Back Down South Pt. 1 of 2

I hate going out of town, but sometimes my job requires it. This past week I found myself back in Fort Lauderdale doing some work at the port, luckily I have family down there so I usually have something to do besides stare at the wall in my hotel room. Also there is a great card store close by, though he moved since the last time I was down there nearly 2 years ago Scott's Sports Cards is my favorite card shop/vendor I've stumbled across. Scott is a super nice guy with totally fair prices and isn't as greedy as most card vendors seem to be, if you ever find yourself in South Florida I highly recommend checking his store out though it's a small warehouse space now instead of his old storefront in a shopping plaza. Here's the address - 10128 N.W. 53rd Street. Sunrise, FL 33351.

Anyways I walked in looking for 2017 Topps because after buying over 200 cards via retail I got sick after only pulling 2 Braves... that's 1%... Grabbed these three Dansby rookies plus a full team set with multiples of most of them for other folks and a couple other inserts for about 5 bucks.

 2 more of the inserts I grabbed, big fan of both of these designs. Love the simplicity of the Father's Day one and being a big fan of Topps Fire I also dig the 5 Tool inserts.

Not big on cards of TV personalities but it's John Smoltz. Thick Museum Club inserts for a quarter? Huge fan especially of Maddux.

This guy has so many cards I found this super thick Bowman TV insert in between the boxes, I interviewed Touki during the offseason for Talking Chop and he's a super nice kid from South Florida  - Coral Springs where my family lives to be exact, was cool to talk to a super talented kid in my favorite team's farm system about eating at Cherry Smash ice cream. Wish him the best of luck this year in High A where i'll probably be able to catch some of his starts since the Braves moved their High A affiliate about an hour or so from my house.

There were boxes and boxes of autographs, relics, serial numbered cards etc. On this trip though I got there only an hour or so before closing time so I skimmed the top of the boxes for the thickest cards like this Inception auto of Travis Demeritte, which was less than half the price of online.

I've already got this Inception Auto of Max Fried but grabbed another copy because for these prices... why not? This kid is going to be a stud. Should start in AA and if he picks up where he left off in 2016 he won't be there long.

The other guy in the Alex Jackson trade that went down the day before Thanksgiving, further proof that Braves General Manager John Coppolella never sleeps. Pike is a lefty from nearby (to me) Polk County who has struggled by the numbers in the minors so far but has also been in mostly hitter friendly leagues. Excited to see what he can do with a change of scenery hopefully to the massive Trustmark Park in Mississippi of the Southern League (AA)

Thanks Yankees, the strikeout factory is going to miss the 2017 season but this kid has massive upside if he can return from TJS. Plus it's a 1st Bowman refractor for less than a cup of coffee, hard to pass up.

Closing it out with my guy Folty. 2017 will be his year, mark my words. Come back and tell me I'm wrong in October but I don't think I will be. Thanks for reading, I ended up going back the next day and grabbing more cards but I'll make that another post. 

PANIC! Braves 2016 Preview - Infield

I'd been planning on doing a series for the upcoming season focusing on position battles and such. 

Then I checked twitter after work yesterday and probably looked alot like this guy when I read the following tweet:

Our fearless leader and only real threat in the lineup looks like he'll be on and off the shelf again this season. He had looked good thus far in Spring too, homering twice to go with a few doubles and a bunch of walks. If the injury is bad it leaves a huge hole in our lineup as well as at first base. Let's take a look at the potential replacements...

My best guess to take the job full time if Freeman were to miss significant time would be Nick Swisher.  He's getting paid alot and I doubt they find anyone to dump him on without eating around $10m.  The guy used to be good, let's take a quick glance at his 2015 stats...

Year	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+	BB	SO	SB	CS
2014	97	360	33	75	8	42	.208	.278	.331	70	36	111	0	0
2015	76	219	14	43	6	25	.196	.312	.320	75	35	54	0	0

Ok please don't do that to me Braves. 

Another guy who actually hit last year who should be too busy platooning all over the place is Kelly Johnson. While he could play some first, I see him platooning in left and at third. 

Maybe A.J. tries to extend his career even further by picking up a first base glove. I like those 2 options better than Swish. Hopefully Freeman is ok and this post is a overreaction later today. 

Moving onto 2nd base Jace Peterson is the heir apparent and doesn't really have any competition (yet) so he should get the nod, Guy hits righties good enough but probably isn't an everyday player. The Braves have been playing him all over the diamond this Spring however preparing him for his inevitable utility role. I've seen him at second, short, third and in left field so far. 

One of the platoon options brought in was local boy and former top prospect/rookie of the year Gordon Beckham. He will probably make the club and start at second against lefties. I expect nothing crazy but you never know, if I had to guess I'd say 50ish games with a .235 average and a solid glove. 

Maybe I shouldn't give my opinion on Bonifacio, that look is kinda scary. Whatever, I think Emilio might be the odd man out despite inking a major league deal with the club. But then again Fredi Gonzalez loves players like Boni so I'll probably be wrong. He pretty much epitomizes the "Jack of all trades, Master of none" saying from a baseball standpoint.

Aybar should get most of the starts at short this year while Dansby and Ozzie Albies season in the minors. That is unless the Cardinals wanna overpay for him and then it would probably be a combination of the 2nd base candidates along with AAAA type player Daniel Castro at short. If Aybar does stay I could see him having a decent season until he's flipped in July for a mid level pitching prospect.

Adonis Garcia is pretty much locked in at third base by default since Olivera has been moved to left. The guy showed flashes of power hitting 10 homers in less than 200 plate appearances.

If he struggles I could see Hector coming back in to play third and the team calling Mallex Smith up to play left. This could just be this fans wishful thinking though as the team seems set on Olivera in left where he's hitting really well so far in Spring.

Hopefully though Freeman is ok and plays 150+ games while hitting .320 with 25 dingers and 100 RBI, he's gonna be a Dad after all needs to make that boy proud!

Thanks for reading my ramblings,  Go Braves! 

My Trip to the Toronto Expo via Doug

Douglas from Sportscards From the Dollarstore went to the Toronto Sports Card Expo and had his eye out for others on the "cardsphere" luckily he included me.  Here's what got sent my way.

I actually believe Doug pulled this one from a  2015 Artifacts box he opened, it's really nice and my first hit of Palat. 

This one is an awesome 2-tone swatch commemorating the Lightning's 2004 Stanley Cup win that St. Louis single handledly saved in game six by scoring the OT winner to send the series back to Tampa for game 7.

This one is probably my favorite card of the bunch as it's my first autograph of my all time favorite Bolt. Vinny is lingering in Philly now but i'll always remember watching him from the moment I moved to Tampa and fell in love with hockey as weird as that sounds.

Not usually a fan of sticker autos but this one incorporating a band-aid is absolutely awesome of former bruiser Enrico Ciccone.

Here's a shiny refractor of former D-man Filip Kuba, always was a fan of his during his short stint in Tampa.

Another 2015 Artifacts, which is a beautiful set and a die cut of Ben Bishop.

Another old favorite, Richards just got dropped to the Red Wings fourth line. St. Louis is retired, Lecavalier is barely hanging on... it feels like 11 years since we won the cup.

Speaking of St. Louis here's a nice mix of base cards I didn't have of his, the silver signature MVP being my favorite of the bunch.

Douglas didn't just send hockey cards though. That DK is my first mini of the set and will head right to the FF5 binder, hopefully he doesn't get traded by the time I get it in there.

Tyrell Jenkins came over in the Heyward trade, was the Braves organizations top minor league pitcher last year and looks to make his Major League debut this year. 

If you haven't traded with Douglas before it's worth the shipping costs to send some cards over the border to this guy. He covered all four teams I collect and always sends a well balanced package, I had the base Deion from this years GK but this insert is new to me. I just got the last card I was waiting on for you in the mail Douglas so if your reading this expect return fire soon.

Closing this one out with some Gators, they laid an egg on Saturday putting up a whopping 2 points at home against FSU and will likely be embarassed again Saturday in the Georgia Dome against the Crimson Tide. Oh well 10 wins in Coach Mc's first season and a SEC East title is non too shabby, we'll probably secure a decent bowl game due to that and hopefully actually have a QB next year.

Anyways Thanks for all the great cards Doug and thank YOU for reading.

Trade with Nachos Grande - 2015 A&G

Saw this box topper in one of Chris's Nachos Grande Ginter posts last week. I offered some mini inserts he needed and before I knew it this was in my mailbox. I never buy boxes (2 kids will do that) so this is an awesome addition to my collection.

He even threw in some bonus Braves so Freddie wasn't lonely on his journey down south. Was missing that Bream for my team set - Score!

I'd never even seen this set til I ripped this package, I guess I have alot of holes to plug in the ole collection from '02-2009

How many trades come with an auto of the guy sending the cards - brilliant!

I had seen these awesome Munnatawket minis on other people's blogs and was jealous, well now it is my turn. These are awesome, love that shot of Freeman. Thanks for all the great cards Chris, I hope to trade again soon.