TTM Success: Dietrich Enns

Whoa! A TTM success. This is a rare occurrence around these parts. My TTM requests seem to go in waves, as sometimes I am super motivated and sometimes I'm not. Well, I have been motivated lately, and have sent out a bunch.

I was a bit nervous because I sent to several Yankees prospects, and it felt like right after I mailed them, each guy was promoted to the next level. I thought I was safe and a few weeks away from promotions, but a bunch of injuries sort of set the wheels in motion.

I sent to Dietrich Enns while he was in AA Trenton, and within a few days he had been called up to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. I was bummed, thinking I missed him at that level. Luckily, this came back yesterday:

I must've jussst gotten it to him in time. I sent it to Trenton on 5/11, and by 5/15 he was making a start in Scranton. Luckily I live a few hours from Trenton, and I've found that if I send mail from Manhattan instead of my rinky dink NJ town, it gets there a little quicker. You might think this would be the opposite, but mail in NYC is pretty efficient. They can't let it pile up, so it comes in and goes out.

So I mailed it first thing on 5/11, which was a Wednesday. Then let's say it arrived to Trenton on  Friday, 5/13 (maaaaybe 5/12), so Enns either signed it on 5/13 or Saturday, 5/14. Then I assume later that day, or early the next day (5/15), he was on his way to pitch in Scranton that day, where he went 6 innings without allowing a run, striking out 6 and earning a W. The post-marked date was 5/16 from Trenton, so I'm going to say that the team mailed it out on 5/14, or made a post-office run this past Monday.

Either way, it's fun to live so close to most of the Yankee affiliates, as the expedited mail times really do help, as you see above. Also, I try to send to minor leaguers just before a homestand - just a tip for some of you newer TTMers.

I'm very excited to have this one back. Enns is a solid, yet underrated lefty pitching prospect. He has a 1.87 ERA in 83 career minor league games, 28 of which are starts. While he doesn't blow people away, guys just don't seem to hit him. He had a 0.61 ERA in 58 minor league innings last year. He consistently strikes out a batter per inning as well. He did undergo Tommy John Surgery a few years ago, but he's clearly come back as good as ever.

I'm looking forward to seeing him continue to climb the latter, and if he keeps pitching this well, he's definitely going to put himself in position for a spot start at some point later this summer.

Lastly, shout out to the Rookies App for the custom!

An ok relic of a bad pitcher

Sadly, that bad pitcher mentioned in the title is Michael Pineda, one of my PC guys.

Man, this guy just oozes with potential, but can't put it all together for whatever reason. He shows glimpses, and he was awesome in 2014, very good for the start of 2015, and since then, very, very bad. Notably, he's getting creamed in the first inning. Opponents are hitting .500 with 5 HRs off him in the first inning alone. That is...bad.

I still think with a good start or two he can turn it around, but he's he's definitely lost right now. His command just isn't there. He's already walked 13 guys, which may not seem like much, but he only walked 21 guys in 160 innings last year, and just 7 in 76 innings the year before. He's a guy that usually commands the plate, but he hasn't been himself.

I just keep waiting for that one start where he goes out and dominates and rolls from there. It could happen!

In the meantime, his stock is super low, which let's me pick up cards like the 2016 Gypsy Queen relic above for very cheap. This ran me like $1.50 shipped. There are still adorable sellers out there who think he is an ace and prices his cards like he is Clayton Kershaw, but I like the ones who start low thinking it's going to be a bidding war, yet I am the only pathetic, lonely bidder.

The design of these GQ relics are ok. Not a bad sized photo and the swatch works well within it's owm little box. Not the best, nor the worst relic card you'll see this year.

9 years too late

It’s hard to believe it’s been nine years since Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy burst onto the scene for the Yankees. Those three had massive potential, and some was reached with the Yankees and some wasn’t. But it’s easy to forget just how exciting it was when these three were waiting in the wings.

We had heard about Phil Hughes for awhile, and he made his much anticipated debut on April 26, 2007. I was at the game. I was in my first job in NYC still, and when it was announced he was starting, I quickly grabbed tickets online and headed up to the game with a buddy. It was easy to do that in my young, single days. It takes a lot more planning now.

While his debut was a little rocky (4.1 innings, 4 ERs, 5K), his next start was the defining one. He had a no-no going vs Texas, but pulled his hamstring in the 7^th and was out until August. Who knows what could have happened had he not been injured that game. As for his time in NY, he did have some great moments, including a dominant 2009 in the bullpen as part of the World Series winning team, and then was in All-Star in 2010 while winning 18 games. He’s been a very serviceable pitcher in the big leagues, both with the Yankees and Twins, but he never quite lived up to his ace-in-the-wings billing. He left NY following the 2013 season.

Next came Joba. He flew through the Yankees minor league system in his first full season, and impressed enough that he was moved to the bullpen to help the big league club. That he did, making 19 utterly dominant appearances. This started a massive debate of whether he was a starter or reliever, jerking him back and forth between the rotation and the pen. It was stupid. I was always in favor of him being a starter, as he had four plus pitches that were sort of wasting away in the ‘pen. Most relievers are failed starters, and he never got a fair shot. He had a few ok years in the pen, and parted ways with NY after 7 seasons, same as Hughes.

Ian Kennedy was the last to make his debut in 2007, and he made three very good starts in September, enough to make the Yanks think he was a major part of their future in 2008. Things didn’t go as planned, as he had a shoulder injury in 2008 and then an aneurysm in 2009. Tough breaks. He was then shipped to Arizona as part of the Granderson-Scherzer-Austin Jackson-Edwin Jackson deal. He enjoyed success with the D-Backs, winning 21 games in 2011. He then went to San Diego, and finally signed with the Royals this off-season and is off to a good start.

When I fall in love with prospects, I always think back to these three. While it’s fun to hold onto your guys, in the vast majority of cases, they don’t live up to the hype. That doesn’t mean that are unsuccessful. I’d argue that all three of these guys have had very good careers. It just means that rarely do they live up to the HOF expectations placed on them while they are barely of legal age.

Regardless, a Joba Chamberlain autograph has always eluded me, and I found this cool one with Hughes for a great price. Ahh, what could have been!

SuperTraders #11: Jaybarkerfans Junk

I need to step up my SuperTraders game. I am moving houses in June/July though (again!), and I don’t want to lug unnecessary cards, so it will give me a good excuse to send out all my #SuperTraders packages.

The king of all SuperTraders, Jaybarkerfans Junk, sent another epic bomb. I don’t even know why the rest of us try, really. It’s impossible to keep up with him.

Wes’ packages always are well-rounded, and this last one was no different. From relics to newer cards to vintage to oddballs, he does it all.

I’ll start with the hits. Wes bought some 2016 Donruss, and clearly I was the beneficiary of the hits from his boxes. I love the Refsnyder below, mostly because it’s a generous jersey swatch. TWO WHOLE PINSTRIPES. I’m lucky to get one on some relics, but two is really cool. Add in an auto, and it’s a damn cool card.

Speaking of autos, this Luis Severino auto also fell out of Wes’ Donruss boxes. No complaints here. It has a nice, refractory-type foil.

A couple of hits from yesteryear. The Joba stripe is cool. I was collecting this relic set for awhile. I love the Ruben Sierra Bazooka Blast. First, I love cards/relics of guys who barely played for the Yanks. Two, he was a great story in NY. He was there in 1995-96 while he was closer to his prime and stardom, but was a bit a pain, and finally shipped out to Detroit for Big Daddy. When he came back in 2003-05, he was a lot more gracious, mature, and a better teammate. It was cool to see.

Moving on to the rest of the autos, here’s a nice batch. "Bubba Crosby will be our CFer." Haha, good one Cashman.

Wes always takes care of my PC guys. I needed these!

Topps Stars N Steel! I think this is the first one of the metal cards to arrive in a trade package. I’ll make a confession: I’ve already shipped this off to Mr. O’Neill in hopes that he signs it for me TTM. That would be pretty cool to have signed, right? I mean, I could also see it not making it through the post-office machines. It's a hunk of metal. Might have been too ambitious of me.

This is the least manly photo of Babe Ruth I’ve ever seen. I know he had a hard life growing up, but the dress couldn’t have helped his situation.

There was zero shortage of shiny. I needed my Ray-Bans to sort through these!

 

Oddball alert!

Wes, another dominant bubble mailer! Stay awesome, my friend.

Moms and cards

I'm sure many of us can point to our moms as having some sort of influence as to why we collected as kids. She drove us to the card shop or drugstore, or gave us our small weekly allowance to blow on cards.

My mom was definitely the reason I started collecting seriously. She was the enabler!

She had gotten me plenty of packs before. I remember constant packs of 1993 Topps every time she went to CVS. But it was Christmas of 1993 which really took it to another level.

Mom's are good at playing Santa. They pay attention to what you like and then use it as inspiration for putting gifts under the tree. I unintentionally dropped a few hints which would lead me to finding a serious stash of cards awaiting me on Christmas.

The first hint was that my friends at school (I was in 4th grade) had a bunch of Upper Deck basketball cards from that year. My friend graciously gave my my first Michael Jordan card. I remember excitedly bringing it home and showing her.

The second happened in November. I had a 3rd and 4th grade basketball league game. We ran an errand on the way home at a smaller mall in the downtown area of my city, and there just so happened to be a card show that weekend. I had a decent game. I made 6 baskets (I remember that detail vividly), and she gave me $3 to spend at the card show after her errand. I went from table to table (which may have been awful for her), and landed on this card:

I remember her saying, "I think you made a good investment."

A few weeks later, my stocking was stuffed with packs of basketball cards. I can remember these two cards coming from packs, even 23 years later:

I'm sure it made her job easier from there on out. Cards and I'd be happy. It holds true to this day, in fact.

Thanks Mom, and Happy Mother's Day!

Welcome to the show, Ben Gamel

Today I was thrilled to hear that outfielder Ben Gamel has been called up by the Yankees. With A-Rod landing on the DL, the Yanks were carrying an extra bullpen arm, but decided to bring up a bat today. I hope he gets to play - he couldn't be much worse than anyone else at this point.

For a while, Gamel was a prospect who didn't appear to be on the road to the Majors, but then he decided to hit .300/.358/.472 in Triple A last year to put himself back on the prospect map. He also had this sweet game-winning, inside-the-park HR:

If his name sounds familiar, his brother Mat played for the Brewers for five years.

Way back in 2011 I got this TTM success from him. The sharpie looks awful in the scan. It definitely did bleed a little, but doesn't look this bad in person. I never upgraded my auto. Maybe I'll regret it when he becomes a big star!

Best of luck to Ben!

The Answer?

First off, I'll say that I don't believe calling up Aaron Judge will be the answer to the Yankees massive problems on offense.

I am conservative when it comes to calling up top prospects. I don't like to force the issue. Especially in NY, there is an added pressure to perform right away. When the team is 8-15 looking for a jolt of energy, that's too much to put on the shoulder of a kid making his debut, no matter who he is.

I do think Aaron Judge needs a chance at some point this year. Perhaps if the team falls too far out of it mid-season, he can come up and get his feet wet against Big League pitching. But not right now. He needs to bake a little longer.

With that being said, at some point, something has to happen to wake the Yankees up. And if it doesn't (and it might not), the team needs to trade at least one of their big relievers, maybe even two.

Dominant relievers are great, except when they rarely pitch with a lead. Teams will surely being paying high prices this June and July for top flight bullpen help. The Yanks would be wise to be honest with themselves and turn their assets into future assets if this season becomes a lost cause. They could have turned David Robertson into something very useful had they traded him a few years ago, but Cashman isn't allowed to do such rationale things.

It's only May 3, and hopefully the team turns it around enough to content, but it just doesn't feel like it's going to happen. It's a long season, and a winning May followed by a winning June, and they'll be ok. But it just feels like a lot to ask at this point.