First time trade with LV's Cards!

Let's start off the new year with a new trading partner.

I've been following LV's TTMs and Baseball Cards for a while, as I always love to see other collectors' TTM successes. Laurie posted some Heritage high number cards she pulled from a pack, and I set my eyes on this beauty:

Jacob Lindgren Chrome /999. I'm a huge Lindgren fan and think that while everyone is talking about Betances/Miller/Chapman being a three-headed monster, Lindgren is going to turn it into a four-headed monster. He is an exceptionally good reliever and has yet to show his potential at the MLB level. If he's healthy, that's going to change that this season.

Anyhow, I sent Laurie back a few Cubs and Royals. The trade took forever because of me, and I hope Laurie forgives me for being so aloof. Hopefully we'll trade again soon! For now, check out her blog!

Commuting + eBay = Topps Chrome auto

Honestly, I'm so out of the loop with cards and releases right now. I had no idea Topps Chrome came out, yet I was killing some time on my commute by browsing eBay (dangerous combo) and came across this sweet auto of Jacob Lindgren.

Due to his injury, his card prices have really leveled off since the beginning of the season. He's still young and oozing with potential,and I'm certain he'll be a big piece of the bullpen next year as long as he's healthy.

I thought this Topps Chrome auto looked really sharp. The colors look great (trust me, they do...it's a bad scan) and the shot of Lindgren is nice, plus the auto is on card. A bunch of winners in my book!

Striking while the iron isn't hot

Sadly, injuries can make cards more affordable. My Michael Pineda collection flourished during his 2+ years of injury. Now, it's hard to get his better cards at a decent price, even with his up and down season.

The same tends to go for prospects. Jacob Lindren, the Yankees first pick in the 2014 draft, was on the fast track to the Major Leagues. In turn, his cards went up quite a bit with the anticipation that he'd be an important part of the Yankees bullpen.

Lindgren finally got called up, and he was ok. He had some good outings, and a few rough ones. After dominating AAA, he pitched in seven games for the big club, striking out eight but allowing three HRs. Welcome to The Show, Rook! This ain't the minors!

He was then optioned to AAA, and it later came out that he was on the DL. He had a bone spur removed from his elbow, although the timeframe for his recovery is less than 12 weeks. Still, I'm not sure how timing will work for the rest of the season and if he'll be back in time to help in September. Even if he is, he might not pitch in meaningful games. Or the Yanks will play it conservative with him. Who knows?

Still, he's just 22, and has a bright, bright future as a reliever.

Since the rocky debut, the prices of his cards have settled down quite a bit. I was able to grab his Bowman Chrome auto, as well as this Topps Pro Debut gold parallel auto for quite a bit less than I would have been a month ago. Injuries suck, but sometimes you gotta strike while guys are on the shelf.

Not to get all Zappy on you, but...

I'm going to get sappy on you for a second. Actually, no. I'm going to get ZAPPY on you.

Every, let's say, six to eight weeks, I'm on the victorious end of a Zippy Zapping. Kenny, of Torren' Up Cards, loves (at least I think) hitting me with these epic card packages.

One thing I always enjoy, almost as much as the cards, is the creative way that Kenny packages. Last time, it was the re-created Bowman box. This time, it was a large stack of cut 9-pocket pages. It was like a PWE on PEDs. He could get a job in product packaging in a second if he ever wanted.

See? Good stuff.

So what did he send? Everything. I don't even know where to start.

I'll start with Eric Jagielo. Jagielo gets a little overshadowed by Aaron Judge now, but let's not forget that he was drafted ahead of him. Oh, and he's at .287/.382/.558 with 7 HRs so far in AA. Not shabby. I know Zippy likes Jagielo a lot, so I appreciate the autos.

I wish Jose Contreras got a longer leash with the Yanks. He wasn't awful with them, he just wasn't as expected. He still put up some decent numbers, especially in his first year. They traded him away for Esteban Loaiza, who sucked. Plain and simple. Contreras then went on to be an All-Star, and play a key role on the White Sox World Series team. Sigh.

I like Angelo Gumbs mostly because of his sweet ass name.

Peter O'Brien is interesting. The Yanks turned him into Martin Prado, then turned him into Nathan Eovaldi, among others. So they essentially turned an all-bat prospect into a 25 year old starter. Not a bad swap. O'Brien can hit and hit and hit. He had 34 HRs last year, and nine already this year. He just can't catch. But his power is going to carry him to the Bigs. He'd be a good DH.

What in the world? Ren and Stimpy Mojo?

Vintage! How did I take this long to get to these? National effin Chicle of a dude named Dixie? That's the '30s for you. How great is the back of the card? I mean, what a batting tip! Except, no, you can't step out of the box anymore. Oh, the PURISTS must be livid at this new rule since you could step out in the 1930s!

This card isn't that old compared to the Chicle.

Fast-forwarding a bit to new author Jorge Posada.A 1994 Bowman's Best RC. This ain't no reprint, son. This is the kind of card from the kind of set I would see in Beckett growing up. The ones I never saw in person or ever dreamed I'd own. They didn't sell these at CVS.

 

My first silk, and it's sooooo smooth!

I can't really mention Posada without Andy Pettitte, and here's a lovely rookie of the lefty.

From one ace to another! #BigMike! I needed this one. I'm up over 100 different Pinedas right now, and it's getting tougher and tougher. His prices are going up, up, up on eBay.

I don't think I've met any one collector who knows as much about the Minors, especially the Yanks' affiliates, then Zippy Zappy. He loves his minor league baseball, and his dedication to the Staten Island Yankees is admirable. He's also got, hands down, the best Luis Torrens collection out there. I can't imagine any collector out there has a better one. I am fortunate that he has probably acquired dupes and can spare ones like these for me.

And here are a few more prospects that we both like a lot, especially Jacob Lindrgen!

 

Jeter, on a Sega Gen? Yes, please. I really need to count my Jeters. I want to know how many I have. If it's less than 500, I am going to try and get to 500. If more, I may go for 1,000. Because, well, why not?

 

And a couple more fun ones that I love...

 

I think this is a great way to end it. Thanks, ZZ!

 

TTM Success: Jacob Lindgren

Yesterday on Twitter, Zippy Zappy showed off 11 envelopes he got back in the mail, presumably all with TTM successes inside. I was very jealous upon seeing that one was from Jacob Lindgren, the Yankees relief prospect who is currently wasting bullets in AAA instead of in the Bronx. (side note: the most I've ever gotten back in one day is five)

I have a few Lindgren autos, but really wanted one via TTM. I noticed that Zippy's was from Tampa, and Lindgren is in Scranton, so I asked if it was a request from spring training. Luckily it was, which gave me hope for mine. Some guys do answer spring mail during the season, although it's not too common.

Naturally, I got home from work, and there was a SASE from PA.

Inside was this!

Boom! A signed Jacob Lindgren Bowman RC. Kenny with the Chrome and a Panini. I played it safe with a Bowman base. It came out great!

Hopefully this guy is in the Bronx any day now.

Tossing Gren-ades

As Zippy Zappy pointed out in my last post, I missed the opportunity to include this Jacob Lindgren card, making the title even punnier with “Gren and Berra It.” Damn! How could I have missed that? Especially when I showed these cards together on Twitter.

Fail.

But I refuse to not use a Jacob Lindgren pun here.

As expected, Lindgren, the Yanks first pick in the 2015 Draft, is dominating in AAA. He was close to MLB-ready when the Yanks drafted him, and I have to say, I’m shocked he’s still in the minors. All he has done is dominate in pro ball. This year, he’s made 10 relief appearances, pitching 12.1 innings and striking out 16. His walk totals are a little high – 7 – so that’s something he’ll need to improve as he gets older. He’s just 21, so I’m hoping his control gets a little better with age and experience.

He just pitched in back-to-back games for the first time this season, so I’m thinking a call-up is not too far off. I expect him to make a great bullpen even better, and hopefully will be a legitimate option to pitch in the 7^th/8^th innings, and maybe even grab a save or two when Betances/Miller are unavailable.

Anyhow, I had two Lindgren autos before this, but both were unlicensed. I had wanted a Bowman auto for a while, but his prices went up pretty quickly after his strong performance last year and in spring training. I was just hoping for the regular version, and lucked into the Refractor at less than what I would have paid for the base. Not bad at all!

Can’t wait to see this guy on the hill in NY soon.

Props all around

I have a lot of props to give out right now about a lot of different things this morning.

1. Props to all you stay-at-home moms and dads out there. My wife is currently out of town, and my 9-month-old of course came down with a 103 fever, so I had to stay home with her yesterday. Babies this small are a lot of work, as many of you know. Between trying to do some actual work from home, taking care of my daughter, picking up my son, taking the dog out, cooking dinner, doing their baths, cleaning dishes, and making lunches for today...I'm spent. And that was after one day. Luckily the baby was well enough to go to her normal child care today, but it was a hell of a day.

There are many men and women that do this all day, on a daily basis. I give you major props, because it's hard.

2. Props to Topps. I think 2015 Topps, without having it in hand yet, looks awesome. The design is refreshing. I love what I've seen. I'm just talking base. I haven't paid much attention to the inserts. I did read the sparkle gimmicks and photo variations are back, but I'm not going to get too upset about that. They aren't my cup of tea, and I'm not worried about collecting them. If I pull one, I'll trade or sell it.

I can't wait to grab some in the next couple days. I'm not going to go overboard, but I am excited to grab a blaster or a few hanger boxes.

3. Props to sellers who offer combined shipping on eBay. I found this sweet Jacob Lindgren die cut (#'d 08/10) for $1 + $1.93 shipping. Each additional card was free shipping, and the seller had hundreds of $1 cards. I bought six or seven, mostly for other other people. Combined shipping works, people.

4. Props to Ty Hensley. The dude is already back out the mound after the scary news about him being attacked came out last month. Hopefully he is able to start spring training with the rest of his teammates, and have a great year at Charleston. Here's a new Hensley I picked up, my 54th different.

 

5. Props to you for reading this far.

Glass, George Glass

I hope all you Brady Bunch fans got my "George Glass" reference.

This post has nothing to do with George, buy everything to do with Glass. Leaf Trinity has once again put out their Pure Glass cards in 2014 Trinity. I know very little about the set, but what I do know is that these cards are sweet.

I don't believe they are real glass, but rather a thick, acetate card that gives the illusion of glass. Does anyone know for sure? What was cool is that the card was FREEZING cold from being in mailbox, so it felt a lot like glass when I pulled it out of the envelope. I assume real glass would be too risky for Leaf. What if a card shattered in the pack, and then cut the collector as he opened it? That wouldn't go well.

Featured on this Pure card is an auto of Yankees prospect Jacob Lindgren. He'll have a chance to win a spot in the Yankees pen out of spring training, although with Andrew Miller, Justin Wilson, and Chasen Shreve, he might have to wait to get his turn. However, he should be in the show at some point in 2015. The Yankees didn't take a reliever with their first pick in 2014 to let him sit in the minors. If they were in it last year, he probably would have been called up.

That's my second Lindgren auto. I'm still waiting for a Bowman, which I'll grab sometime soon.

Jacob Lindgren Auto

How's that for a post title? See, I didn't lie:

Jacob Lindgren was the Yanks first draft pick last year (second round), and was said to be on the fast track to the Majors as a reliever. Many actually predicted him to be the first 2014 draftee to make it to MLB, although that didn't happen. It wasn't Lindgren's fault -- he pitched wonderfully.

I loved this pick for the Yanks. Instead of rolling the dice on a second rounder who might be years away, they took a reliever that is near MLB-ready. Having three first round picks in 2013 really afforded them the opportunity to overlook some of the more "high upside" guys usually taken in the first 100 picks.

I fully expect him to come to spring training with a chance to win a job in the Yanks pen. You can never have enough shutdown lefties, and I have a sneaky feeling he's going to be a very good one for years to come.