Don't Trade Them - Winter Meetings 2015

So they just started but the Winter meetings are already heating up. Chapman, Zobrist, Cespedes, Cueto.. on the move or about to sign. A bunch of all stars changing cities. Exciting stuff unless your a Braves fan.

This is a letter to Coppy aka John Coppallela in regards to the Winter Meetings going on right now in Nashville. 

Dear Coppy, 

Don't trade these guys. I know we're stocked with young pitching but these 2 guys need to be our young aces going down the road not trade chips for more prospects.  Unless your getting AJ Pollock, which ain't happening don't give me that upside crap and for the love of god don't trade them for MORE arms. I believe in you and the front offices plan to rebuild but these guys should be a part of that.

Sincerely, 

A Braves Fan

Flip them prospects bro!

2x3 PWE Club Dividends

Got back from my annual Thanksgiving trip to Atlanta last Tuesday night to a stuffed mailbox. Amongst the junk mail and bills there were 4 trade packages, including this awesome PWE from Jeff over at 2x3 Heroes. I also got packages from Brad, Tony and P-Town Tom.

Jeff really knows how to get the most out of 1 ounce of cardboard. This All-Star Stitches card of Smoltzy is awesome and is my 2nd relic of my favorite pitcher of the Big 3 from the 90's. If you didn't hear his HOF speech from last year check it out , he makes some really awesome points about young pitchers and Tommy John being the first TJ patient to reach the hall. 

Another sweet card of the Hall of Famer this one a die cut and a black parallel of Tommy Hanson. Big Red looked like the Braves ace of the future just four years ago and now he's gone,  crazy how life works. RIP Tommy.

My mailbox has been a Lecavalier hot box lately. Douglas just sent me an auto and now this beauty from Artifacts #'d/150. Thanks for this one Jeff 

More Artifacts, which might be my favorite hockey set. Like the hockey version of Museum Collection.  Hey MLB let Upper Deck do baseball cards again you idiots. 

Finally Jeff knocked off all but 2 of the team set from the new Upper Deck Series 1 cards. Love how almost all the photos are from the Stanley Cup,  nice touch Upper Deck your the best.

This one's my favorite, the pursuit, the puck, the patch. This one's got it all. Thanks for all the great cards Jeff. 

Football Sunday - Recent pickups

NFL Sunday and i've got to work... oh well it could be worse right? I should still be able to catch the first quarter and listen to the rest so no complaints here. Let's check out some football cards i've picked up recently from a variety of locations.

Saw this card on Sportlots.com and realized I had no cards of Deion as a Raven so I rectified that problem and now I do. The Ravens sucked this year even before Flacco went down for the year, crazy that they beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl 3 years ago and now both teams are in total disarray.

2015 Topps Take it to the House on the left, 2015 Valor on the right.

A Bucs card?! We picked up Clayborn in free agency this year, he only has 2 sacks to go with 11 tackles thus far. I'm sure he's on the edge of his seat right now watching this Big 10 Championship game as the Hawks and Spartans are tied with 2:00 left in the 3rd quarter. Another COMC pickup I think this one ran me a buck or so and I am a sucker for the Bucs old uniforms.

Another Big 10 guy out of Minnesota, I picked up his rookie auto from last year in the same COMC order. He has 1 sack so far but has played well overall and is looking like he will be a player in Dan Quinn's defense going into the future.

Not sure what I think of 2015 Finest but here they are.

Shiny enough just kind of a odd looking border. The parallels in this set are all pretty good looking i'll have to track some down.

Picked up the rest of the Falcons team set from the new Valor product. Hopefully the Falcons finally turn it around tomorrow here in Tampa, I was planning on going to the game but I have to work unfortunately. 

At least I got to the game in the Dome last week, here's my seat 4 rows up in the upper level for $17 not bad. Too bad we lost... again.

Anyways here's a sweet POTD card from Panini I picked up of Jake Matthews recently. 

Speaking of Matthews, the only way to score a first round pick auto for cheap is if they're a offensive lineman.

Devonta is returning from a concussion for the game so that could be huge.

Ricardo Allen has probably been the surprise of 2015 for the Falcons. He has 3 interceptions, 37 tackles and a sack. Last year he didn't even make the team coming out of training camp on the practice squad all year after being drafted in the 5th round. He's now the starting Free Safety and has been very good, glad to add my first card of his.

Well i'm not delusional so i'm not surprised the Gators just got beat down by Alabama but the defense looked good as usual and I'm excited for the future of this team again. Here's some former Gators - Jordan Reed is the Redskins starting TE. Matt Elam is a SS for the above mentioned Ravens.

After being drafted at the end of the 1st round in 2013, he hasn't lived up to expectations. Unfortunately he tore his biceps before the season started and will miss the whole 2015 season. This was another cheap COMC pickup. Gotta love that site. Anyways best of luck to your NFL teams tomorrow unless you root for the Bucs!

Let's Make A Deal I

  The Braves have made a lot of trades over the last 12+ months. Since firing Frank Wren and having John Hart take over the front office with assistant and now GM John Coppolella they've completely flipped the roster. As a fan this has been tough seeing homegrown guys like Jason Heyward, Craig Kimbrel, Evan Gattis and now Andrelton Simmons traded away most recently. As a collector however it's been pretty fun constantly having new guys to collect/chase.

 Sean Newcomb was the 15th overall selection in the 2014 draft and instantly became the Braves number one prospect once we acquired him. A college pitcher out of Hartford the kid is a big lefty with a plus fastball with sinking action and a curve and slider in his repertoire as well. He has been compared to Jon Lester as his ceiling and Scott Kazmir as his floor and his stat line of 2.38 ERA in 27 starts over 3 levels in 2015 reflects that. I've read he has troubles with walking batters but he also struck out 168 batters over 136 innings with 76 walks. He reached AA late in the season last year and should start this year at AAA Gwinnett with a call up possible but I doubt it comes before September unless he absolutely blows the competition away in AAA.  

  

Here's looking at you kid, you only cost us the best defensive player in the game... and a minor league catcher Jose Briceno (farewell Jose!)

ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

 The Angels also sent over Erick Aybar (I don't have any of his cards but I think you all know who he is and what he is as a player) and another pitching prospect in the deal.

 Chris Ellis is another college pitcher selected in the 2014 Draft in the 3rd round out of Ole Miss. Ellis is another big kid with a solid fastball and 2 offspeed offerings in a curve and changeup. He is currently a starter but the jury is still out on if he ends up in the bullpen, in 2015 he had a 3.90 ERA over 140.2 innings in high A and AA. I could see him starting in AA Mississippi for the time being with the Braves system being so clogged with young pitching prospects.

Eight days later the Braves traded another starter from the 2015 season away in Cameron Maybin for you guessed it.. more pitching. 

Image courtesy of google.com (sorry/thanks internet)

Well this trade was more of a money dump/too many outfielders trade because while I understand the upside in the Simmons trade I don't really see what the Braves see in Krol besides the fact he throws left handed. He has career 4.91 ERA over 88 IP in 3 years out of the bullpen. We need a left hander that can get outs so good luck Ian.

Another lefty bullpen type, Gabe Speier was drafted by the Red Sox in 2013 and at 20 years old just finished his first season in A ball last season for the Tigers.  

  

Hey look Maybin is going back home and Mr. Krol doesn't look too odd in the curly A hat. Anyways thanks for reading my caveman like prospect evaluations and like it or not I'm probably going to break down all the trades the new Braves regime has made until they start winning games. 

Zistle - I Have One Now Help Me (please)

So I finally succombed to the appeal of zistle after my last sorting and realizing I've bought way too many doubles lately. I figured if I started one and am debating whether or not I have card A or not I could just check my trusty Zistle (found here -https://www.zistle.com/users/jonesbwp) and save myself some money for what else, more cards I NEED.

This isn't a double. But I plan on adding my PCs like Sutton here. Also I suck at making want lists so I figured this would help me with that to an extent. 

My question for you veteran Zistlers out there is there an easy way to eliminate parallels when trying to add cards to your collection? Adding this Heritage High Numbers team set was a pain in the ass to add because every card has 5 printing plates listed with it. Quit rubbing it in Zistle I don't have any plates.

This should be fun. 

There is probably a really easy fix to all this and your probably looking at me like Rico here but this is about saving money people. You know what they say Mo' Money Mo' Cardboard.

I'll try and start early in time so I quit buying double 75's of Braves I've never heard of...

Or just add oddballs I don't have like this...

and this...

Ooh and this one. 

Oh god what have I done? 

Anyways my Zistle name is - jonesbwp so if your on there let's be friends! 

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.