2012 Quarry Cards #'s 43-51

Here we go with the final group of 2012 Quarry Cards.  For those of you that may have missed a day or two, here are the links for the rest.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

#43 Jonathan Sanchez

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 10%

Yearly Performance Grade - F

#44 Rob Scahill

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 85%

Yearly Performance Grade - B

#45 Marco Scutaro

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 0%

Yearly Performance Grade - D+

#46 Carlos Torres

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 50%

Yearly Performance Grade - C

#47 Troy Tulowitzki

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 100%

Yearly Performance Grade - C

#48 Alex White

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 95%

Yearly Performance Grade - C-

#49 Eric Young Jr.

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 60%

Yearly Performance Grade - B

#50 Jim Tracy

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 0% 

Yearly Performance Grade - F

#51 Rockies Team Card

Yearly Performance Grade - D-




Another group and yet more disappointments.  We start with the "franchise" player Troy Tulowitzki who had just an awful year especially on defense.  He only played in 47 games, but had 8 errors which equates to about 30 over a full season.  I hope he gets back to normal very soon because he is entering the payroll eating years of his contract.  If not, the Rockies might have a rough few years ahead.  Marco Scutaro was horribly average (or below) as a Rockie.  Compounding the fiasco for Colorado was Scutaro becoming Tony Gwynn upon arrival in San Francisco.  Much like the other two big pitching prospects, Drew Pomeranz and Christian Friedrich, Alex White also experienced growing pains.  He flashed potential, but for the most part was not very good.  The one bright spot of this group was the under the radar season of Eric Young Jr.  He was injured during the year as well, but he was very good when he was playing.

The pictures here are mostly average, with the exception of a great play at the plate card for Eric Young.  Did any of you expect a bad picture for EYJ though?  The Marco Scutaro is a happy accident.  I made that card of him in San Francisco's stadium back in May before the trade.  I just liked the Chevron cars in the background.  The Jim Tracy shows him in his usual state of bliss in the dugout.  I hope the next manager actually shows a little bit of fire in his belly because this team needed it badly.


I hope you guys liked this set...it only took seven months to finish hehe.  I am not going to be turning these into actual cards due to photo copyrights and other legal problems.  However, I sized them pixel-wise perfectly for standard cards so if anyone wants a copy for themselves I say go for it.

Thanx for reading.

2012 Quarry Cards #s 35-42

Here we go with Round 5 of the 2012 Quarry Card Cavalcade.  Have a look.

#35 Jordan Pacheco

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 95%

Yearly Performance Grade - B+

#36 Drew Pomeranz

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 100%

Yearly Performance Grade - C-

#37 Zach Putnam

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 80%

Yearly Performance Grade - C

#38 Matt Reynolds

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 60%

Yearly Performance Grade - C

#39 Josh Roenicke

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 80%

Yearly Performance Grade - B

#40 Esmil Rogers

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 0%

Yearly Performance Grade - F

#41 Wilin Rosario

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 100%

Yearly Performance Grade - B

#42 Josh Rutledge

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 95%

Yearly Performance Grade - C+



This grouping is filled with a good chunk of the future of the Rockies organization, for better or worse, along with a pair of veteran relievers.  Let's start the analysis with the relievers.  Josh Roenicke was a very pleasant surprise in 2012 as one of the main "piggy-back" relievers.  Matt Reynolds had a very strange year.  He didn't pitch badly, but from the end of May to the beginning of August, the Rockies went 1-45 in games in which Reynolds pitched.  Reynolds only gave up runs in 7 of those games, so that stat is just weird.  The two best rookies of the year for Colorado were Pacheco and Rosario.  They were really good offensively, but defensively it was a struggle to say the least.  I am giving Rosario the nickname "and J" because you rarely saw his name without PB in front of it.  Rutledge was serviceable for the injured Troy Tulowitzki, although it was probably a year too early for him.  Pomeranz was an enigma in that he had the second best ERA for a Colorado starter, but he went 2-9.  It was just that kind of season.

Picture-wise, this group is rather ho-hum with two exceptions.  The Rosario is great and I am always a sucker for a picture of a catcher in full gear.  I think the umpire add a lot to that pic as well.  My favorite of this group is Pacheco.  That photo has so much in its favor.  The play at the plate, the eyes of both men looking for the call, the elephant patch on the catcher's sleeve, and the runner on second (Fowler I think) sneakily taking third.


Your favorite here?  I will be putting a bow on this year's set tomorrow night.

Thanx for reading.

2012 Quarry Cards #'s 26-34

Here we go with the Grouping 4 of 6 for my 2012 Quarry Cards.  Hope you like what you see.

#26 Matt McBride

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 85%

Yearly Performance Grade - D

#27 Guillermo Moscoso

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 35%

Yearly Performance Grade - D+

#28 Jamie Moyer

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 0%

Yearly Performance Grade - C+

#29 Chris Nelson

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 85%

Yearly Performance Grade - A-

#30 Juan Nicasio

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 90%

Yearly Performance Grade - C+

#31 Wil Nieves

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 0%

Yearly Performance Grade - C+

#32 Rafael Ortega

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 95%

Yearly Performance Grade - B

#33 Adam Ottavino

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 80%

Yearly Performance Grade - B

#34 Josh Outman

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 20%

Yearly Performance Grade - F



I mentioned yesterday about showing off 2 of the 3 worst offseason additions for the Rockies in Jeremy Guthrie and Ramon Hernandez.  Well, here is the third in Guillermo Moscoso and Josh Outman.  The Rockies traded Seth Smith to the A's for these two who promptly proved that Oakland's stadium makes mediocre pitchers look good.  Moscoso will probably be back, but Outman might get non-tendered hopefully.  Chris Nelson really proved to be a nice surprise with his regular playing time at third base.  He was the Rockies 1st round pick in 2004 (the year before Tulo), but had never been given a real shot at the big league level.  Rafael Ortega was called up during the final week of the season and made his MLB debut in 2 games for the Rockies.  In my card collection, he will always be known as "Mr. 300" because he is officially the 300th member of my One of every Rockie collection.  It was tad anticlimactic because I already had his cards before he made his debut.  Finally, we have Jamie Moyer who was a great story not only for the Rockies, but for baseball in general.  Unfortunately, he was a much better story than pitcher and was cut in June.

As far as photos, surprisingly (aside from one) the best of this lot are all pitchers which usually make for the most boring cards.  I like the Moscoso just because it is an angle that is not usually shown on cardboard.  It is a bullpen shot, just in case some of you were wondering how they got over the mound.  The Moyer photo shows off the fielding of a pitcher, something that is very underrepresented with cards.  I also love the Nicasio simply because of the light "aura" that surrounds him.  It really seems to be somewhat of a supernatural type card (well maybe that's a bit of overselling).  However, my favorite of the group is without a doubt the Chris Nelson.  I love a good photo of sliding into the base, especially this close up. 

Just 17 to go and this year's Quarry Cards output is finished.  What do you think so far?  Any favorites here?


Thanx for reading.

2012 Quarry Cards #'s 18-25

It's time for the 3rd grouping of 2012 Quarry Cards.  Have a look.

#18 Jason Giambi

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - (2% as player) (10% as manager)

Yearly Performance Grade - D-

#19 Carlos Gonzalez

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 98%

Yearly Performance Grade - A-

#20 Jeremy Guthrie

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 0%

Yearly Performance Grade - F

#21 Will Harris

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 5%

Yearly Performance Grade - F

#22 Todd Helton

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 95%

Yearly Performance Grade - D+

#23 Ramon Hernandez

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 75%

Yearly Performance Grade - F

#24 Jonathan Herrera

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 45%

Yearly Performance Grade - C-

#25 D.J. LeMahieu

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 80%

Yearly Performance Grade - B-



This group could easily be called CarGo and the Disappointments, because aside from Carlos Gonzalez (and D.J. LeMahieu to an extent) everyone here had a 2012 that was disappointing at best.  At the head of the disappointment list are 2 of the 3 horrible offseason acquisitions by the Rockies, Jeremy Guthrie and Ramon Hernandez.  Guthrie, now a former Rockie, is a good guy but was a horrible fit with the Rox.  Coupled with the fact that Colorado traded 50% of Baltimore's playoff rotation to get him (in effect once Matt Lindstrom was flipped for Joe Saunders), it was one of the biggest disasters in team history.  Honestly, Hernandez wasn't much better.  Brought in as a mentor for young Wilin Rosario, Hernandez ended up being hurt and/or extremely ineffective.  The pair of veteran first basemen, Giambi and Helton, also had rough injury-plagued years.  It could be the end of the line for both of them, but I hope Helton will have a farewell tour in 2013.


As far as photography, there are some epic pics here.  The Todd Helton is a great moment-in-time shot that shows his pinch-hit grand slam against the Mets.  I really like the Carlos Gonzalez photo as well, but as good as that one is, there is going to an even better one co-starring Pirates catcher Michael McKenry later.  The Jonathan Herrera would have to be my favorite of this grouping though.  The colorful background, the look on his face, and of course the flying third baseman combine to create a very memorable photo.


How is this group?  Are you bored to tears yet?  Hopefully not, because I am only halfway through.

2012 Quarry Cards #'s 9-17

Here we go with round 2 of the 2012 Quarry Cards set.  Let's take a look.

#9 Tyler Colvin

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 95%

Yearly Performance Grade - B+

#10 Michael Cuddyer

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 75%

Yearly Performance Grade - C-

#11 Jorge de la Rosa

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 99%

Yearly Performance Grade - D

#12 Mike Ekstrom

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 2%

Yearly Performance Grade - D

#13 Edgmer Escalona

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 95%

Yearly Performance Grade - D+

#14 Tommy Field

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 20%

Yearly Performance Grade - F

#15 Dexter Fowler

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 60%

Yearly Performance Grade - A-

#16 Jeff Francis

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 65%

Yearly Performance Grade - B-

#17 Christian Friedrich

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 90%

Yearly Performance Grade - C



Mike Ekstrom is the first (but not last) former Rockie so far in the set.  He filed for free agency right after the season and it's quite unlikely for him to return.  This group also contain three of the best surprises from the disastrous 2012 season for Colorado.  Tyler Colvin was acquired in a bust-for-bust deal with the Cubs and, all of a sudden, forgot he was a bust in the first place.  Dexter Fowler, in a mild surprise, became a very consistent player.  He is very close to being a star.  The biggest surprise, by far, was the return of the prodigal son Jeff Francis.  He ended up being arguably the most reliable starter for the Rockies.  Of course it says a lot about the Colorado pitching staff that their most reliable starter was released by the Reds' AAA club in June.  However, the biggest impact of this group on me personally was the MLB debut of my former schoolmate Christian Friedrich.  He flashed potential away from Coors, but at home he looked awful before a stress fracture in his back prematurely ended his season.

Photo-wise, this group definitely has some winners.  There are four or five of these pics that I would qualify as great.  My top three in descending order would be the Friedrich, the Fowler, and #1 by far the Michael Cuddyer.  That isn't just a photo, that is fine art.  On the downside of the pictures, this group also contains the only photo that is not from the 2012 season.  Tommy Field only appeared in 2 games this year and 1 was as a pinch runner.  I couldn't find a single photo from this year, so I went with his September call up from 2011.


How does this group look?  Your favorites?

Thanx for reading.

2012 Quarry Cards #'s 1-8

One of my favorite things to do with this blog is creating my own cards.  With my recent financial situation, creating cards is even more important.  Rather than giving up the hobby until things turn around, I can at least keep up somewhat even without purchasing new cards.  With this year's Quarry Cards offering, I decided to go with a completely unique design of my own.  Unlike last year's mixed design, this year the cards are completely made up of landscape-oriented photos (horizontal cards).  It was inspired by several sets including: 1991 Score, 1960 Topps, and 2001 Fleer Tradition, along with my own imagination.  There are 51 cards in this set and I will be showing them over the next six days in an 8-9-8-9-8-9 format.  I hope you guys enjoy the work.

#1 Matt Belisle

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 95%

Yearly Performance Grade - B

 #2 Rafael Betancourt

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 90%

Yearly Performance Grade - A

#3 Charlie Blackmon

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 60%

Yearly Performance Grade - C

#4 Rex Brothers

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 100%

Yearly Performance Grade - B-

#5 Andrew Brown

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 5%

Yearly Performance Grade - D

#6 Edwar Cabrera

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 25%

Yearly Performance Grade - F

#7 Jhoulys Chacin

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 100%

Yearly Performance Grade - C

#8 Tyler Chatwood

Chance he will be on the 2013 Rockies - 97%

Yearly Performance Grade - C-


Like in 2011, I chose to number the set alphabetically by last name.  Unfortunately, that led to some unmemorable photos to start with, but that tends to happen when it is a group of mostly relievers.  They only tend to have their photo taken when they give up a big hit or something bad happens so the choices are not very plentiful.  Of this group, I think that the Chatwood is the best just because the photo really matched well with the available space.

All of these players are under contract or are arbitration-eligible for the 2013 season.  The reason the percentage is so low for Brown and Cabrera is because I expect them to be at AAA in 2013 although Brown could easily be released.  Blackmon is hard to figure.  He is in the same situation as Eric Young last year.  I could see him being a starting OF (after a couple of trades), a backup OF (after 1 trade), being traded in a package deal, being swapped for another prospect, or going to AAA.  I honestly have no clue what the Rockies plan for him is.  That will not be the last time I write that sentence for this team.  The rest I expect to return unless they are traded.  I hope they aren't traded because the bullpen is one of the Rockies biggest strengths right now.  Although, it was used very poorly in 2012 by Jim Tracy and Co.


Which one of these cards is your favorite?  What do you think of the design?  How could it be improved?

Thanx for reading.