WELCOME BACK ADAM

As all of you probably heard, the Yankees sent superstar reliever Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs in return for the #24 prospect Gleyber Torres, outfielders Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford, and ex Yankee Adam Warren. That's a pretty good haul for someone that only has a few months left on his contract. Not to mention the Yankees likely wouldn't have been in contention, and most likely wouldn't have had any use for Chapman. For a closer that the Cubs will just rent, the Yankees got: a top prospect at a premier position with power and speed, an outfielder with potential, and a reliever/starter that was terrific for the Yankees in past years. Not only can Warren give the Yankees length, he's also very good. If I recall correctly he had a sub 2 ERA in the bullpen last year for the Yankees. Chapman's ERA is above 2 this year. So not only did the Yankees replace Chapman in the bullpen with Warren, they got a top 25 prospect and a top 100 prospect. I absolutely love this deal as a Yankee fan.

I think Yankees fans forgot how good Warren was for us, and if Warren can get back to his old self, the Yankees will be just fine without Chapman.

I liked the Warren+Ryan/Castro trade, but Warren was one of my favorites. Making his major league debut in 2012, pitching terribly, and coming back the next three years and being a key part in the bullpen for the Yankees. So the Adam Warren+Brendan Warren for Castro trade basically turned out to be Brendan Ryan for Starlin Castro.

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Nolan Arenado Is Now An All Star!

Nolan Arenado did not surpass Kris Bryant in votes, but he still managed to make it to his second straight all star game. Well deserved too: 23 home runs, 69 RBI's, a .290 batting average, and to cap it off 1 stolen base. Kris Bryant has a lower batting average but has 2 more home runs than Arenado. Bryant got more votes than Arenado EVEN THOUGH he has double the amount of strikeouts, AND has made 8X the errors. 8 errors compared to Arenado's 1. There's no doubt that Kris Bryant is a great player, but it's a shame that Nolan gets no love. Oh well. I thought it was an appropriate time to show off some of my most recent cards of the games best third baseman.

First up is this 2013 Topps finest autograph BGS 9.5/10. I already had the base and green version, but was happy to get this with a gold banner. I won this card in a razz (raffle), and I was more than happy with the win.

A few weeks ago I wrote up a post about a Mike Trout bowmans best red autograph /5 that I acquired. I ended up trading it for a pair of bowman chrome autographs of Nolan Arenado, one being a refractor. This is the first bowman chrome autograph of Arenado that I was able to pick up, but hopefully it's not the last. I remember when these were selling way below $100; now it's tough to find one below $150.

This bowman chrome refractor autograph BGS 9/10 was the other card in the deal. The National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City is coming up in a few weeks, and I'm hoping to acquire the blue parallel. Unfortunately it'll probably be very expensive, but it's a card I've been trying to acquire for awhile now. And every time I try, it goes up in price. I'm also missing many Topps chrome autograph parallels, including the blue, sepia, and gold, so hopefully I'll be able to hunt them down. Only a few more weeks!

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Thank you for reading!