The Joy of Small Sample Sizes

I'm excited that the Pirates have gotten off to a good start.  Do I think they are this good...no, but they can't take these wins away.  The narrative from the media after the Cutch and Cole trade was this team was looking like they were going into rebuilding mode.  The front office liked a more fan friendly term of retooling. Before the season I predicting to be .500ish and called them boringly average. Surprisingly they've been fun to watch.

For me the most exciting part of the season has been watching a healthy Jameson Taillon pitch. It is not a surprise that he is pitching well, the pedigree is there. He just hasn't been able to stay on the field. His young career has been cursed with injuries.  Arm injuries, line drives to the head and most recently his treatment for testicular cancer.  As a fan you just want to cheer for him a little more knowing his background.

2017 Topps Five Star Jameson Taillon Patch Auto /25

Taillon cards are dirt cheap right now so I can chase cards like this without breaking the bank. I'm guessing at some point his hot start will be noticed and he will start gaining some momentum. While I hope he continues his strong start, it was nice to add so many great cards for pennies on the $. 

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Fancy Pants

Now that Cutch is a Giant the Pirates are void of any high $ players in terms of cardboard. The only exception would be collecting Chrome parallels of high end prospects, but I don't play that game. Paying $500 for a guy in AA is pretty crazy and crosses the threshold from collector to investor. To each his own, I just don't have that kind of disposable income. 

Lately I've been having fun picking up Pirates from high end sets.  Tyler Glasnow is the perfect example of Topps over saturating the market. At one point Glasnow was a top prospect which means you get a ton of cards. He was in every set. After a disastrous start to his MLB career his card prices bottomed out. I jumped on the opportunity.  

2017 Topps Five Star Tyler Glasnow Patch/Auto /35

While I'm upset that Tyler has had a rough go of it, his struggle has opened the door for high end card purchases.  Who knows, maybe he'll right the ship and this will turn out to be the steal of the century.  While that would be a bonus, I'm happy to own a nice looking card at a bargain price either way.  The final price was $11.50 on eBay.  

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