The Future Of Judge

When Judge came up to the big leagues on August 13th, he was the center of attention. After hitting 2 home runs within his first 2 games, including a first at bat homer, he seemed to be swinging at air. In 84 at bats, he struck out 42 times. I understand that he's young and this is his first year in the majors, but even for a young hitter a 50% strike out rate can't be too good. It was painful to watch. Hopefully next year he can turn the page and have a better year, because the Yankees are going to need his bat next year. I know one thing though, I don't want to watch a player that strikes out 50% of his at bats. While Judge was all hyped up, I pulled the trigger on this card that was on eBay:

This 2016 Bowman inception Aaron Judge 1/1 cost me a pretty penny, but at the time I thought it was worth it, and my offer was accepted. Right now though the price that I paid seems to be a tad high, but this card is staying in my collection so the price isn't what bothers me. I'd love if Judge didn't strike out 50% of his at bats! Next year the AL East won't be as tight (at least in my opinion) so I think the young Yankees have a chance at the division. Judge, Bird, Sanchez, Severino, and possibly Frazier will all play a large part in determining the outcome of the Yankees season. Tonight is also the last Yankees game I'll be attending this season.

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Playing Catch Up

With the start of high school I haven't had any time to do anything besides baseball and school. Repeat that cycle 7 times a week and that leaves me with not much time. I don't think I've blogged since Miller, Beltran, Nova, and Chapman were traded, but as a Yankees fan I'm glad those moves were made. Gary Sanchez proved that he's the real deal, Aaron Judge proved that he can strike out every other at bat, and Tyler Austin... Well he's in the unknown. I haven't done much with my collection with the exception of moving my Clint Frazier bowman chrome autograph and Jorge Mateo gold autograph. I was hesitant at first about moving them, but prices always drop in the offseason and I feel that Mateo might be traded sometime in the near future.

I went out and acquired 3 new cards, one of them being this Ken Griffey Jr national treasures printing plate autograph! This is the only Panini card I have in my collection, but it's also one of the most unique in my collection. Unless something that I fall in love with pops up on eBay, this will most likely be going nowhere. Hopefully I'll still be able to post once or twice a week.

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Happy 100th To Nolan!

At the age of 25, his fourth year in the big leagues, Nolan Arenado now has 100 career home runs. Also 3 gold gloves (soon to be 4), and a 2 time all star. Not too bad at the age of 25. Nolan Arenado is projected to have 43 home runs this year, which would give him 85 in the past two years. So I thought it'd be a good time to show off my Arenado haul from The National.

This one was a gift from Will, which I do not yet have in my collection!

This one was also a gift from Will, this awesome all star stitches relic card

Prior to The National, I had the regular autograph parallel /844, but this die cut was one of the autographs that I didn't yet have for my collection. I was able to trade for this one, so it was in the budget!

This was one of the first cards that I saw at The National, and it just so happened to be a bowman sterling autograph of Arenado that I didn't have. This one is numbered /125, and I'm pretty sure it's the green parallel.

This was one of the last purchases I made at the show, except this Arenado sterling autograph is numbered /99. I now only need the regular refractor autograph /150, the blue /25, purple /10, canary /3, and of course the superfractor. I've seen the blue on eBay, but I'm still hunting for the 3 lowest numbered autograph parallels. Maybe one of these days...

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Newest Cards Of The Yankees Top Prospects

One of the main goals while I was at The National was to try and pickup some autographs of some of the Yankees top prospects, such as Judge, Frazier, Torres, etc. There was plenty to choose from (not all of it was at a very good price), but I was able to find some cheaper autographs of some of the Yankees top prospects. I probably overpaid for a bunch of them, but it's too late now. I'll have to enjoy what I have:

James Kapreielian seems to have a bright future with the Yankees, even though he has had some elbow issues in the past.

Some more Kaprielian...

Gleyber Torres was recently acquired in the Chapman trade, and is ranked the #24 prospect, which makes him 2nd in the Yankees system.

And now onto Clint Frazier, the Yankees #1 prospect, ranked 22 overall. Frazier has struggled so far in AAA with the RailRiders, but hopefully he'll be able to recover from the bad start in AAA. The Yanks had to give up Miller for Frazier, but I think it'll be worth it come 2017 or 2018.

And then there's Aaron Judge. With A-Rod retiring on Friday, I have a feeling that Judge will be entering Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

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Present From Andrew

4 days into the National and I still haven't found something I've absolutely loved. But I was able to pick up some nice cards, including this nice Starlin Castro Topps chrome that Andrew gave me. I already had the Bowman chrome refractor auto with is graded a 9.5/10, and now I have this Topps chrome refractor auto which will fit in nicely alongside the bowman chrome auto! There's still one day left of The National, and even though I don't think it's as good as Chicago or Cleveland, I'm still having a great time. 

Thank you Andrew for the gift!

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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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