 home runs. Injuries have gotten the better of him on several occasions, including 2015 when he only managed to play in 69 games. With Carlos Correa the shortstop now for the foreseeable future, Lowrie will either have to move to another position or to another team to receive playing time.

I vaguely remember sending this 2014 Topps card out, so it must have been a Spring Training TTM request. He signed one card for me and included two small business cards for his photography website in exchange for my blog business card! Check out his site, he's actually taken some really beautiful pictures.

Thanks Jed! See Ya!

My Midseason Report - AL Preseason Prediction Update

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Hey guys, Drew back here. Just as any of baseball's best may occasionally get in a slump, I have recently been stuck in my very own. To bust out of my blogging funk, I decided to come back to my preseason predictions since today is an approximate halfway point of the season (more or less). I must say, I impressed myself with some of my early thoughts, but others definitely made me look silly. And don't worry: you will get to see both the good and the bad. I'll kick this off updating my American League picks, and will do the National League separately.

If you wish to re-read my initial thoughts and predictions on the league, feel free to take a look:

AL East, AL Central, AL West, Award Predictions, Playoffs

AL East 

My Preseason Standings Prediction - 
Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays

Predicted Division MVP - Josh Donaldson
Predicted Division Cy Young - Alex Cobb
Playoff Teams - Boston, Toronto (Wild Card)

Current Standings (as of July 5th) -
New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox

Division MVP - Josh Donaldson
Division Cy Young - Chris Archer
Playoff Teams - New York, Baltimore (Wild Card)

There is nothing set in stone for this year's weakest division at this point, with each team within at least 6 games of first place. The Red Sox have won seven of their previous ten games, and despite being in last right now this race is far from over. I nailed the hammer on the head with my prediction of Donaldson as division MVP; who recently was revealed to have the most fan votes of any player in All Star ballot history! Manny Machado has also been arguably as good, if not better than Donaldson, but I'll go with Donaldson as MVP considering some of the terrible predictions soon to follow.

I have to be honest here: I completely botched the Alex Rodriguez situation. In March, I wrote "And no, there's absolutely no reason to believe that 39 year old injury prone Alex Rodriguez will make any sort of difference, let alone be relevant next year". Alex has been impressive on and off the field, handling everything more maturely than he ever has. He's been a borderline All Star in my book, but I'm not surprised that he fell short of making the cut. The fact that I have somewhat relinquished my previous distaste for him shows how far he's come over the past year.

AL Central

My Preseason Standings Prediction - 
Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins

Predicted Division MVP - Jose Abreu
Predicted Division Cy Young - Chris Sale
Playoff Teams - Chicago

Current Standings (as of July 5th) -
Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox

Division MVP - Omar Infante (just kidding: Jason Kipnis)
Division Cy Young - Chris Sale
Playoff Teams - Kansas City, Minnesota (Wild Card)

The Royals have made a lot of enemies since their fans ran up the vote tallies for the All Star Game, but luckily only 4 players will be in the American League's starting lineup. The four that made the team are certainly debatable; I personally would've went elsewhere for each position, but I am content with the results. I expected last year's pennant winning squad to make a run for the playoffs and just fall short, but it appears that I may have been wrong there.

What I was more wrong on than just about anything else was my White Sox pick. I probably got a bit too excited over their spending spree, but I know I certainly wasn't alone. They filled a lot of holes on their roster last winter, but it clearly hasn't worked as well as planned. Their one shining light has been Chris Sale, who is a candidate to start the All Star Game coming soon in Cincinnati.

AL West

My Preseason Standings Prediction - 
Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics

Predicted Division MVP - Mike Trout
Predicted Division Cy Young - Felix Hernandez
Playoff Teams - Los Angeles, Seattle (Wild Card)

Current Standings (as of July 5th) -
Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics

Division MVP - Mike Trout
Division Cy Young - Dallas Keuchel
Playoff Teams - Houston, Los Angeles (Wild Card)

Boy, has Houston been a revelation or what? I am proud to have said they would improve substantially in 2015, but I wasn't gutsy enough to place them ahead of the heavily favored Angels and Mariners. In fact, I even picked the Mariners to go to the World Series (more on that later). With the way Carlos Correa has sparked that offense, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if they hold on and win the division.

The Angels have been a disaster internally that is waiting to implode, considering their respected GM Jerry Dipoto recently stepped down after turmoil between he, manager Mike Scioscia, and owner Arte Moreno. And to all those people thinking Billy Beane had a plan for 2015, you appear to be wrong. Luckily, I wasn't one of those people. The organization may be in better hands in the years to come, but this team has been unimpressive, to say the least.

Award Predictions

AL MVP - Mike Trout
AL Cy Young - Chris Sale
AL Rookie of the Year - Rusney Castillo
AL Manager of the Year - Lloyd McClendon
AL Comeback Player of the Year - Chris Davis

I took a safe approach with my MVP and Cy Young choices, and both Trout and Sale have at least merited consideration for the nonexistent midseason award. My Rookie of the Year pick was a wash, and I fully expect Carlos Correa to come home with the trophy by season's end. McClendon has not been half as impressive as I guessed, and the Manager of the Year should definitely be given to my Dark Horse candidate, AJ Hinch (Astros). Finally, I made a gut call saying that Chris Davis would come back with a monster 2015, but it's evident that Prince Fielder and Alex Rodriguez have made better cases for the award.

Preseason Playoff Picks

Wild Card Game - Toronto vs. Seattle
My Pick - Seattle

Division Series - Chicago vs. Boston
My Pick - Chicago in 5

Division Series - Seattle vs. Los Angeles
My Pick - Seattle in 4

Championship Series - Seattle vs. Chicago
My Pick - Seattle in 6

Pennant Winner - Seattle

At this point of the season, the only team of these five that is slated to make the playoffs are the Angels, who would currently be fighting in the Wild Card game versus either the Twins or Orioles. And Seattle? Yeah, I was on that bandwagon too, and I can admit that I was wrong. Very wrong. Robinson Cano has not been half of what I expected him to be as he is settling into the rain capital of the US, while Nelson Cruz started off beyond expectations but since has gone cold. Besides Felix Hernandez, the remainder of their rotation has been inconsistent at best (although Mike Montgomery has recently impressed), and their bullpen is in shambles.

I'm going to stand by my choices, even though the path to having things work out this way would take a lot of maneuvering over the next three months. Every American League team is within 6.5 games of making the Wild Card Game, and the parity is unbelievable, as I did expect early on. Baseball has been more fun to watch than it has been in a while in my opinion, and I'll gladly be wrong with all of my picks if it makes for exhilarating performances by unforeseen teams. Between the surprise Twins, Astros, and even my Yankees, I've had a lot of fun with the 2015 season.

I'll be back with my take on the National League soon. See Ya!

2015 American League West Preview + Predictions!

Hey guys, Drew back here! We have already covered the AL East and AL Central, and today we'll have a look at my thoughts on this year's AL West.

2015 AL West Standings Prediction:

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1 - Los Angeles Angels
X-Factors: Matt Joyce, Andrew Heaney

I could not find any possible way to keep the Angels from the top of this division. They finished with the best regular season record in baseball last year, only to eventually succumb to a sweeping by the red hot Royals. Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and even the almighty Mike Trout struggled immensely throughout the beatdown. But this year, even with the tragedy surrounding Josh Hamilton (I wish he and his family the best of wishes with a hope for recovery), the Angels are still one of the more intriguing teams in the game. Their pitching staff reemerged last season with the help of future stars Garrett Richards and Matt Shoemaker, and it can be argued that if Richards didn't hurt his knee last year they may have been able to advance further into the postseason. Even after losing Howie Kendrick at second base in a trade for young left handed pitcher Andrew Heaney, they were able to also make a move to add Josh Rutledge to replace Kendrick. Between Rutledge, Heaney, and new fill in right fielder Matt Joyce, I'm not too worried about the Angels falling from first quite yet.

2 - Seattle Mariners
X-Factors: James Paxton, Taijuan Walker, Seth Smith

If the Mariners are going to become the contender many think they can be, this is their year to prove it. Fresh off of issuing a $57 million dollar deal to slugger Nelson Cruz, they now have the right handed power bat to place between Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager in the lineup. Although Safeco Field may lower Cruz's chances of hitting 40 home runs again in 2015, his power bat will certainly improve a lineup that needed an extra boom. They shipped out Brandon Maurer for Seth Smith, which should also supply some additional offense. Cano now has what he said he needed last year, and with the best pitching rotation in the division led by perennial Cy Young Award candidate Felix Hernandez, this could easily be their year. Young pitchers James Paxton and Taijuan Walker will need to stay healthy and take strides to give the M's a legitimate shot, and I think they will do what it takes to pick up the 2nd wildcard spot and make the postseason for the first time since Ichiro Suzuki's rookie season in 2001 (want to know how long that's been?)!

3 - Texas Rangers
X-Factors: Prince Fielder, Derek Holland

This Rangers team has the most "if's" of any team in the American League. If Yu Darvish is healthy, he can potentially be a Cy Young candidate. If Prince Fielder, Derek Holland, and Shin-Soo Choo can rebound from their injury plagued 2014 campaigns, they can be key contributors to the team as well. If father time hasn't caught up to possible future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre, he will be a huge piece of the Texas sized puzzle. They already lost former top prospect Jurickson Profar for the second year in a row, so Rougned Odor will be taking his place once again in their everyday lineup. Newly added starters Yovani Gallardo and Ross Detwiler might come in handy in picking up the pieces if chaos ensues in Arlington, but I'm going to go with an optimistic approach and say: how much worse could it get? If half the players lost in 2014 are injured again this season, they still will win more than their AL low 67 games.

**UPDATE: Yu Darvish may undergo Tommy John surgery as it was revealed today that he has suffered a UCL sprain in his elbow. This is a huge blow to a team that had more than enough injuries to handle in 2014. With this news, I will flip my predictions and put the Rangers in 4th and the Astros in 3rd for the season.**

4 - Houston Astros
X-Factors: Dallas Keuchel, George Springer

I was so tempted to rank Houston above the Rangers on this list, but ultimately I held off and put them right behind. I didn't actually list predicted W-L totals because I think that's as unpredictable as it comes, but if I were to I'd have the two Texas teams neck and neck in the middle of the division. Neither are ideal playoff candidates, but although they are from the same state, they don't have much else in common. Where the Rangers field a team of former superstars similarly to the Yankees, the Astros are taking the youth approach, which has been known to work lately in St. Louis and San Francisco especially. The Astros may be a fun team to watch in 2015 thanks to budding star George Springer in particular, but also because of their offseason acquisitions. Evan Gattis may be a bit of a defensive liability, but "El Oso Blanco" can and will mash balls into the left field bleachers time and time again at Minute Maid Park. Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek will stabilize what was a shaky bullpen, and lend helping hands to the very young pitching rotation the team has built over years of development. But the player to watch in Houston turns out to be the shortest player in a state loaded with size: Jose Altuve. If he can come close to his MVP-type 2014 season statistics, we'll be in for some fun in this division. Chances are, he will.

5 - Oakland Athletics
X-Factors: Brett Lawrie, Jesse Hahn

Three years in a row Billy Beane has assembled playoff teams, in light of the box office smash Moneyball. But this year, I believe his run has come to a halt (temporarily). Over the winter the team made 9 trades including almost 30 players; and leading that list are 2014 All Stars Brandon Moss, Derek Norris, and Josh Donaldson. Both Jon Lester and Jeff Samardzija, who were traded for midseason in hopes of bringing playoff success, left Oakland as well. I still have no idea what his mindset was in moving Donaldson so soon, as he could've easily been affordably held for 4 more years before hitting free agency. For all they lost, they came back with almost a completely new team featuring Ben Zobrist, Billy Butler, Tyler Clippard, Jesse Hahn, and Brett Lawrie. It may work out, and Beane tends to be a magician with these sorts of moves, but I don't see what they did as enough to have a successful 2015. The prospects gained will be of great value for the future, and maybe this is all part of his scheme to get back to the playoffs (if so, well played), but we won't know how he did this offseason until years down the road. He could either be building a Hall of Fame legacy, or tearing it apart. None of that seems to matter much in 2015.

Division MVP: Mike Trout
Division Cy Young: Felix Hernandez
Playoff Teams: Los Angeles, Seattle (Wild Card)

I hope these three posts have helped you understand that the competition in baseball is at a whole new level. I picked the Orioles to finish 4th in the AL East, the Tigers to finish 3rd in the Central, and the A's to finish last in the West. All three of these teams seemed to have no difficulty reaching the playoffs in 2014, and I picked them to completely miss out this year. Whether or not I look like a genius or an idiot is to be determined, but for now it just goes to show that there is so much talent in the game today, and any team can be made or broken within a matter of a single offseason. You can't base a team off of solely what they look like on paper, but some GM's are starting to learn from past mistakes and only signing players that make actual sense. There isn't one horrible team in this entire league, and it was tough for me to even put the Rays, Twins, and A's in last place. The Red Sox went from worst to first to worst again, thus, any team could face any outcome no matter what people say they're going to do.

I'll have the National League posts coming up soon, and I'll wrap things up with a couple of postseason predictions just to round up all the fun. I've had a blast writing these posts so far, and I hope a few people out there are enjoying them too. It's been tough to afford a lot of what I want lately because I've been looking for a job and paying for college, so I've had to think of some new ways to keep you all interested, and baseball is an absolute passion of mine and I love getting to share it for you.

With all that in mind: agree or disagree? Feel free to leave any comments below; they're greatly appreciated.

See Ya!