One More Post from eBay

As many of you know, I decided to start a second blog to indulge myself in a bit of cataloging and, at the same time, in a bit of history and oddball love. My new blog, "Collecting the 1980s: Remembering the Oddballs from the Best Decade in Cards," focuses on the fun, offbeat, and forgotten cards from the 1980s. Of course I call it the best decade in cards because that is when I was a kid and cards are always best when you're a kid. I'd sure appreciate it if you would stop over there and read some of those posts and comment.

All that said, I'm trying not to neglect this blog more than I have already. I mean, my purchases are still focused on the Brewers as are my (dwindling) trades with other people. But y'all know how it is sometimes -- you need a little bit of extra spice in your life. That change or twist to keep things exciting and interesting. That's what the new blog is, really -- a new twist for me to keep writing about things I enjoy while paying little attention to new issues other than to note them for future checklists. 

So, I still surf on eBay looking for deals. Sometimes, it is just for a Topps Now card -- to pay $5.99 for a card that Topps would charge me $9.99 to get. I'm not super excited about that "deal" -- I mean, it's still one card for $6 -- but it's better than a $10 card. Other times, I can find the random lots that have cards I need. Today's post is one of those times. 

Powered by the prog-rock timeline at Strawberry Bricks, let's dig in.

Strawberry Bricks calls itself "a record guide to music of the progressive era of rock music." As is the case with a lot of genres of music, the timeline for prog rock starts with the Beatles -- here, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It is incredible to think about all the different genres of rock music that the Beatles influenced. Everything from the prog rock of Pink Floyd and Yes to the grunge sound of Nirvana (Kurt Cobain was heavily influenced by the Beatles) to the blatant worshipfulness of 90s Britpop from Oasis is descended directly from the Beatles. And that is just a quick run.

This song, "A Day In The Life," has been called the 28th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone and, then, in a list of just Beatles songs, it was called the best song by Rolling Stone. I'm not sure how that is squared other than different writers at different times looking at different things. 

 

One of the impetuses for buying this lot were the Prince Fielder cards that I needed for my Fielder collection. Other than the one of him signing autographs -- which I think goes into my team set -- all of these were needed for the Prince book. As you might be able to see, the 2009 Upper Deck A Piece of History parallels are both serial numbered -- the blue one is 184/299 and the gold one is 48/50 -- and so is the 2009 Upper Deck Icons Future Foundations, which is numbered 750/999. 

Last year, I posted some Braves cards accompanied by jazz. One of the songs I included was "Blue Rondo à la Turk" by Dave Brubeck. The Nice, a London band from 1967 formed by Keith Emerson (later of Emerson, Lake & Palmer), performed this prog-rock cover of the song and titled it simply "Rondo." 

Emerson is the keyboardist here -- as he always has been in his other bands prior to his death on March 11, 2016 -- but rather than using all kinds of different types of keyboards as he did later in ELP, he focused almost exclusively on using a Hammond organ. No less a music luminary than John Peel was an early champion of The Nice and infamously referred to ELP as "a waste of talent and electricity."

I'm hoping that these three guys don't end up as wastes of talent and electricity. There are troubling signs for each, however.

Gilbert Lara -- a die-cut card from the 2014 Elite Extra Edition set serial numbered to 200 -- does not turn 20 years old until October 20 of this year. He moved up to full-season Wisconsin this year and has struggled -- 7 BB and 73 Ks in 210 plate appearances, slash of .189/.219/.269 is not good even when you are 2 years younger than the average age in the league. Fangraphs has Lara rated as a 40 Future Value player and notes that "the quality of his at-bats is resoundingly poor, he looks tense and uncomfortable in the box, gets visibly frustrated when he struggles, and hasn't tapped into his considerable raw power in games, even in the hitter-friendly Pioneer League." Not good.

Nathan Kirby was drafted in the second round in 2015 out of the University of Virginia. Prior to that college season, he was seen as a potential top-10 talent. Injuries (strained lat) cost him much of that 2015 season, and he slid into the second round where the Brewers selected him #40 overall. He went to Single-A Wisconsin, threw 12-2/3 innings, and was promptly sidelined by a torn ulnar collateral ligament leading directly to Tommy John surgery. This year, he came back in spring training only to suffer from ulnar neuritis -- leading to ulnar nerve transposition surgery which will keep him out to at least the end of this month. He'll be 24 next year and really needs to do something as a pro pitcher next year.

Braden Webb was an oddball of sorts himself. He graduated high school in 2014 and had Tommy John surgery even before he graduated. Despite being old for his high school class -- he turned 19 prior to graduating high school -- he sat out and stayed out of college entirely in 2015 before enrolling for one season with the South Carolina Gamecocks. Due to his age, he was draft eligible after that season, and the Brewers picked him in the third round of the 2016 draft. As was the case for Webb in college, he is struggling with his control at Single-A Wisconsin this year -- walking 5 men every 9 innings. 

One thing you can count on from prog rock are super long, overly indulgent (at times) songs which seem to go on and on and on. Often, that is not a bad thing. This is especially true when the men (and in prog rock, it is almost entirely men) who are playing are virtuoso in their playing ability. 

This song, "Bare Wires Suite," is by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and comprised the entire first side of the album called Bare Wires. Embedded within this suite are seven individual songs: "Bare Wires," "Where Did I Belong," "I Started Walking," "Open Up A New Door," "Fire," "I Know Now," and "Look In The Mirror." Unlike some of the other prog rock here, there is a bluesy feel to this song. You can hear the blues chord changes flying by in each of the songs by listening to the bass line, the rhythm guitar, and, at times, the keyboards. Any jazz band member will tell you that the bass line is literally the most important sound within that jazz ensemble -- along with the drums -- because it sets tempo and key. Everything else from there is icing on the cake.

Before this season began, I expressed some concern that Arcia had the potential to turn into Rey Ordoñez 2.0 due to the significant questions about his ability to hit at the major league level. All indications from scouts were that Arcia would be a plus-plus fielder -- and that has definitely been the case. As it stands currently, he leads the NL in total zone runs, range factor per nine innings, double plays turned, assists, and putouts at short. Yes, he's committed 11 errors, but that happens when you get to a ton of balls.

The question was going to be his bat. This concern was highlighted after his .219/.273/.358 slash line last year (an OPS+ of just 66). Thankfully, he has improved significantly this year. He hit a low-water mark on May 17 with an 0-for-4 performance against the Padres that left his slash line at .208/.261/.352 (eerily similar to 2016). Since that game and over the past 7 weeks, Arcia has hit .356/.388/.494 with four homers and four steals. 

Sure, he's not walking a ton (10 walks in 170 plate appearances) and his contact hasn't been great (30 Ks) but he has been hitting 8th for much of that time, meaning that walks generally do not come into play with the pitcher hitting behind him. That burst has put him just about right at being an average NL hitter. With his glove, that makes him a very valuable player. 

And all of this has been done before he turns 23 years old on August 4. If he can stay at being a league average hitter for his whole career and fields as well as he has, he could quite literally end up being more Ozzie Smith 2.0 (career OPS+: 87) than Rey Ordoñez. I'm not making him a PC yet -- I'm still feeling a bit burned by Jean Segura's hacktastic ways -- but he will be soon enough if his development continues.

Before the band added Phil Collins and lost Peter Gabriel, Genesis was very much a prog rock band instead of singing pop songs like "Sussudio." The song "The Silent Sun" was Genesis's first-ever single from its first album, From Genesis to Revelation, and it was released in 1968. The album was not released until March of 1969 even though the single was released on February 22, 1968. 

If you listen to this short song -- it's only a little over 2 minutes long -- you will hear nothing that sounds either like anything Genesis or Peter Gabriel released in the 1980s. It's very much a piece of its time in the late 1960s.

And finally: lots of Ryan Braun. The fact that much of this lot is Braun-focused is appropriate since it seems nearly every set by every card issuer these days includes Braun and maybe Arcia and that's about it. Somehow, I'd missed that Topps issued Gold Label again last year -- it must have been an online exclusive or something -- so this lot helped me by getting me the parallel/variations of the "Class 2 and Class 3." There's also a 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Silver parallel serial numbered to 399 in there as well along with one of what is Panini's best set every year -- Diamond Kings from 2017. I'd still prefer hatless players from Panini rather than no-logo, but at least there isn't a fake autograph on it.

All of these cards fit well into my collection either for team sets or for my player collections. The great thing about this purchase was that I got a total of 38 different Brewers cards, including a couple of relics, a few autographs, and several serial numbered cards, for just $7.12 total with shipping included. Basically, that's less than 50 cents a card. For what I got, that seems like a good deal to me.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you want to trade.

2017 Topps is Coming, but I'm Still Cracking 2016 Bowman Draft

The checklist for 2017 Topps is out. Well, I take that back. The checklist is not out, but the list of cards in Series 1 is. There are two pretty strange inclusions in the Brewers list of players. First off, we have Chris Capuano. Capuano pitched okay last season for the team in 16 appearances -- a 1-1 record, a 4.12 ERA in 24 innings -- but that should not have merited inclusion in the 2017 Topps set as a Brewer. That's especially true because Capuano did not pitch after May 25.

The other strange inclusion is Will Middlebrooks. The now 28-year-old Middlebrooks is no longer a prospect and is now four years removed from looking like a competent major-league hitter (his 2012 rookie year in Boston is looking like a fluke). Middlebrooks appeared in 10 games and got 31 plate appearances for the Brewers last year and has already signed with the Rangers for 2017 -- yet he got a card. Just 24 Brewers had more plate appearances last year, including six starting pitchers.

Why do these two get cards? Is it because they appeared in the major leagues before with more "important" teams (Middlebrooks with the Red Sox, Capuano with the Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Yankees)? Is it because Will Middlebrooks is married to Jenny Dell and she demanded he get a card?

I'd rather see Brent Suter -- the 27-year-old Harvard grad whom the Brewers selected in the 31st round of the 2012 draft -- get a card than either of these two. Suter appeared in 14 games and threw 21.2 innings, including 2 wins and a 3.0 K/BB ratio. The fact that he's a genuinely nice guy does not hurt either -- at least he has been in my interaction on Twitter with him. 

Anyway, all that is just to prove that Topps can't win with me. Include fringe players, and I complain as to which fringe players are included. Overlook my guys, and feel my wrath. Right? 

Topps/Bowman did not overlook the Brewers, though, in the recent 2016 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects release. The Brewers were well-represented -- though, once again, there were some head-scratching inclusions. I signed up for the charity case break for this product through Crackin' Wax (I feel like I should call him "my old friend" by this point). I got all the Brewers, of course, and plenty of first-round pick Corey Ray out of Louisville. 

Let's see the chrome cards of these guys. 

Mario Feliciano was the Brewers second-round pick out of the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy in Puerto Rico. He's a decent-sized catcher (6'1", 195 pounds) and just turned 18 years old on November 20. MLB Pipeline ranked him the 28th best prospect in the Brewers system as of the end of the season. 

Braden Webb was the Brewers third-round draft choice. He was an oddity -- a college freshman (at South Carolina) who was eligible to be drafted because he took two years off after high school and Tommy John Surgery. He was the Gamecocks Saturday pitcher, and he was named the National Pitcher of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. He did not make the Brewers top 30 prospects on MLB Pipeline. 

I guess perhaps because of his injury history and the fact that he pitched 102 innings at USCe, the Brewers did not have him pitch in games last year. So yes, we know that photo above is 100% a Photoshop job.

Ryan Cordell was the player to be named later in the Jonathan Lucroy deal with Texas. Cordell will be 25 on Opening Day this year, and he has spent the past two years at Double-A. He was the Rangers 6th best prospect; he's the Brewers 18th best prospect. He has a little pop and a little speed, but he'll need to get to Colorado Springs and show something quick. The Brewers have enough OF to stock a trout pond with them.

Corbin Burnes was the Brewers 4th round pick in 2016 out of St. Mary's College of California. He made it to the Low-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers last year. He's got good stuff -- scouts say he has a low- to mid-90s fastball with an elite breaking ball and a good changeup. He struggled a little bit in Low-A with his control -- 5.0 BB/9 -- but he could move up reasonably quickly. He's rated as the Brewers 20th overall prospect.

Say hello to the guy that MLB Pipeline on Wednesday called the best LHP prospect in baseball, Josh Hader. The dude has crazy hair and a consistent 93-97 fastball, and in the past has been compared to Chris Sale. The Brewers got him in the Carlos Gomez trade to Houston. Thanks, Houston!

As of the end of last season, Hader was the Brewers third-best prospect. 

Trent Clark was the Brewers first round pick in the 2015 Draft, and received a $2.7 million bonus for it. He's made a couple of trips to the DL last year due to hamstring troubles, which limited his at-bats last year at the age of 19. He's a true center fielder, but he's projected to be able to hit enough to play a corner.  

MLB Pipeline rated him the Brewers sixth-best prospect at the end of 2016.

Marcos Diplan is a pitcher the Brewers got as part of the Yovani Gallardo trade with the Rangers. He's a Dominican who pushed all the way through full-season baseball at the age of 19 last year. He dominated the Midwest League in 70 innings -- 1.80 ERA and just 6.3 hits allowed per nine while walking 4.1/9 innings and striking out 11.4 per nine innings. He got hit a bit in the Florida State league after that, but he was 4 years younger than his competition there.

MLB Pipeline slots him in as the 12th best Brewers prospect.

Luis Ortiz is another Rangers refugee, having come over from Texas in the Lucroy trade. He's had some injuries -- a groin muscle pull last year, for instance. That injury question is the big question over his potential.

MLB Pipeline's write-up for Ortiz says that he has the stuff to profile as a possible number 2 starter if he can stay healthy. On that potential, he finished the year as the Brewers 4th best prospect.

Oh, Silly Billy Philly. Phil Bickford was listed as the 5th best prospect in the Brewers system at the end of last year. However, he will be cooling his jets on the sidelines for the first 50 games of the 2017 season for testing positive for a "drug of abuse" -- probably marijuana, which he tested positive for in June of 2015 as well, apparently. He was the focal point of the Will Smith trade with the Giants last year.

A little bit of the luster is off Brett Phillips's prospect sheen after last year. He only slashed .229/.332/.397 at Double-A Biloxi and struck out 154 times. Still, he will not turn 23 until May 30 this year, so I would anticipate that he makes the move to Triple-A Colorado Springs. He dropped from being the 2nd best prospect in the Brewers system to being number 7 at the end of the year. He fell behind Trent Clark and Josh Hader, and Corey Ray slotted in ahead of him.

Speaking of Corey Ray: the Brewers first-round draft pick in 2016 and the 5th pick overall out of the University of Louisville, MLB Pipeline rated him the Brewers 2nd best prospect. He had surgery for a torn meniscus in his knee after the season ended. 

He has a gun in the outfield, and he runs well enough to play center. He may not, though, have the instincts on balls in center (according to "some scouts").

All in all and as you can see, the Brewers were rightfully well-represented in the 2016 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects set. If I had to nitpick a bit, I would wonder where the number 1 Brewers prospect -- Lewis Brinson -- is. I might also wonder where 46th overall pick Lucas Erceg is -- he could move up quickly in the system since he's practically the only third-base prospect in the system at 17th overall. 

Still, that is nitpicking. It was fun to get a huge stack of cards of multiple players from a case break from a new product for a change. Many thanks go out to "Topher" and his wife "Literal Quirk" for all the hard work they put in to make these breaks a success.