Todd and the Todd-lers Thursdays #4

Last week I skipped Todd and the Todd-lers Thursday in order to take a look back at my pre-season predictions.  When the Rockies had their starting rotation set at the beginning of the season, the names involved were Guthrie, Moyer, Chacin, Nicasio, and Pomeranz.  That was a LOOOONG four months ago.  Now the Rockies have a widely ridiculed 4 man 75 pitch limit rotation.  Only Guthrie and Pomeranz remain and each of them went through a demotion to the bullpen and the minors respectively.  My favorite player collection, Christian Friedrich takes up the 3rd slot in the new rotation.  The 4th and final slot in the rotation is this week's Todd-ler of the Week, Jeff Francis, who began the year with the Reds in AAA. 

Let's take a look at one of only 3 remaining members (along with Helton and Tulo) of the Rockies 2007 World Series team.

TODD-LER OF THE WEEK

Jeff Francis

Total Cards Owned = 82

2003 Topps #666

Jeff Francis was drafted by the Rockies in the 1st round (9th overall) of the 2002 Draft out of the University of British Columbia.  Francis breezed through the minors and made his major league debut on August 25, 2004.  Following Larry Walker, Francis became the 2nd Canadian to play for the Rockies.  Ironically, Walker was traded to the Cardinals three weeks prior to Francis's promotion.  

This card is Jeff's rookie from 2003 Topps.  I am not a huge fan of Draft Pick cards.  While it is kind of cool if the player turns into a major leaguer, more often than not you end with a player who couldn't get past AA.  

Card grade - B

2005 Ultra #218

To no one's surprise, Francis won a spot in the 2005 rotation out of Spring Training.  What did surprise some was that, due to injury and ineffectiveness, Francis turned out to be the most reliable Rockies starter in 2005.  He ended the season with a 14-12 record with a 5.68 ERA in 33 starts and finished 6th in NL Rookie of the Year voting.  That might not read impressively, but for the 67-95 2005 Rockies it definitely was a good sign for the future.

This card is from one of my least favorite Ultra sets.  While it may appear that this is a Gold Medallion parallel, it is actually his "rookie" card.  The rookies from the 2005 set had a bronze tint applied to the backgrounds and in my opinion they are hideous.

Card grade - F

2006 Topps Opening Day Red Foil #46 Serial Numbered 0928/2006

Prior to the 2006 season, Francis pitched for his native Canada in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.  Francis started the 3rd game of the Classic for Canada and got lit up by Mexico to the tune of 6 runs in just over 1 inning in a 9-1 loss.  The big deficit proved costly as Canada didn't move on to Round 2 due to run differential.  

This card is a foil parallel akin to the blue borders in the current Opening Day set.  It is a decent wind up shot and my only red foil parallel to date.  It looks better in person than scanned.

Card grade - B+

2007 Topps Allen & Ginter #343

By just about anyone's count, the 2007 season was a career year for Jeff Francis.  He had come into his own as the ace of the Rockies and responded with a 17-9 record and a 4.22 ERA.  He was a huge part of the September winning streak that led to the Rockies first playoff berth in 12 years.  He became only the second Rockies pitcher to ever receive votes in the NL Cy Young voting following Marvin Freeman in 1994.  He finished 9th with 1 point.

I have made my feelings known about Allen and Ginter ever since I started this blog, but I do like chocolate.  Anyway, I do like this card somewhat, except for the green gas cloud behind him.  

Card grade - C

2008 Finest #69

During the 2007 playoffs, Francis etched his name into the baseball history books not once, but twice.  He became the first Canadian-born starting pitcher to win a postseason game with a 4-2 Game 1 victory over the Phillies in the NLDS.  He also won game 1 of the NLCS versus the Diamondbacks.  His second record was being the first Canadian-born starting pitcher in a World Series game.  That game wasn't nearly as successful with the Rockies losing 13-1 to Boston.

This card is from the underrated 2008 Finest set.  I like the hexagonal photo.  It is a very underused shape on cards.

Card grade - B

2009 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor #105 Serial Numbered 091/199

The 2008 season seemed like a bad dream for both Jeff Francis and Rockies fans.  The follow up season to the World Series run was not a success by any means.  Francis started only 22 games due to shoulder soreness and had a record of 4-10 with a 5.01 ERA.  The shoulder soreness led to Francis missing the entire 2009 season because of arthroscopic surgery.

Although I am a Rockies fan and one would think that the purple chrome refractors are my favorite, I actually prefer the blue ones.  They seem to pop just a little bit more.  

Card grade - B+

2010 Topps #406

Francis finally made it back to the big leagues in May of 2010.  He was no longer counted on as the ace due to the emergence of Ubaldo Jimenez, but he was still needed.  His comeback season looked an awful lot like his 2008 season.  He ended up 4-6 with a 5.00 ERA in 20 games.  Following the season, Francis joined the Royals as a free agent.

I thought for the longest time that this would be one of the last Jeff Francis cards I would own (even though he should have had a 2011 Topps card).  That would have been a shame, because no one should have their last card in the awful 2010 Topps set.  It is nice to see the purple jersey on a card again though.

Card grade - D

So far so good with Francis this year as he has a 2-2 record with a 4.76 ERA.  Not bad, but for the 2012 Rockies he looks like Pedro Martinez in his prime.  I am hopeful that he will get more Rockies cards in the future because thus far Francis has yet to have a great card.  He has a few good cards, but doesn't yet have that standout card that I am waiting to see.  If he keeps it up, there might be several more years of Rockies cards in his future.

Thanx for reading.

Todd and the Todd-lers Thursdays #3

Last week was "One Card Wonders Week" here at the Quarry in which I showed off the Rockies with which I have a single card.  Because of the sheer amount of one card wonder in the Todd and the Todd-lers era, I decided to show Part 2 this week.  For those of you that may have missed it, click here for Part 1.

Let's go ahead and finish out the One Card Wonders with the final dozen from the 2000-2005 era.

TODD-LER(S) OF THE WEEK

The One Card Wonders

Total Cards Owned = 1 each

Let's start off with the two biggest names on this list.  Kent Mercker is remembered as a Brave.  With Atlanta, he took part in two no hitters (1 solo), but he wasn't nearly as good for the Rockies.  He pitched in 58 games in relief for the 2002 Rockies.   His card is similar to the Sandy Alomar from last week in that I only have the gold parallel of the short printed 1st 100 from 2002 Topps Traded.  Turk Wendell is remembered more for his quirkiness than his pitching (although he wasn't that bad).  Wendell pitched 12 games for the 2004 Rockies to end his career.

Next up is a pair of solid workhorse relievers.  Mike Myers was a journeyman that was one of the best left-handed relievers in Rockies history.   He pitched in 151 games over two seasons and deserves more than one card in my collection.  Rick White was a bright spot in the bullpen for some really bad Pirates and Devil Rays teams in the late 90s before he joined the 2002 Rockies.  His spot dimmed quite a bit in Denver and he was released in mid-season after pitching in 41 games.  I do love that 2002 Topps card though with the excellent shadow behind him.

Now here are a pair of back up catching prospects that never really found their footing with the Rockies.  Adam Melhuse, pictured on this great 2002 Upper Deck card, played in 63 games with the 2000 and 2001 Rockies before finding a bit more success in Oakland.  He returned to the Rockies in 2008 for a quick 7 game stint.  Jorge Piedra is another one of those players in which I possess the parallel, but not the base card.  This one is from 2003 Topps Traded.  Piedra played in 142 games for the Rockies from 2004-2006.  He bounced around the minors for a few years after that, but never saw the big leagues again.

Next up is the final three position players in my collection.  Chris Richard, shown on a 2003 Topps Total card, had a couple of good years for the Orioles before joining the 2003 Rockies.  He only played in 19 games in Colorado before taking a six year break from the majors.  Elvis Pena, shown on a 2001 Fleer Triple Crown card, is from the shortstop hotbed of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic.  He never panned out in the big leagues though and only played in 10 games for the 2000 Rockies.  Jason Romano, shown on a 2003 Fleer Tradition card, played in 18 games for the 2002 Rockies before bouncing around the majors with several other teams.

Javier Lopez began his career in Colorado by pitching in 142 games for the Rockies from 2003-2005.  He is still active in the bullpen for the Giants in 2012.  Over 12 seasons Kevin Jarvis pitched for 10 different franchises including two stints with the Rockies.  He pitched in 24 games in 2000 and 2 games in 2004 for Colorado.  Mike James was a decent middle reliever for the Angels and Cardinals before joining the 2002 Rockies.  He only pitched in 13 games in 2002 before his major league career ended.

I'll close this out with a pair of pitchers that you may have forgotten about, if you ever knew them in the first place.  Allan Simpson pitched in 34 games for the 2004 and 2005 Rockies before being traded to the Reds.  Cory Vance was a highly thought of pitching prospect that pitched in 11 games for the 2002 and 2003 Rockies before injuries ended his career prematurely. 


That concludes my look at my One Card Wonders.  Hopefully, I can add a handful more new guys to this list while removing some guys by getting more cards of them in the future.

Thanx for reading.

Todd and the Todd-lers Thursdays #2

I will continue on the one card wonders theme that I have been exploring this week with the members that debuted during the Todd and the Todd-lers era of 2000-2005.  Actually, I will be splitting this era in half with the first half (A-H) being shown this week, because there are a lot of players from this era that fall into my one card wonder category.  Part two featuring players (J-W) will appear next week.  I was going to separate them based on year, but the overwhelming majority of these players debuted between 2000-2002.  Since this is Todd and the Todd-lers Thursday, I will also show off a single theme with Todd Helton to start things off.  I have three Rockies cards of Todd Helton that show him in different non-Rockies uniforms, so in a way they are each one card wonders.

Todd Helton

Total Cards Owned = 558

We start the journey with a 1995 SP Top Prospects card featuring the Asheville Tourists uniform.  This is the earliest Rockies Helton card that I possess, as of now.  The middle card features the uniform from the All Star Game that ruined All Star Games forever, the 2002 tie game that led to the silly home field advantage rule.  The final card is from the 2001 Twizzlers Big League Challenge, which was a skills contest helde before Spring Training that year.  I have absolutely no memory of this event, so I'm glad I have the card.

TODD-LER OF THE WEEK

The One Card Wonders (well half of them anyway)

Total cards owned = 1 each

The one set that probably come to mind when thinking of the 2000-2005 era is Topps Total.  That was the heyday of this almost universally missed set.  The inaugural 2002 edition provided me with 3 one card wonders.  Joe Davenport pitched in 7 games in 2001 and this is a true one cad wonder.  He is also a one card wonder for the White Sox, only appearing on 1999 Fleer Tradition Update in that uniform.  Mario Encarnacion played in 20 games for the 2001 Rockies after being acquired in a mid-season trade.  Unfortunately, he passed away in 2005.  Ross Gload has actually had a decent 10 year career in big league baseball.  He appeared in 26 games for the 2002 Rockies before moving to (slightly) more notoriety elsewhere.

Topps Total came out with three more years of wonderful sets and I got a single one card wonder from each of them.  The great thing about Topps Total is that it hit the flagship's three major weak spots: the back up catcher, the non-closing middle reliever, and non-rookie cup of coffee guys.  Bobby Estalella falls into the first category serving as the back up catcher in 2002-2003 for 84 games.  Adam Bernero fittingly is the middle category.  He pitched 47 games for the 2003-04 Rockies after being acquired from Detroit.  Alfredo Amezaga fits the last category, twice actually.  He had two different cup of coffee stints with the Rockies, in 2005 and in 2011, appearing in 22 games total.  This card goes along with his his first go-around.

Sometimes the one card wonder is a player that only got one quick taste of the majors and sometimes it is a veteran that only stayed for a short while .  These two cards symbolize the former.  Bubba Carpenter, shown on 2000 Bowman Draft, spent nine years in the Yankees minor league system before finally getting his lone chance at age 31 with the 2000 Rockies.  He lasted 15 games before moving on to Japan.  Tim Christman, shown on one of my least favorite sets ever 2001 Topps Fusion, was a somewhat highly-touted pitching prospect that had the injury bug.  He missed two complete minor league seasons, before getting his shot in the majors with the 2001 Rockies.  That shot lasted all of a single game and 2 innings total.  It's a shame, but he still made the bigs.

These two cards symbolize the latter category.  Jeff Frye, shown on a 2001 Topps card, spent several successful season with both Texas and Boston before arriving in Colorado.  He played a total of 37 games with the 2000 Rockies before moving on.  Sandy Alomar Jr., shown on a 2002 Topps Traded Gold card, had been a really good catcher on the 1990s Indians.  His 38 game stint with the 2002 Rockies probably began his transformation from star catcher into journeyman back up catcher.  As an aside, this card is a serial numbered gold card that is easier to acquire than the base card because Topps had the asinine idea to make the first 100 cards in 2002 Topps Traded short prints. 

Two more one card wonders that come from 2006 Upper Deck for a total of six from this one set.  Man, I really miss them as a full-fledged baseball card company.  Monopolies are never a good thing.  Anyway, Danny Ardoin is another example of the back up catcher with only one card.  He played in 115 combined games for the 2005-2006 Rockies.  David Cortes was a pretty good middle reliever for the 2005-2006 Rockies.  He pitched in 80 games and had a decent 4.17 ERA.  He went to the Mexican League for several years following the 2006 season.

This 2002 Donruss Rookies Mark Corey is interesting for one reason.  Mark Corey didn't join the Rockies until the last day of July, 2002 in the Jay Payton trade.  Until then he was a rookie pitcher for the Mets.  I guess this set didn't come out until very late 2002.  He pitched in 14 games for the Rockies before moving on to Pittsburgh.  Most people would incorrectly see this 2001 Fleer Platinum card as Josh Beckett's rookie card.  They would be wrong for two reasons.  One, Josh Beckett's true rookie card is in 1999 Fleer Tradition Update.  And two, this is a freaking Craig House card anyway.  House pitched in 16 games for the 2000 Rockies and, just like Jeff McCurry yesterday, was surpisingly born in Japan.  He qualified as the 17th Japanese-born player to hit the majors.



As I said earlier this is just 50% of the one card wonders from the Todd and the Todd-lers era.  Next week I will be back with the exciting conclusion of this look at the Rockies short timers.  Thanx for reading.

Todd and the Todd-lers Thursdays #1

Welcome to the first edition of Todd and the Todd-lers Thursday.  The name comes fro the nickname of the 2004-2005 Rockies following the trade of Larry Walker when the Rockies consisted of Todd Helton and a bunch of young guys.  Some of those young guys worked out very well, others not so much.  Much like my Mashburn Mondays, I will show some Todd Helton cards along with a random "Todd-ler."

I had originally planned on making Thursdays Todd Helton only, but then I realized that after a couple of weeks it would become tedious and difficult to come up with original thoughts.  So I am going the route of focusing on not just Helton, but also at least one random player that made their Colorado debut between 2000-2005.  Let's rock and roll.

Todd Helton

Total cards owned = 558

 1996 Topps Chrome #13

Todd Helton was selected in 1995 by the Rockies with the 8th pick of the 1st round.  Just about everyone knows the college trivia that Helton's injury led to Peyton Manning taking over at quarterback at Tennessee.  However, one piece of NCAA trivia that you might not know is this.  Todd Helton broke the NCAA record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched in a single season with 47 while acting as Tennessee's closer and continues to hold that record today.  This card is his draft pick card from the inaugural Topps Chrome set.  It's kind of cool to think that Helton has been around as long as Chrome sets.

Card grade - B

2001 MLB Showdown #145

Without a doubt, the best season of Helton's career was the 2000 season.  He led the league in batting average, OBP, SLG, doubles, RBIs, total bases, and hits.  He also won MLB Player of the Year from the Associated Press, Sporting News, and Baseball Digest.  However in possibly the biggest farce in MVP voting history, Todd Helton finished 5th in NL MVP voting (his highest ranking to date) behind the "winner" NAMELESS SECOND BASEMAN (sorry his name does not appear on my blog for any reason).  This card from the CCG MLB Showdown of which I am not a fan, but it was designed for the generation 10 years younger than me anyway.

Card grade - C-

 2005 Studio Stars Gold #11 Serial Numbered 100/500

Despite the debacle that was last night's game, Todd Helton has been a great defensive first baseman throughout his career.  He is currently the active leader in both putouts (22nd all time) and assists (5th all time) for all first basemen.  With a couple more good seasons, he has a chance to take over the career assist lead from Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.  He is 243 away as of today and averages a little over 100 per season.  This card is from a set I really miss, Donruss Studio.  The card itself is printed on clear acetate and has rounded corners.  It really pops.

Card grade - A-

TODD-LER OF THE WEEK

Ryan Spilborghs

Total Cards Owned = 32

Rockies Debut - 2005

 2006 Topps Chrome #292

Spilly was picked by the Rockies in the 7th round in the 2002 draft.  He never really considered a top prospect in the organization due to his age, but his stats made him impossible to overlook.  He appeared in 1 game with the Rockies in 2005 after hitting .340 in AA and AAA combined.  This card is kind of strange in that this is a Chrome card that does not have a counterpart in the flagship set.  I imagine it was something similar to the Alex Gordon debacle of that year.

Card grade - B

2009 Topps Gold #439  Serial Numbered 1867/2009

Spilborghs spent the next few years shuttling back and forth between the majors and AAA Colorado Springs because he could never quite crack the lineup on a regular basis.  He was a very serviceable injury replacement from 2006-2008.  This card is one of favorite Rockies cards from the 2009 set, despite Spilly being basically unrecognizable.  I just love those "moment in time" cards.

Card grade - A

 2010 Upper Deck Season Biography #SB113

In 2009, Spilly settled into his role as Seth Smith's platoon partner and general backup outfielder.  He just never really matched his minor league production in the bigs and would probably be best identified as the cliched AAAA player, too good for the minors but not good enough for the majors.  He is currently on the Rangers AAA club in Round Rock and is continuing to hit the lights out in AAA.  This card commemorates a game in which Spilborghs hit a bases-loaded triple and threw out a runner at third from right field.  There were two different parts of 2010 Upper Deck I loved, the Ballparks subset and this insert set.  I like the year end review-type sets because its shows the history of that particular season.

Card grade - A

I hope you guys enjoyed this snippet of the beginning of the 21st century and I think I made a good choice of adding players to the discussion.  As always, thanx for reading.