A Birthday Present Plus an Awaiting Monster

I celebrated my 32nd birthday in October.  For the most part it was quiet as my wife and I went to NYC and did our celebrating a few weeks before. She is treating me to a Penguins game the day before Thanksgiving so that should be fun.

One thing that is constant on my birthday is that my Mom gives me cash. I've tried stopping her a million times before, but she continues every year. One of the caveats with the money is that I spend it on something I want.  She likes to see something in hand that I can say "see Mom here is what you got me." This year I went the card route.

The first three cards were throw ins from a seller on eBay.  This was awesome as I needed all the cards plus the extra bonus of one being the cool burning fire insert. Can't go wrong with free McCutchen's and Polanco's.




Now the main event....

2014 Bowman Inception Triple Patch Auto Polanco/Taillon/Hanson /5

First I wasn't sure if this card would show back up on eBay.  I attempted once to buy this card but it went for an extremely high amount (I think around $140). As luck would have it I got a second chance. This card was mine for $71 delivered. An amazing deal for a really nice looking addition to my Pirates collection. This was such a good deal that it makes my purchase for the dual version featuring Polanco and Hanson look like a huge overpay. I believe it was in the $60 range. This was a nice way to end my eBay binge and begin my organization break. 

To finish things off this is 2 of 3 boxes that Jaybarkerfan's Junk sent me for winning the World Cup of Trading competition. The other box is gigantic as well!  I'm going to use this weekend to get things scanned. You are a maniac my friend.  I love it!

Thanks for reading!

A Fancy New Addition

2014 Bowman Inception Gregory Polanco/Alen Hanson Dual Patch Auto /15

This card has been tempting me since it was released several months back.  I've seen a handful on eBay and the prices have been high. Thankfully a few weeks back one went off at a much more reasonable price and I won the auction.  The two nice patches make the card.  

Gregory Polanco cards have seen a pretty big dip in price the last two months.  In reality they could really only go down.  After his debut in June his cards were so expensive I wouldn't even track them. He was pretty much in the realm of Cubs prospect Kris Bryant and Astros George Springer at the time.  By the time August came around Polanco's bat cooled and he lost most of his playing time to Travis Snider.  He spent a good two months off the radar.  As a result card prices came down to a more manageable amount.  I've picked up 4 or 5 different releases in that time.  

Alen Hanson is a highly regarded middle infield prospect currently at AA Altoona. Hanson is still only 21 years old so the skill set is pretty raw.  Errors have been an issue so most seem to think a move to second base may be in order as he advances in the system.  Either way it looks like the bat is progressing well.  The Pirates minor league system is loaded with top notch talent.

Thanks for reading!

Top Ten List

Since the Pirates are off to a rough start I figured I would showcase some prospect cards.  Here is a visual top ten list of the Pirates top prospects.  I used the Fangraphs list as the reference.  Polanco looks to be the only one on the list that can have an impact this year since Taillon is having Tommy John surgery.  The system is a consensus top 5 in most publications and number 1 in Baseball America.  Another promising thing is that many of the guys that fall 11-20 would make most teams top ten, so that is encouraging for the future.  

10.  Luis Heredia

9. Harold Ramirez ( No Card)
8. Josh Bell

7. Reese McGuire

6. Nick Kingham

5. Alen Hanson

4. Austin Meadows

3. Tyler Glasnow

2. Jameson Taillon

1. Gregory Polanco

Trade: Sportscards From the Dollar Store

I recently made a trade with Douglas from Sportscards From the Dollar Store and it was awesome! Douglas contacted me about wanting a card from my trade bait link and that was that.  Once he told me that he had an Alen Hanson Sterling auto I said I was game.

As you can see that was just the tip of the iceberg as he sent me a ton of Pirates and even WVU guy Geno Smith!.  I scanned some of my favorites, but there was a ton more.  I loved the old Bob Walk and Van Slyke cards.

Please take a look at Douglas's blog and start working out a trade.  He has lots of interests so I'm sure everybody can find something he needs.  Believe me you won't be disappointed. Thanks again Douglas. Shoot me a message if you even want to deal again.

The Future is Bright

It wasn't long ago when the Pirates had absolutely no minor league depth.  If you go back 5 or 10 years any player that was worth anything on the big league roster was not homegrown.  Players such as Jason Bay (Padres), Freddy Sanchez (Red Sox) and Jack Wilson (Cardinals) were developed by other franchises.  It was the perfect storm of poor scouting, cheapness and no international footprint.  How times have changed.

When the new front office took over in 2007 an emphasis on putting together a winner through internal player development was made.  The Pirates began drafting players whom they would normally had passed on.  The results were slow, but the Pirates are reaping the rewards now.  Of the projected starters, 5 of 8 were developed by the Pirates. 

The Pirates farm system is a consensus top 5 in every major publication and Baseball America has them number 1.  The reasoning was high end arms and overall depth.  Plus they rated our 2013 draft as the best in baseball.  The pipeline is strong. 

This card is from Bowman Platinum and numbered to 10.  Josh Bell was a high school draft pick who the Pirates gave 5 million dollars to give up a strong college commitment.  He lost his first pro season due to injury but rebounded last year.  If healthy he should regain his top prospect status.  Alen Hanson is a shortstop prospect signed out of the Dominican Republic.  He has been a top 100 prospect each of the past two years.  Gregory Polanco is the Pirates highest rated positional prospect and is most likely going to take over right field at some point this year.  He was another international signing.