A Package from a Brave Tampa Soul

Hi there. I've been gone for almost a week. The funny thing is that I had stuff I could post about that arrived during the week. But, take a holiday weekend, add two parts "hanging with my wife's family" (which, to be honest, I enjoy doing probably more than my wife does) to one part "College Football Started and I'm Watching ALL the Games!" to one part my desire to finish a project I've been working on all summer (identifying and cataloging all Robin Yount inserts and parallels that are on Beckett and putting binders together for them), and you have me not having posted since last week Wednesday.

Oops.

The great thing, as I said, is that I do have cards to talk about.  

Jeff from "Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum" was kind enough to send me a jampacked PWE last week that I received last Wednesday or so.  The cards I am highlighting are all recent cards that I needed either for team sets or for player collections, as always. 

Let's start with Astros centerfielder Carlos Gomez.  

My next project is probably going to be sorting out the cards for the three guys -- Gomez, Gallardo, and Weeks -- who left the team in the past year to put them into binders the way I sort my player collections out.  I have a very particular way of putting my collections into binders.  They are organized first by year, then alphabetically by set name.  The "main set" cards go in the front and are the ones to which I pay particular care in getting the order right.  The other cards tend to get put in whatever order I get them.  At least for now.

So, for Gomez, another part of that is going to be to cull out the Twins and Mets cards in the collection.  

Sort of like what needs to happen for the second guy whose card is getting highlighted:

Jean Segura.  I think it is very likely that the Brewers and Segura will part ways in the next year or two.  In fact, he could be a non-tender candidate if the Brewers decide that paying him for 2016 isn't worth it over running through some internal candidates who are keeping the shortstop position warm for Orlando Arcia.

I do regret jumping on the Segura bandwagon at the beginning of last year. In fact, I knew it was trouble nearly immediately after I decided to look through his stats and dig a little deeper.  

Strike one against him: He skipped Triple-A (other than 7 games in 2009 where he jumped to Triple-A from the Pioneer League).  While not determinative and while many stars skip Triple-A, for a guy with a questionable batting eye like Segura, that developmental time seeing better pitching can help the player to develop.

Strike two: His first half in 2013 looks more and more like a fluke as time passes: .325/.363/.487 during those 90 games.  Second half in 2013: .241/.268/.315.  Two years (including 2015 to date) since then: .257/.291/.332.  

Strike three (?): It is the subject of some debate as to whether Segura's glove is a benefit, a hindrance, or just average.  As the Baseball Prospectus Milwaukee site mentioned, by Baseball Reference's DRS, Segura is average.  By FanGraph's UZR, Segura is subpar. By BP's own FRAA, Segura is one of the best defensive players in baseball. By play-by-play data, Segura is a solidly above average.  

I've said it before -- we'll see what happens with the Brewers and Segura.  

Finally, Jeff sent me some awesome Ryan Braun cards:

The clear highlights here are in the second row. That 2015 Topps Heritage is one of the minis, serial numbered to 100.  That may be my first ever Heritage mini of a guy I actually collect!  The other card is a die-cut from the Bowman Platinum 2013 "Cutting Edge Stars" insert.  Let me tell you -- it will cut you up if you're not careful.

Jeff, thank you very much for the great cards you've sent to me this time and in the past. I'll keep an eye out for some good Braves stuff for you here.