Flip it Over

I haven't been sharing many this year, but I'm still very active buying the Pirate related NOW cards. One of the early releases this year captured Jameson Taillon's one hit shutout.  It was exciting to see the dual image.  Card looks even better since this was a Sunday game and the players were wearing throwback uniforms.

Once again the Pirates have been on a reasonable pace NOW wise that allows me to pick up all the releases.  I was a little worried at the beginning of the year when I purchased several cards in one week.  The pace has slowed down to the point where I feel once again they will be middle of the pack release wise.

Thanks for reading.

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 $. 

Thanks for reading! 

Hanging By a Thread

The only high end box I've ever opened was  Topps Triple Threads. While the box produced a few nice cards I really didn't enjoy the experience and vowed never to do it again.   My box busting days are behind me minus my breaks with Kevin and Brian. I also have a stash of lower end boxes if the urge were to strike at anytime.

On eBay I've noticed that many of the Triple Threads cards seem to be selling cheaper than in previous years.  Topps has a lot of premium sets on the market so I'm guessing breakers are being choosy on what they want to open.  You may want to take some time an look at some auctions.  Some bigger names are selling at what seems to be good deals.

Recently a seller that I follow listed a bunch of Triple Threads cards that were not getting much bidding action.  I pounced at the chance and picked up a couple Pirate autos and a little trade bait.

 Tyler Glasnow Triple Threads Auto/Relic /75

Jameson Taillon Triples Threads Auto/Relic /99

The Glasnow and Taillon cost me about $6 combined.  Probably not the numbers you are looking for opening a box like Triple Threads.  What little focus I've had on 2017 has been pretty much on Glasnow.  Since he has struggled so much at the MLB level his cards have bottomed out big time.  The Taillon was a nice bonus to take advantage of combined shipping.

Thanks for reading!

Right Idea, but the Execution......

2017 Donruss Optic Jameson Taillon Studio Auto

This is not a great looking card by any means, but we are showing signs of promise with getting around licensing issues.  NO HAT!!!!  One of the worst aspects in Panini cards is trying to hide team emblems on the uniforms.  Many of us have discussed over the years ways to skirt the license issue. Certain poses by both pitchers and hitters when timed right do a good job of hiding most of the emblems, but you always have the hat. Of course Panini removed the hat but proceeded to cut off poor Jameson's forehead. 

Few more ideas. 

- How about some plain clothes shots of players at award shows or the All Star game.

- More shots of catchers.  

- More prewar players. 

Either way this was a step in the right direction.  

Thanks for reading. 

NOW I'm Caught Up

I have been diligent keeping up with all the Pirate related Topps NOW releases. This is possible because the Pirates haven't had any special releases like playoff sets or in season auto/relics.  The only autos released were if you purchased the autographed version of the Spring Training set.

For those who don't know the Spring Training sets were a huge foul up by Topps.  The buying period ended before many of the checklists were officially complete. This in turn lead to poor sales.  The Pirates checklist was only missing a few cards so I went ahead and put my order in for the auto version of the set as the checklist featured Marte, Taillon and Glasnow as signers.

When my set arrived I got the Marte auto so I figured I could hit eBay for the Taillon and Glasnow.  As of now I don't think the Glasnow was ever produced as I haven't seen one hit eBay.  So in my mind all I needed to do was try and secure a Taillon.  This proved to be easier said then done. 

Since so few sets were produced. the autos that did make it on eBay had very high BIN prices. I put what I thought were competitive offers on a few of them, but had each denied.  Finally after months of no action a Taillon finally hit normal auction. 

Jameson Taillon Road to Opening Day Topps NOW auto /25

The final price for this card was right around $60 which is the most I've spent on a card in quite sometime. The good side is that my original offers were all more so I did save some money.  I now have all the Pirate released NOW cards in my possession.  

Here was the Marte I originally showed off a few months back. 

Thanks for reading! 

Hook Line and Sinker

For better or worse I've committed myself to everything Pirate related to the Topps NOW program. As a Pirate collector I've been pretty happy over the course of the two years.  The Pirates have been middle of the road in terms cards produced so the investment has been minimal.  In terms of the actual cards themselves their have been ups and downs, but the overall body of work has still been positive.  My biggest complaints have been some boring photos and the fact they've gotten a little walkoff happy.

Last month the NOW program went all in on the Players Weekend.  They produced a set for every team featuring five players chosen nickname.  It was a guaranteed purchase for me.

 I was kind of hoping to see a Felipe "Nightmare" Rivero, but overall it was a nice selection of players. The Bell makes for a unique rookie card so that was pretty cool.  Cards like these is what I like about the NOW program. 

Thanks for reading!

Doing my Best and Showing my Best

My daughter recently started preschool which has in turn required me to change my blogging schedule. For the last few years I've been a creature of habit on when I scan, write, organize etc.  With school my daughter comes home absolutely wiped out so some adjustments are being made with her much earlier bedtime.

The main issue is scanning time.  The office area in my house is in close proximity to my daughters bedroom.  Being that she is a light sleeper I'm always a little tentative scanning more than a couple of cards after lights out.  This makes it tough to get those trade packages scanned in a reasonable time.   Time to call an audible.

I live extremely close to where I work so I often come home for lunch.  Since I'm not cooking myself a Michelin Star quality meal, actual eating time is short.  Scanning problem solved! In the past I would often utilize my lunches writing the text to my posts or just reading other blogs.  Now I use the lunch hour to scan and use the post bedtime hours to do the quieter blogging tasks. For the immediate future these changes should keep me on my normal posting schedule. I envy my friends that have sound sleeping kids.

Now for some cards.

Bowman Best autos tend to sell cheap as I was able to get this lot for around $8.50 shipped. I probably saved a few extra bucks because the seller only had 10 feedback on eBay. The Taillon and Diaz are considered rookies.  Newman and Craig are both former Black Bears and first round picks so that is pretty cool too.

Thanks for reading 

I Can See Clearly Now

I'm a big fan of clear/acetate cards so when I saw the preview of Topps Clearly Authentic I knew I would chase down the Pirates. Thankfully nothing crazy was on the checklist Pirate wise (Taillon and Glasnow) so tracking them down will/has been easy.  Last week I was able to add the Taillon for around $6.

 2017 Clearly Authentic Jameson Taillon Auto

This is a product I would never open, but if you like acetate cards you should take a look at the checklist.  Lots of lower end autos in the set that can be had for less than $10.  When I purchased this Taillon I noticed the seller had a lot of autos from this set on auction.  I tried for a handful of different ones that would have made great trade bait, but only came away with one additional card....

Hopefully Ptown Tom hasn't picked this one up.  Either way since he is super collecting I don't think he'll mind having a second one.

Thanks for reading!

Loading Up on Jameson

This Jameson.....

2010 Bowman Jameson Taillon Gold Rookie /50

Not this one....

Prices on Taillon cards are still relatively cheap so I've been trying to add a few higher end cards the past couple of months. Normally if I don't get the Chrome autos or parallels early the prices get too high.  For whatever reason the market cooled on Taillon and now I have this nice new Chrome gold parallel for the collection. I think the final price was right around $10 maybe a shade more.

It has been kind of fun watching the Pirates play themselves back to relevancy the last month or so. Thankful the Cubs and Brewers have opened the door a little for the Cards and Pirates to be within striking distance.  No matter what happens I should at least get another month of meaningful baseball.

Thanks for reading!

Adversity

In a Pirates season filled with PED's, visa issues and injuries it was nice to see a positive story about Jameson Taillon. 5 weeks back Jameson Taillon went on the DL as what was described as groin discomfort.  After a few tests it was determined that the discomfort was likely testicular cancer.  Surgery would later confirm the initial diagnosis.

Fast forward to yesterday and Taillon was already back on big league mound. He would pitch 5 shutout innings. That is a quick turnaround! Taillon is an easy guy to root for because he has already had to overcome Tommy John, a sports hernia and a wicked line drive to the head. Let's hope all the bad stuff is in the rear view mirror and he can just focus on baseball.

2017 Topps Tribute James Taillon Auto /99

This is actually my second most recent addition to my collection as Topps NOW released a card commemorating Taillon's return today.  

Topps Tribute is always a nice set to pick up on card autos. I was able to grab this one for the bargain price of around $5. 

Thanks for reading.  

Tie One On

2016 National Treasures Jameson Taillon Auto Patch /99

I have had a lot of luck lately winning eBay auctions centered around Panini National Treasures. While many of the cards I've won have been sent to my trade partners, the jumping off point is almost always a Pirates card. Such was the case with this Taillon auto.

For the most part Jameson has been a relatively cheap add to my collection. It probably has something to do with the long gap between draft and actual debut time. This has made for a nice buyers market! When Jameson was drafted he was seen as one of the best high school arms since Josh Beckett but injuries stunted his development. 

Taillon ended up having a successful debut in 2016 and looks to be a big part of the rotation in 2017! 

Now Now

A couple weeks back I made my thoughts known on Topps Now.  I loved the idea, but I thought the $9.99 price was high for the majority of cards being made.  So far I've picked up the Kang and Cutch for well below the retail price.

One area in which the 9.99 price seems to hold up well is high end rookie debuts. Knowing this I went ahead and took the plunge for the Jameson Taillon. To be honest it still felt like I was overpaying.

 Looking on eBay as of Tuesday afternoon it looks like I could have bought the card for a couple bucks less. Maybe I should just wait for all of them.......

Lord Helmet and I will have to get use to Now Now.

I'm guessing since the word is out on Topps Now that the market is getting flooded.  The first couple of weeks the print runs were  under 500, but now the majority of cards are well above that mark.

For the foreseeable future my Topps Now purchases will be later....

A Shot of Jameson

Tonight Jameson Taillon makes his debut for the Pirates. Once heralded as the best high school pitching prospect since Josh Beckett, he lost a good bit of that prospect shine because of two major injuries. Tommy John wiped out his 2014 season while a hernia caused him to miss 2015.  

The pedigree of a good pitcher is there and it didn't take long for him to regain his form. Taillon excelled at all the things the Pirates look for in pitchers in AAA including just about every control stat imaginable.  He also keeps the ball on the ground which is key for all the shifting the Pirates utilize. 

This debut has a different feel than Gerrit Cole's.  Maybe that is good in a way that the hype machine hasn't got out of control.  Thankfully for the Pirates Cole turned out to be as advertised.  I think people are just skeptical of someone who lost two years of pitching. 

The good thing is the Pirates are facing a Mets team that is struggling to hit and for whatever reason struggle against the Bucs.  Either way it will make for a good tv.  

Taillon photo dump

Go Bucs! 

MVP's (Harper vs Field)

An interesting article hit Fangraphs today discussing the NL MVP race. I find award voting in baseball equally fascinating and frustrating. This year will probably be more frustrating.

As you know MVP awards often become hot topics toward the end of the season. In years past voters would look more at counting stats rather than the overall body of work. The year Juan Gonzalez won the MVP is a great example as Griffey Jr was by far the best player.

In recent years voters have done a better job of avoiding the real egregious picks. Mike Trout could easily have 3 MVP's but it is not like it was some atrocity that Miguel Cabrera won the award. Cabrera was probably the better hitter, but Trout was hands down the best overall player. Personally I think Trout should have won, but that is a worn out argument. Overall the last handful of years has been much better.

The debate now is Bryce Harper. No statistical argument can be made which doesn't have Harper winning the award. He leads just about every offensive category you can think of by a considerable margin. What he doesn't have is narrative.

Voters love a good story. They want guys leading their team to the playoffs. Some voters will only vote for the best player that is on a playoff team.  If you Google 2015 NL MVP you will eventually run into articles making the case for guys like Anthony Rizzo, Kershaw/Grienke and Cutch.

As much as I love Cutch, he doesn't deserve the MVP. It just feels like everyone is over thinking it this year. It is not Bryce Harper's fault that the Nats underachieved. People put way too much stock into things the actual player can't control.  One of the years Miggy won the AL MVP a voter referenced the Tigers made the playoffs. Mike Trout's Angels actually had the better record.

The Fangraphs article I referenced plays devils advocate and trying to say Harper is more good than great when his team needs him the most. In low to medium leverage situations Harper is by far the best hitter in baseball, but in high leverage situations he is 70th. Guys like Rizzo and Cutch rated much higher. At the end of the article the writer said he would still vote for Harper. His point was basically saying context can and should play a small part in voting.

When it was all said and done you can keep drilling and find flaws in someones game. Basically it comes down to voting for someone who is having a historically great season, but on an underachieving team. To me MVP means best player. Bryce Harper is the best player this year. I find it odd that we can pick CY Young winners on bad teams (Kluber and King Felix), but the hitter gets docked for being on a bad team.

I think Harper will win, but it won't be the landslide victory that it should be.

I've blogged about this card before, but it is pretty much the only Harper I have and it features a Pirate!

Vote Harper!

Back on Pace

I'm still dealing with hard drive issues on my computer. I know the hard drive needs to replaced it is just a matter of getting some stuff off of the old one. Fun times!

In the meantime I've decided to take the afternoon off and hit another Pirates game. This time my brother in law will be joining me. He is moving to Washington DC in a couple of weeks and he is trying to hit some Pirate and Black Bears games before he starts his new job. He knows I'm always game so we snatched some tickets this morning.  Yay spontaneity! Hitting 3 games in the past couple weeks will get me closer to my desired 10 a year.

How about a card.

2009 Upper Deck USA Jameson Taillon Green Auto /2

Another Taillon edition! I'm not going crazy with Taillon like I did Polanco, but the prices have bottomed out so much that it has been easy to add.  Two years back this card would have been $75 plus, but I secured for around $25.  Still pricey, but not bad considering the scarcity. It quickly becomes one of my best Taillon cards in my collection. 

Thanks for reading!

Broken Computer and Pitcher

2015 Diamond Kings James Taillon Dual Patch /5

My home office computer decided that it needed a break last night and went completely haywire. I have had pretty good luck with my computer choices over the years, but this is not a good sign. The computer is relatively new and used lightly. If it is anything serious I may switch to a Mac. 

In the meantime here is the card I intended to show last night. Since Taillon has been hurt the better part of two years his cards have bottomed out in terms of eBay prices. I added this dual patch for $15. Not too shabby considering it is a new set that sells really well. 

This offseason is going to be critical for Taillon. He still is in the long term plans for the Buccos, but he will need to show some progress. Many Pirate fans still want to see a rotation featuring Cole, Glasnow and Taillon. 

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Thanks for reading! 

Diamond Kings

With all the recent trades I haven't had much time to show cards I've purchased the last few weeks. This is a new mini that I've added to my collection.

2015 Diamond Kings Jameson Taillon Mini Patch /25

I rarely by jersey cards on eBay, but I will often pull the trigger on nice patches if the price is right. Normally I'm looking for some of the late 70's Pirates, but this popped up and caught my eye. It is a pretty big patch for the size of the card. Plus, I really like the new DK set. 

Taillon is always one of my regular eBay searches as his cards are very affordable. He was the 2nd overall pick in the loaded 2010 draft. Obviously the Pirates thought a lot of him as some of the notable guys picked after were Manny Machado, Matt Harvey and Chris Sale. 

After climbing the system it looked like Taillon would be making his debut at some point in 2013, but his arm gave out. Tommy John surgery caused him lose the entire 2013 season. While his rehab has reportedly been going great the Pirates are not rushing him. He may help the team in September, but 2015 is most likely the target. 

Thanks for reading. 

Bad But Not Bad Enough

No professional sports draft is more unpredictable than the MLB draft. While many experts will say certain guys grade out better than others, no matter how high the pick it will come with huge question marks. Rarely do you see a draft where most scouts agree that minus an injury certain guys are destined to be superstars. Enter the 2009 and 2010 drafts. Otherwise known as the Steven Strasburg and Bryce Harper sweepstakes.

Both years the Pirates were terrible, but not terrible enough. The Nationals were an absolute joke of a team those years and were able to draft and sign both mega talents. What could have been...

Obviously the verdict is still out on whether Strasburg will become a superstar pitcher. The guy puts up great numbers, but doesn't pitch deep into games. Hard to be considered a top tier pitcher when you rarely get out of the 6th and 7th innings.

Harper just needs to stay on the field. The guy can play and the numbers in 2012 and 13 were impressive for a guy who just reached 20 years of age. They just got overshadowed because of Mike Trout. A lot of people hate on Harper, but the Nationals only have themselves to blame. They marketed the kid as a superstar before he played his first game.  His minor league games were getting heavily broadcasted and his jersey was being sold at Nationals Stadium long before he made his debut. Hard not to have a little edge about you when everyone says you are going to be great.

2011 Bowman Platinum Bryce Harper/Jameson Taillon Dual Auto /89

The 2010 draft turned out to be loaded. It has already produced 4 All Stars in Harper, Manny Machado, Matt Harvey and Chris Sale. The Pirates used the 2nd pick to take Jameson Taillon who was considered the best high school pitcher in the draft with tons of upside. Taillon would have made his debut at some point last year if he hadn't blown out his arm. Let's hope to a full recovery and a successful debut this year. 

I picked up this dual auto when both Taillon and Harper were hurt at the beginning of the season last year. Hopefully it turns out to be a nice buy low card. 

Thanks for reading!

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!