Rockie Trading Post #10 - Special Guest AdamE from Thoughts and Sox

Welcome to the 10th episode of The Rockie Trading Post (man I got to 10 quickly thank you for that).  Tonight's special guest is Adam from Thoughts and Sox.  For those of you that haven't Adam, he collects Red Sox, boxing cards, and has a couple of interesting player collections in Bill Virdon and Dan Marino.  Adam's is the final of five packages that I received on my huge end of January Monday mail day.  This is definitely a case of last but not least, here's some of what I got.

My two favorite cards from Adam are these beauts.  The 2007 Bowman Heritage Todd Helton is awash with color, but understated...nice combo.  My only fault with it is the lack of name on the front.  That is one of biggest card pet peeves.  The 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces is a piece of art.  I only need the Matt Holliday for the team set if anyone has that one to spare let me know. 

Speaking of Holliday (nice segue huh), here's two of the former Rockies slugger.  I really like the All Star uniform...Home Run derby perhaps?

Next comes a 2009 Topps Heritage Chris Iannetta.  Surprisingly, Topps didn't misspell his name on purpose to drive sales.  Adam also sent me 3 of the 2006 Topps '52 Rookies, a set I missed out on.  The 1952 design is so overused nowadays.  Sure it's the first big Topps set, but the design really isn't that good compared to some others.

Next up, are the first two (at the time) 2010 Topps Heritage cards in my Rockie collection.  I didn't buy a single pack of this set because I didn't like the 1961 design.  However, once I saw the backs it sorta grew on me a bit.

Finally, we have the future?  This is a trio of 2009 draft picks for Colorado from Donruss Elite Extra Edition.  Matzek (1st) is the current top prospect in the organization by most sources (I consider him #2 to Friedrich).  Arenado (2nd) should be in Coors in a year or two dependent on whether Ian Stewart is kept around and/or lives up to his potential.  Matthes (4th) hit .185 in low Class A last year in limited time because of a knee injury.


Thanks again Adam for the trade and do make sure you check out his blog here.  Now that I have finally caught up with January's trades, I am fully aware of how far behind I am in February.  To everyone that hasn't been featured, don't despair because if I have traded you too will be a guest of The Rockie Trading Post.  Until then, we are officially signed off.

Contest @ Things are Funner Here

Do you like $50?  Do you like free baseball cards?  If the answer is no you probably aren't reading this, so I will assume the answer is yes.

Head on over to Things are Funner Here where she is giving away  a $50 gift certificate to CSN Stores to the winner AND 3 2011 Topps rack packs to the top three places.

Possible new Rockie?

I am not one that usually enjoys the countless trade rumors that float around the sports world.  I admit sometimes the rumors are fun to think about, but I never put too much stock into them.  One recent rumor caught my eye. 

Heading into the 2011 season, the biggest question mark for the Rockies is second base.  Currently there is a four headed monster that will battle for the position.  They are Jonathan Herrera, Eric Young Jr., Chris Nelson, and newly acquired former Mariner Jose Lopez.

Getting back to the rumor that started this story, there is the possibility that the Rockies will acquire this guy.

 

Michael Young is possibly my favorite AL player and has been for a while.  So needless to say the possibility of him coming to Denver to play second (or challenge Ian Stewart at third) thrills me.

There have been talks of getting Young basically all offseason, but now he has officially requested a trade.  The Rockies are one of eight teams on his trade list and are interested and seems to be the best fit.

The only question remains is, who do the Rockies give up?  With Young's substantial salary it won't take what he is worth.  Two rumors that I have seen are these.

Flipping Lopez and a lower level prospect for Young and possibly some cash (My favorite option)

Or just a straight up, one for one deal of Young and Young.

If either of those two happen I will be thrilled.  I don't want to lose any of the very few top prospects (Matzek, Rosario, Friedrich), but if it happens Michael Young will definitely be welcome in my collection.

Rockie Trading Post #9 - Special Guest Greg from Night Owl Cards

Welcome to the ninth episode of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tonight's special guest star is none other than "card blogging superstar" Greg the Night Owl.  For the maybe one of you (and that may be pushing it) that have seen my site, but not his you can check it out his blog here.  Greg is a Dodgers supercollector and of course the awesomeness that is night cards.  Of course, now that practically every game is at night almost every card is a night card.  I sent him a Heritage Kuroda refractor along some cards on his wantlists.  I return I got a big stack of Rockies.  Here are the highlights.

We'll start out with a couple of nice Chrome cards.  The 2009 Jeff Francis is an Xfractor.  I hope he does well with the Royals, who I think will be contending team within two years.  The 2010 Esmil Rogers is numbered to 599 and, with the Xfractor from the last episode of TRTP, is the beginning of a rainbow.

Two more nice 2010 orange refractors of the star of the past and star of the present and future in Colorado.

These are the first two cards I have of both players in my Rockie collection.  Herrera is part of a 4 man battle for the 2nd base job this year.  Honestly I didn't remember Clayton playing for Colorado, but now that have a card showing it I shouldn't forget again.

Next up we have a cool play at the plate card with Khalil Greene being out (I am assuming).  Then we a sweet 1995 Flair Dante Bichette.  Bichette is quite possibly my favorite Rockie of all time and is the reason I hate sabermetrics.  I don't care that all the new stats say he wasn't a good player, if you hit .340 with a league leading 40 HRs and 128 RBIs (in a shortened 1995 season) you are better than a 0.3 WAR.  Replacement players don't nearly win the Triple Crown (3rd in average).

Here are three sets that I really like.  The 2009 O Pee Chee and 2009 Topps Target have a great old-school feel and look to them.  The 2008 UD Masterpieces is quite simply that a masterpiece.

Next up we have a 1995 Donruss Roberto Mejia, another of my favorite Rockies.  I really like second basemen anyway, because I used to play second.  Then we have a 2008 UD Spectrum Garrett Atkins, who unfortunately was never the same player after having his legs amputated at the knees.

Finally we come to oddball / funny photo time. The Larry Walker is from 1995 Donruss Top of the Order, one of the several CCGs that came out and continue to come out.  The Jerald Clark is amusing to me because it looks like he is getting his bat from the bottom of a giant Lego.  And we also have Eliis Burks' attempt a the Guinness world record for most thing atop one's head.


Thanks again Greg for the trade and I look to forward to our next one.  As the third Dodgers collector that has been featured in the last 4 episodes, I can't promise you every Dodger goody that comes through the Quarry, but you will get first crack at any Ethiers and Kershaws.  Okay now I need to shower to get rid off this Dodger-mania of the past few days.  Tune in next time on The Rockie Trading Post for a collector of a different team (SPOILER ALERT: Red Sox).  And with that we are officially signed off.

Rockie Trading Post #8 - Special Guest Michael S. from Earth

Welcome to another episode of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tonight we have a very special guest star Michael S. from cyberspace.  Michael is the first guest of TRTP that does not have his own blog.  If you haven't met him he collects Los Angeles Dodgers cards, but he's still a good guy.  I sent him a small stack of Dodgers including a few golds.  Normally this would be where I plug the guest star's blog, but after receiving Michael's permission I decided to plug his email address.  If you have any spare Dodgers contact him at michaelspiegel83(at)yahoo(dot)com, you will soon see he is a great trader.  Speaking of which let's show off some of my new loot.

As mentioned here, Bret Saberhagen doesn't look right in a Rockies uniform.  But I do love gold, so Mr. Saberhagen will lead off this episode.  Next up have a 2010 Topps Chrome Xfractor of Esmil Rogers.  I had high hopes for Rogers as a prospect, but he got absolutely lit up in the winter league this year, so I don't think he'll be a big part of the Rockies future. 

The Todd Helton card of the day: 2001 Fleer Premium.  Next, we have a 2010 Bowman Gold Peter Tago.  Tago was a sandwich 1st round pick of 2010 and the Rockies 2nd pick overall.  I'm not really a big prospect guy, so I guess I will wait five years and then talk about him.

Back to the majors, we have the 2007 Topps card commemorating Troy Tulowitzki's unassisted triple play versus the Braves.  UTPs are so underrated, they are more rare than even perfect games.  The only downside is the Rockies lost that game.  The other card is 2009 Bowman Greg Smith.  Now he is the other guy in the CarGo/Street trade, but when it was first announced a lot of Rockies fans thought he would be the best of the three acquired for Matt Holliday.  Ain't prospecting grand.

Next up we have an Upper Deck Team Leaders card.  The third guy is Willy Taveras.  He recently resigned with the Rockies on a minor league deal with a spring training invite.  Finally we have an odd card.  It is a Matt Holliday Starquest card.  In and of itself, the card doesn't seem odd, but the back labels this as a blue uncommon card.  THERE IS NO BLUE ON IT!  Does anyone have any idea what was up with these parallels?



 Thanks again Michael for the trade and I look forward to our next one.  And don't forget to email him to get rid of some Dodgers you don't need at michaelspiegel83(at)yahoo(dot)com.  That's it for this episode of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tune in next time for some more Rockies goodies from my wonderful readers.  Until then we are officially signed off.