World's Fastest Trade Package from Gavin

Sunday night I posted that I was over 90% done with 2016 Series 1 and several fellow bloggers stepped up saying they'd help. Gavin said he had 2 cards off my lists that "he'd throw on my stack"

Well less than 72 hours later this Schwarber showed up in my mailbox all the way from Portland. Thanks a bunch Gavin I was dreading having to track this one down on the secondary market. With yours and everyone else's help I went from 21 cards on my wantlist to 1. 

Gavin also helped me out with another set build with this gorgeous Whitey Ford from last year's Stadium Club offering. It was packaged with 2 other cards taking me down to 89 to go... 

At first when I saw this '77 Don Sutton I thought "sweet a new card for the PC!" 

Then I flipped it over.... O-PEE-CHEE! Awesome, thanks so much Gavin. This baby is clean too.

2 more for the Sutton PC. Perfect Spring Training shots in both, can't wait to hear Don calling the Braves on the radio verrrry soon.

Nice mix of vintage Bravos were included as well.

Man this thing just keeps getting better and better. New Chipper, Deion and Niekro!

Finally, I just posted a couple weeks ago that I had just got my first Leaf Signatures card of Eddie Perez. Well Gavin decided to double that collection by sending me this Jermaine Dye. Thanks a bunch for all the great cards man and the freaky fast delivery. I'll be sending you a return package before the end of this week.

Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Nachos Grande - A Trade Post

Happy St Patrick's Day, here's a card I fittingly got in the mail today. I won it with other cards to curb shipping cost angst. It will find it's way into a Reds collectors mailbox soon...

Getting to the point, Matt aka Bubba  from BBBOBB sent me a surprise bubble mailer full of Braves recently. I guess he's trimming the fat to make room for 2016 Allen & Ginter as I know he collects Braves too. I'll gladly take them!

I wonder if anyone actually ever plays Topps Attax. I remember seeing these on shelves at the time but I believe they've been replaced by Topps Chipz or some other wacky mispelled gimmicky product.

Speaking of gimmicky products, Matt also sent this pair of 1990 Topps Big cards. Again Topps is still up to these same tricks though under a different name and with larger cards that happen to be serial nuimbered. Things never change.

Thanks for all the great cards BUBBA!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris from Nachos Grande also sent me a loaded package last week knocking 16 cards off my 2015 Stadium Club want list.

Here's three of my favorites, great shot of the Rocket in the middle even if i'm not a fan of his. Another great photo showing the classic Les Expos uniforms and a guy I'm starting to collect, Lakeland boy Chris Sale and his wacky delivery.

I don't think i'd ever gotten one of these Topps Attax cards in a trade package before and boom 2 different packages containing them showed up last week, I needed that Maddux for my team set build, 

Thanks for the cards guys and thank you fair reader for stopping by. Happy St. Patrick's Day

Five Tool Golden Rainbow Cracked Bat Collectors - A Trade Post

I don't usually lump multiple trade packages together, but I've fallen more than a couple behind so I'm going to today...

Bryan from Golden Rainbow Cards saw my questionable decision to collect the 2016 base set and decided to help me out with about 20 needs.

Felix was my favorite of the bunch. I know how much everyone else has posted the base cards recently so I'll show off some of the team set needs Bryan sent along with them. 

A couple Hall of Famers sandwiching a Diamondback Brave Lance Cormier. 

Bob who's NOT a Yankees fan despite my constantly confusing him for The Lost Collector in our emails still decided to send me a bunch of needs from '15 Stadium Club. He writes the Orioles/vintage centric blog Five Tool Collector

Love this shot, celebration cards are cardboard gold and there can never be too many of them in my opinion. 

Pretty cool sunset card for The Captain. 

A great shot of one of the best to ever pick it. These put me over the 2/3 mark.

Finally Julie from A Cracked Bat and I pulled off our first trade recently and I went from having zero 2015 minis to having all the Braves in the blink of an eye.

It's well documented that Update boxes produced a lot of dupes. Julie opened one up and was nice enough to send me all her Braves which will go into multiple PC binders or to Spring with me to be autographed. 

Thanks to Julie, Bob & Bryan for all the great cards, i'll be sending something your way soon.

That's it for today, I'm still a couple trade posts behind so I'll be back with more soon. Caught some Yankees BP Sunday when I went to buy my tickets for the Braves game there in a couple of weeks. I'm going to the game Saturday at Disney. Baseball is here y'all! 

Spring Training Preview - Tampa Bay Rays (Guest Post)

A few weeks back I made the ambitious claim that I was going to do a Spring Training preview for all 30 Clubs in what at the time was 67 days until Opening Day. Well here we are a few days before Spring games start up and i've posted zero, none, zilch. That's not to say I won't do any or try to do as many as possible, I'll be attending more than a couple Spring games and will do a report on the teams I see there with photos and such.

A little help from Europe has got me jump started though, as my good friend Kyle who lives in Belgium volunteered to do a write up on the Rays. Kyle is an english teacher over there and a much better writer than myself. Without further ado here's a 2016 Preview of the Rays from a fan stuck in Belgium................

There's a lot of optimism rolling into the 16' campaign this year. Despite Longo being Longo, there's much improvement in the Rays lineup. Dare I say, a couple of people are long overdue for a breakout year (like Forsythe last year) there a couple of names that really need mentioning. 

T. Bex and Souza are the two that immediately stand out in my mind. Souza has been a huge disappointment thus far and has a high ceiling that could really add to his value but has yet to be seen. He has flashed power at moments and is overall average left fielder (this is what you get for trading with the Nats).

Needless to say, there's also Nick Franklin who is inhabiting a roster spot that should be given to another person that has more potential. Franklin has simply not lived up to the “super utility” type that he was projected to be and should be left at a 7-11 in Boston.

Now that we've gotten the negativity out of the way...let's take a look at the outfield options. Desmond Jennings doesn't seem to be one built for the hard turf at The Trop and has paid for this. Needless to say, Desmond is a solid option (when healthy) and is a very good bat. In a perfect world, he would be our lead off man but that has now been taken over by Gold Glover Kevin Kiermaier. The outfield has many option including newly acquired Corey Dickerson. The others would include Brandon Guyer and Mikie Mahtook. I was surprised to see they didn't lock up Sizemore but our farm system continues to produce. Taylor Motter is another interesting option that could be added (depending on who gets injured).

It finally seems that we have depth in the catcher's position! I like the addition of Conger for multiple reasons, mainly, because he has that competitive fierceness about him (like he displayed against the Rangers) and hopefully can bring the noise during a Yankees or Red Sox game because they are the enemy. Casali is also a nice fit too, when healthy, he has flashed very good power and sub par defense. Then there's Rene Rivera. We acquired him from the Padres a year ago and has been equivalent to how Souza has performed. His first half was reasonably good (including one walk off against Boston) but his second half isn't even worth writing about. He simply fell off the face of the earth (thanks Hit Show). Luke Maile is a dark horse to me and we'll see how he pans out. All in all, I feel good here. 

The infield has a bit of a jam. There's Loney who is lingering in purgatory (and will probably get traded at some point) then you have options with Lomo and Pearce too. Forsythe is locked in at second so this leaves a bit of a mystery in the field. Longo should be moved to 1B and letting Shaffer get some time at the hot spot (in order to spare the knees of our star). Still though, Longo has been proven durable despite his declining numbers. Now let's take a look at Brad Miller. I really like him and I think he fits the Rays mantra quite well in fact. High striped socks, solid defense man and good bat, I think he will thrive and ideally he will slot in at short stop, which leaves Tim Beckham and Nick Franklin in a do or die situation. I will skip Franklin entirely as I feel he has been a waste of a roster spot, so let's jump to Beckham. There's a lot of mystery surrounding him and his capabilities. It seems every time I watched him, he was striking out alongside his buddies Souza and Franklin. Despite this though, he has character that makes him fit our roster just the reality is, he hasn't lived up to the potential they thought he had. For him as well, it's do or die this year. What Kevin Cash will do with this logjam in the infield will be interesting. Pearce needs playing time at The Trop seeing his bat really goes a long way there but still needs to slot in Lomo, Shaffer and Loney...somehow. I will be sad to see Loney go (if he does) seeing he's really revamped his career with us but his numbers have declined and is simply too expensive for Sternberg's wallet. I forsee a David DeJesus situation like last year happen with Loney.

Now, the most important part of the Rays system...our pitching. Archer is our man, that goes without even saying actually. He is a guiding force that has taken the throne from our forefathers, Shield and Price. He embodies everything in which I love about the Rays. He is intelligent, doesn't have some Big Papi ego and goes out there and does his job. He inspires and makes every Rays fan a proud believer of why our philosophy is so great. Topkin recently reported that Smyly is highly contagious for the Tommy John bug and hopefully he is wrong. I really like Smyly (when he is healthy) but he has been pretty up and down with his stint with the Rays, so it'll be cool to see how his season pans out. Then we have the strong Matty Moore ready to slot in. He finished his seasons strong and was apparent his control was fully back. Can he regain that previous form and dominate? YES!

Then we have Jake Odorizzi. Why is he so great? Because he simply gets better and better. He acquired his split finger fast ball from a healing Alex Cobb and has utilized this pitch very effectively. Hopefully he can overcome Brian McCann this year, who has completely dominated him throughout his career. Erasmo Ramirez was a really pleasant surprise last year. I thought he would end up being like Erik Bedard (who was left at some coffee shop in Toronto) but really turned a lot of heads. He pitches strong and does it with a smile. It's refreshing. The last spots are a bit of a wild card, we have Blake Snell in the background but should not overlook top prospect Jaime Shultz. His numbers in Triple A were comparable with one Chris Archer. Very interesting...hopefully by this year, he will manage his command stronger while Blake Snell gets his feet wet with the first taste of Major League ball. What will be interesting with Snell is to see how he adapts to the major leagues. His numbers in Triple A were stupid (that's how good this kid is) and it'll be cool to see how he manages pitching to rival AL East teams.

The bullpen is my main concern (like every year). Boxy should be our closer and hopefully doesn't have a repeat of that disastrous second half. Alex Colome has also proven himself worthy and should be taken into consideration for a set up man slot or that could also belong to Xavier Cedeno and Steve Geltz. They both could be thrown into the mix, then we have the newly acquired Ryan Webb who is clearly hyped to be on the Rays. Enny Romero is in his do or die season, he simply hasn't found the control to handle major league pitching yet. One person I would like to bring up now would be Matt Andriese. Now, he has proven himself a solid starter and bullpen arm but I clearly prefer him as a starter. He usually gives a solid six innings and will probably give up a couple of runs but that is good for a fourth or fifth spot in my book. They need to use him more because he's clearly durable. More durable than former Ray, Nate Karns (who I was also sad to see leave). 

All in all, this season is going to be great and the Rays pose quite a threat in the thick of a very thick AL East.

Thanks a bunch Kyle. I am going to a Rays game in Sarasota and will try to get some photos and autographs of the Rays and Orioles. I plan on doing those crazy Diamondbacks next. If anyone would like to help me out with this project I would appreciate it. Well thanks for reading and enjoy Spring Training guys!

I know I will! 

I'm NOT A Night Owl - A Trade Post

Recieved a package in the mail from The Night Owl recently and just got around to snapping some pictures of the goodies inside last night. So in true Night Owl form late last night I added the pictures to this post and.... passed out while they were still uploading.

I'm the oldest 27 year old man alive apparently.  Ah well that's not going to stop me from writing these cards up. 

I guess there was a Dodger in Maddux's spot in the Night Binder because this is a pretty awesome Night Card at the soon to be vacant Turner Field. Still crazy to think that in 14 months I'll be attending a Braves game in a third home park. Like I said oldest 27 year old alive. 

I recently joined the Official Set Builders Club and chose 2015 Stadium Club to get started. Night Owl sent over a few needs including this Doc which was my favorite and an example of why this set is worthy of being built.  

In the end though I'm still a Braves hoarding maniac so this mini of PC guy and staff ace Julio was very much appreciated. Teheran got engaged over the offseason to former Miss Colombia competitor Yoselin Rincon

She's a former swimsuit model so this was a tame one for the blog

I follow a Colombian fan account of Julio on instagram and the guy is always posting Spanish tabloid clippings of the 2. Apparently Julio already knocked her up, good job! Now go pitch like a Papi this year. 

Anyways.... thanks for scanning my want lists Owl. I would've never known I needed this card,  I mean he's wearing a Red Sox uniform. 

More team set needs!  Thanks for all needed cards N.O. I'll be hitting you back very soon.

I was up late getting all these trade packages together,  14 in total. 9 bubblers and 5 PWEs going out later today. 

First Blaster of 2016 - '15 Stadium Club

Was at Target picking up last minute party supplies for my daughters birthday and caught this out of the corner of my eye:

Well there was no way I was leaving this behind so after all the festivities I went home and busted it open. 

I had only bought rack packs previously so these are the first "packs" of this set I've got to crack. 

First pack out of the box, I pulled an auto. Not a bad start, this one's headed to Canada. I actually got the base card of Stroman 

which I needed in the same pack.

2nd pack out I pull an insert #'d/99, this is a pretty good box so far folks. Again this one has a home already.

3rd pack I pulled a parallel of a PC guy 

The box calmed down after that but I still pulled some base I needed. Including maybe my favorite photo in the set, this Frank Robinson. 

Another great shot.

All told I pulled an auto, 1 insert, 1 parallel for the Julio binder and 28 cards towards my my set build. Here's the dupes I pulled and all are available for trade, I already updated my want list which can be found above. Keeping this one short and sweet, thanks for reading.