Trade: Fantastic Catch

A while back Weston from Fantastic Catch claimed a few Cardinals that I had pulled from one of my box breaks. In return he sent back a nice mix of Pirates. 

Clemente still gets quite a bit of love from the card companies. 

I'm still hoping that Polanco can get his bat going. He is always going to be a sabermetrics darling as his defense and base running rate high, but if his bat can come alive he could be a valuable asset for the Pirates. It wouldn't surprise if the Pirates try to find a good right handed outfielder as an insurance policy.

Tony Watson is a personal favorite of mine. He has picked up right where he left off from last years All Star season. He was a little bit of a late bloomer as he was a starter all the way up through AAA, but broke in with the Pirates as a reliever. He has been awesome since day 1.

Some random Bowman Pirates.

Topps Lineage is a set that I would like to see Topps take another stab at. It felt like it should have worked, but for whatever reason it fell flat.

Always nice to receive some Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson cards. I went through a phase picking up most of their auto releases a few years back so I'm going back trying to get some of the more rare pieces.

When the Pirates decided to trade Tom Gorzelanny and John Grabow to the Cubs, Kevin Hart was supposed to be the key return. He turned out to be horrible, but the throw in was a non prospect named Josh Harrison. That turned out very well.

Thanks for the cards Weston.

Group Break: Fantastic Catch

A couple weeks back Weston from Fantastic Catch  held a fun prospect oriented break featuring a couple of Donruss Elite products and two Tristar products. I took the Pirates which only cost $7! The Pirates were well represented in these sets with guys like Gerrit Cole in the Elite sets and Pedro Alvarez in the Tristar. While I didn't hit big, I still got a nice mix.

I did manage to get one autograph from the break. Dickerson was traded last season to the Padres for Jaff Decker who is off to a great start for the Pirates this spring.

Jose Osuna has been in the Pirates system since he was 17. He broke out a little in High A ball in Bradenton so the Pirates might have a dark horse prospect in Osuna.  This is a nice parallel /200.

 Nice minor league card of the Pirates second baseman.

Josh Bell has been regaining steam in the Pirates system after spending much of his first two years on the DL. He looks to be the first baseman of the future.

 One of Pedro's very first Pirate cards.

My favorite of this bunch is the Nick Kingham. He has a great chance to make is MLB debut this year.

Thanks for holding the break Weston. Keep me posted if you do anymore like this. It was a nice mix of cards!

Fantastic Catch = Fantastic Cutch

I recently completed my first trade with Weston from Fantastic Catch. Weston approached me saying he had some extra Pirates and the rest was history. I sent him some Cardinals and a short time later I had a bubble mailer full of goodness.

 As you will notice Weston didn't mess around. He sent a slew of Cutch cards my way.

 The orange Chrome is a sharp looking card. Also a nice mix of rookies on the top left.

Weston even threw in the other McCutchen. Daniel had a short stint as a Pirates reliever. This is his rookie Topps Chrome auto.

Card scanned poorly but this is a sweet Bowman reprint.

 As most of you know I have a soft spot for Jason Bay so I really dig the Ovation card.

The thought crossed my mind to try and complete the mascot auto set out of Opening Day this past year. Prices were just a little too high for my blood.  Damn you Wally. I did finish the insert set.

Great shot of Michael McKenry making a play. One of my favorite cards from that year. 

Thanks for all the great cards Weston. Let me know when you want to swap again.