A few TCDB trades

I haven't had much going on lately on the the TCDB. It's mostly my fault, as I have't added anything new for trade. Without buying new cards, there's not much trade bait to add, so no one gets pinged or notified when I add new cards for trade that match their wantlists.

I did strike up two trades last week to try and get something going.

The first was with Ed from BOCards. I sent Ed a few Orioles from 2020 Topps and 2020 Big League, and got these to cards in return. This is my 1,029th Tino.

I never see Topps Heritage Minors in the wild, so I was able to snag six of them from 2020 for a few cards from CardsInTheBasement. He's working on Heritage sets, so I helped him with a few 2020 needs.

I have a big stack of cards to add to the site, so hopefully I can get a few more trades like this going. If you're on the site, feel free to add me. My username is thelostcollector.

No Saturday Blues

I don't have the blues. It's going to be a great and productive Saturday. It's supposed to be in the mid 60s today in NJ, which is pretty unheard of for mid-January. I should be snowblowing today, but nope! I'm going to rock some shorts and do things I need to do outside.

High up on that list is taking down the Christmas lights off of the house/bushes. Usually that's a task I hate because it's frigid, but not today. Perfect day for that. Plus, the Patriots-less NFL Playoffs are on.

Nope, no blues here. Instead, the only blues I have is a new card of Yankees prospect Clarke Schmidt.

This parallel came from Heritage Minors.

Schmidt is pretty awesome. He out dueled Casey Mize last season on Opening Day, throwing five no-hit innings against him. By the end of 2019, he was dominating in the AA playoffs for Trenton. If things go according to plan, he should find a way to the Bronx in 2020. Although, things never go the way they are supposed to, especially for pitching prospects.

Still, he is talented, a bulldog, and is a very exciting prospect who is still flying under the radar.

Minors pickups

I've never opened a pack of Topps Heritage Minors, but I do enjoy the set. I like seeing minor league players on some iconic designs of the past.

This year, I threw two cards from 2017 Heritage Minors into my shopping cart during COMC's Black Friday weekend.

The first is an on-card autograph of Nick Solak. While I've gotten him TTM before, I didn't have a certified autograph.

Currently, Solak finds himself ranked the Yankees 8th best prospect, according to MLB.com. He was the Yankees 2nd round pick in 2016 out of Louisville. All the guy has ever done is hit. In his first full season of pro ball, he hit .297 between High A Tampa and AA Trenton. He also hit 12 homers, so he's got a little pop despite being a contact guy.

The second pickup is a Clubhouse Collection relic of former #4 overall pick Dillon Tate, who the Yankees got from Texas in the Carlos Beltran trade. He lost his groove a bit in Texas' system, but rebounded nicely last year while mirroring Solak's season in A+ Tampa and AA Trenton. Overall, he went 7-2 in 13 starts with a 2.81 ERA. It'll be interesting to see if he can build upon that in 2018 at AA.

Two cards as part of throw-ins to my larger order, and two guys I'll be paying close attention to this season.

Seeing Red

Gary Sanchez is such a good hitter that he makes opposing pitchers see red. I wonder if they seem him the way he looks in this card. It’s a 2011 Heritage Minors Red tint variation, numbered to 699.

I’ve been wanting it for a while, and a BIN of $1 + free shipping showed up, so I pounced. He’s only 19, but he’s hitting .299 with 10 HRs and 48 RBIs in A-ball. He’ll soon supplant Jesus Montero in Yankees fans’ hearts as the next big time catching prospect known more for his bat than his defense.

Yankees Heritage Minors Team Set

I went on eBay to find the 10-card team set of Yankees prospects from 2011 Topps Heritage Minors (not including the SPs or inserts). I couldn't find anything cheaper than $6 or $7. I turned to SportsLots and bought all the cards as singles from the same seller and paid less than $4, including shipping. That's called beating the system. I like these cards and I'll probably pick up another team set for some TTM requests next spring.

Topps Heritage Minors auto

The first card I received from 2011 Topps Heritage Minors is this Sean Black autograph. I bid $.99 and won it. Whatever. I couldn’t tell from the listing that it was a sticker auto, so I’m a little bummed about that even though I should have known better. Overall, I am indifferent on the card. In terms of the design,Topps just smushed everything up in order to fit the cream-colored auto bar at the bottom of the card.

I’d say that Sean Black is a mid-level prospect quickly turning into an org guy. He was pretty awful this year in A+ ball. I doubt he’ll start 2012 in AA ball, but I could be wrong. He might be better suited as a reliever long term. Anyhow, it’s nice to add his auto to my collection, as I have never sent him a TTM request.

If you have any of the Yankees base cards from this set, please let me know! I don’t have any of them yet.

Two Killer B's make their debut

The Yankees have three pitching prospects called "The Killer B's" - Dellin Betances, Andrew Brackman, and Manny Banuelos. Banuelos is the most highly regarded of the prospects, a little lefty who projects as a front of the rotation starter and is just 20 years old.

Brackman and Betances are interesting. They are both ginormous. Brackman stands at 6'11" and played basketball at NC State. Betance is short...just 6'8"...well, short compared to Brackman. Both throw hard and lack control. Brackman's future is in the bullpen, while Betances is likely to be a starter if he can consistently find command. It takes tall pitchers a while to learn to repeat their delivery, so I think there is hope that these guys can get their command issues under control.

It was crazy seeing such giants come into the game last night - Brackman pitch 1.1 innings and Betances just 2/3 of an inning. Brackman's emotions were a bit more in check, while Betances was all over the place. He actually walked four batters and hit one. Not the way he envisioned his debut for sure. I hope he gets in another game this season so he can enter the off season on a more positive note.

I don't own these cards, but I want them.