Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2007 Rangers

In 2010, the Texas Rangers ascended the AL West and made it to a World Series for the first time in their history. You can honestly trace the beginnings of the 2010 and 2011 teams back to 2007, when key pieces like Nelson Cruz and C.J. Wilson first emerged, as well as...lots of other odd contracts.

Wilson didn't have a card in 2007 Topps for some reason because the team didn't know what to do with him yet. He was still being used in relief at this point, and 3.03 ERA in 66 appearances, with 12 saves. A very useful piece that would eventually become more of a factor in the team, and would later become and starting hero.
 

The reason Wilson only saved 12 games was that former Dodgers Cy Young winner and guy who took so much steroids that he literally blew out his arm Eric Gagne spent the first half of the season as closer. After two years of injuries, thanks to the aforementioned arm-blowing-out, Gagne signed with Texas to prove he still had some juice left [no pun intended], and though Topps would somehow be ambivalent, Gagne did pretty well through the first half, with a 2.16 ERA and 16 saves through 30 appearances. Ultimately Gagne would be dealt at the trade deadline to Boston for bullpen help on the way to their World Series win that would earn him a ring despite less savory numbers. This trade would be important for the Rangers, as it would land them a contact-hitting outfielder named David Murphy. 

Alright, onto the weird ones. Former Phillies infield star Desi Relaford bopped around a bit during the 2000s, and made his last MLB appearances in 2007 with the Rangers. In 14 games he hit .115 with 3 hits. That'd be all for him. 

And finally, you may recall back in 2002 the sudden rise of Jared Sandberg, who was a decent third baseman for the Rays, and did what he could to make some news in a dying market. Sandberg, the nephew of former Cubs HOFer Ryne Sandberg, was a decent bat but was mostly heralded for his defense. 2003 came with diminishing returns, and Sandberg would never reach the majors again, though not without trying. In 2007, he got a spring training invite from the Rangers, and at 30 he still potentially had some stuff left in the tank. He'd be competing with Hank Blalock, Michael Young and Ramon Vazquez, which probably goes to explain why he got cut.

More to come, as long as Manfred keeps being a schmuck. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2007 Cubs

2007 and 2008 were the little blips on the radar in between the 'we almost made the World Series' year in 2003 and the eventual playoff runs under Joe Maddon for the Chicago Cubs. And that's something I always forget, because this was around the time I was getting into baseball and the hobby. The Cubs were GOOD. Sports Illustrated had a cover like 'THIS YEAR', but in Japanese because this was the Kosuke Fukudome season and everybody thought he'd be a thing past 2008. And while the Cubs couldn't get past the division series either of those years, they still brought forward some piecemeal efforts that do add to my ongoing project to connect the dots of Topps products.

For instance. Geovany Soto has a rookie card in 2006 Topps, and won the Rookie of the Year award in 2008. But he did not have a Topps card in 2007, because the Cubs had Michael Barrett, Jason Kendall, Koyie Hill and Henry Blanco to play catcher. Soto, to his credit, was brought up in September as a backup to mostly Kendall, and in 18 games he hit .389 with 21 hits, 8 RBIs and 3 homers, including another home run in the postseason. Slowly, Soto was becoming more and more of a viable catching option. For 2008, they'd let Kendall sign with Milwaukee, keep Hill and Blanco as backups and go forward with Soto, to great success. 
 

Onto fringier ones. In 2001 and 2002, Wade Miller was one of the most consistent starting pitchers in the NL, and was a big piece of the early 2000s Astros teams. Around 2004, injuries would dull his arm, and he'd make half the appearances he would in his prime, eventually being shuffled to Boston and then Chicago. In his final season, Miller made 3 starts and it was clear that his arm was no longer trustworthy, as he posted a 10.54 ERA with 16 earned runs. 

Steve Trachsel, as strong as a pitcher he was for the Cubs and Mets, is best remembered as the answer to a trivia question, that being 'who gave up Mark McGwire's 62nd home run of 1998'. I think he goes in the same category as Al Downing, a great, consistent starter known by one pitch to one batter. Trachsel was still kicking around in 2007, at age 36, and after a decent start in Baltimore, the Cubs came calling once again. In 4 stretch starts, Trachsel had an 8.31 ERA with, ironically considering Miller, 16 earned runs, and only 11 Ks. Trachsel would return to Baltimore in 2008 with similar results. Ironically again, Topps would document both Orioles stints, but not the Cubs one, despite the sentimental value. 

I'll figure out more of these to pull up. I feel like, given the stubbornness of the MLB owners, I'll be doing these for a bit this spring.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2007 Tigers

 

The Tigers' year in 2007, as strong as it may have been playoff-wise, or post-WS-wise, will always be known as 'the year right before Cabrera enters the mix'. As stacked as this team could feel with Ordonez, Polanco, Guillen, Verlander and Granderson, it was always missing a little something, and that something turned out to be Miguel Cabrera, who may last long enough to see another playoff run in the next few years [maybe. We're not quite sure yet].

In the heat of August, the Tigers brought up a rookie starter named Jair Jurrjens, direct from Curacao, to help things out. In 7 starts, Jurrjens would post 3 wins, a 4.70 ERA and a 1.141 WHIP. As nice as he was during the season, the Tigers' conquests in 2008, including bringing on Edgar Renteria, would result in Jurrjens being traded to Atlanta, and becoming a crucial starter for the next 3 or 4 seasons.

As someone who's followed Topps for years, Zach Miner seems like the exact type of pitcher that'd warrant a 2007 Topps card. He had some starts in 2006, was a crucial member of a World Series team, and made the playoff roster in his rookie season. A 'tribute to 2006' kind of set like 07 Topps Series 1 could have used someone like Miner, but alas. Perhaps they knew something, because Miner was shifted to the bullpen in 2007, with a 3.02 ERA in 34 appearances, acting as a long man most of them. He'd start a few more games in 2008, but would never find the prevalence of his rookie year.

Okay, back to Jose Mesa. The other day I was talking about his insanely strong Rockies numbers in 2006. The Tigers saw that and thought Mesa a great addition to their bullpen, they sign him. Mesa is now 41 and beginning to lose his better abilities, and pitches a disastrous 12.34 ERA in 12 appearances before being cut. Mesa's old team, the Phillies, would take advantage of this, and bring Mesa on for the playoff run, where he'd do a bit better and make the postseason roster.

Tomorrow, we flashback to 2006 with some intriguing exclusions from Topps' Twins output.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2007 Royals

 

We go to a transitional year for the struggling Royals. 2007 would be the last for mainstays like Mike Sweeney and Angel Berroa, and would be the first for future Royals legends like Alex Gordon, Billy Butler and Joakim Soria. While there'd be a long way before the 2014-2015 runs, this team was beginning to try some new things.

Ironically, a few of their tactics would be better suited in other markets. Former Boston farmhand Jorge de la Rosa got some starts for the Royals, but went 8-12 with a 5.82 ERA and 82 Ks in 23 starts. After the season, De La Rosa would be swapped to the Rockies, where he'd become one of their more trusted starters of the 2010s.

Similarly, Leo Nunez continued his quiet run of being a well-regarded relief option for the Royals in this era, with a 3.92 ERA in 12 appearances, SIX OF THEM BEING STARTS, as the Royals were pretty starved for starting pitching. But Nunez would become a more prevalent reliever in 2008, and after a trade to Miami, would become a closing option until 2011ish. 

One of the more forgotten all-stars of his era, former Dodgers starter Odalis Perez had some great years in the early 2000s before he began to lose his footing, and was handed to the Royals in 2006. In 26 '07 starts, Perez would notch a 5.57 ERA and 64 Ks. He'd have one more year of starting in '08, for Washington, before hanging 'em up.

As for Spring Training attempts, Alex Gonzalez, the one I call Alex Gonzalez v1 as he debuted earlier than the other one, was still kicking in the mid-2000s after his Toronto heyday. After a weak year with Philly he tried going out for a corner infield spot for the Royals, losing to Mark Teahen. Gonzalez would end his MLB career after this.

Coming Tomorrow- A trio of 2007 Tigers, including one I was just talking about the other day.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2007 Reds

 

2007 was a transitional year for the Reds. We began to wind down the era of Ken Griffey, Adam Dunn and Aaron Harang, and we began to see some new heroes emerge. For instance, despite his rookie being a 2008 Topps card, Joey Votto played his first games in 2007. In 24 games, he gave Reds fans a sharp preview of how awesome he'd be for them over the next decade and a half, hitting .321 with 27 hits, 17 RBIs and his first four home runs. By the time the 2008 season would start, the 1st base position would basically be his, and he'd be in position for a long, prosperous HOF-quality career.

Still pitching in 2007 was former Braves and Yankees relief specialist Mike Stanton. Stanton had played for a bunch of teams since leaving the Yanks, with his best post-Bronx season clearly being 2004 with the Mets. For his final MLB numbers, he'd be the most relied upon non-closing reliever for the Reds, and he'd hand over a 5.93 with 40 Ks in 69 innings. I think I have one or two spring training stint customs for him after this season in waiting. 

Speaking of spring training stints, Mark Bellhorn was coming off an insanely weird 2006 season. The former Sox infielder and mid-lineup bat had a -11 batting WAR, but also a 11 FIELDING WAR, so he still managed to turn in decent numbers despite hitting below the Mendoza line. So there wasn't a TON of suitors lining up for Bellhorn for 2007. Bellhorn signed a minor league deal with Cincinnati, made it to the majors, and hit .090 in 13 games, with only 2 hits and one RBI. The Reds had better options at 2nd and 3rd, so he was cut fairly soon after and never played in the majors again. Meanwhile, in 2007, a lot of his old teammates would win their second rings with Boston. 

Tomorrow, we feature a similar schematic of youth and winning down heroes, this time with the Rockies in 2006. This one features a missed opportunity that I'm sad that Topps never delivered on.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2007 Nationals

 

There being a strange 2000s Nationals team should kind of go without saying.

Pretty much every season until 2012, the Washington Nationals were desperately searching for some semblance of identity, trying anything that worked, even established players in need of MLB work. You'd see the strangest combinations in this era. Paul Lo Duca in 2008? Sure! Ivan Rodriguez at the very end of his career? Why not? Actual people in their prime like Adam Dunn, Alfonso Soriano and Adam LaRoche? Maybe it'll work.

2007 was one of the stranger ones, not because of the amount of ill-fitting players I have that Topps didn't make cards of, but because of how many of them were forced to play crucial roles with this team. 

The most logical one is Jerome Williams. Sure, this is as he's finished up his tenure with the Giants, and is a few years away from reviving his career with the Angels and Phils. Maybe he would wind up in Washington. In six games with the 2007 Nats, however, Williams struggled mightily, not winning a single game, losing 5, and walking away with a 7.20 ERA. After this season, he would not reach the majors for 3 years. 

Onto the truly odd sights.

Ryan Wagner might have been one of the unluckier relief pieces in this era of baseball. He's a 1st round draft pick for the Reds in 2003, makes the majors THAT VERY YEAR, at 20, and becomes a relief piece, then sort of struggles in subsequent seasons, is traded to Washington in the Austin Kearns deal, and plays his last season in 2007. At 24. A year younger than I am currently. His career went by in a flash, and as good as he could be in relief, I wished he would have had better luck. In 14 games with the Nats, he had a 5.74 ERA and his highest career WHIP. 

In 2002, Tony Batista took over the 3rd base position from Cal Ripken Jr., and was touted as the next comparable star in Baltimore. By 2004 he was playing for Montreal. Batista's streaky, all-or-nothing hitting mentality was infuriating for a lot of teams, and by 2007 he was coming off a disappointing year with Minnesota. The Nationals took a chance midyear, he mostly hit off the bench covering for Dmitri Young, and he hit .257 with 16 RBIs and 2 homers in 80 games. Like Wagner, this would be Batista's last MLB season. 

Perhaps the most surprising thing here is that not only did Robert Fick play for the Nationals in 2007...Robert Fick played 118 games for the Nationals in 2007! The former Tigers bench bat and 2002 All-Star had been struggling to recreate the consistency of his Detroit heyday in stints with the Braves, Rays and Padres. By 2006 he'd accepted a bench role with the Nationals, he hit .266, and they were nice enough to bring him back. Topps, who'd stuck with Fick for most of his down seasons, tuned him out for 2007, where he'd have his 118-game final season. Fick wouldn't be exactly a huge asset for the Nats, as he'd only hit .234 and finish the season with a negative WAR, but he'd be the sort of bench bat that would keep them afloat, much like his Tigers days. 

And we end on the one that didn't exactly happen, but should have. Tony Womack, after leaving the Diamondbacks in 2003, failed to latch onto a consistent base like he did in Pittsburgh or Phoenix. Between 2003 and 2006, he'd play for the Cubs, Rockies, Cardinals, Yankees, Reds and Cubs. He'd be pretty great in a lot of those markets, especially St. Louis and Chicago, but teams felt they didn't need him for more than either a one year rental or a playoff push. In 2007, Womack was 37, winding down, still felt like he had some stuff left. So he signed a minor league deal with the Nationals, tried to make camp. He did not, and while a few pictures exist of him in Nationals duds, nothing ever really came of it, sadly. So he finished his career there, and it's not exactly a career to be discouraged by either.

Tomorrow, a metric ton of 2012 Orioles. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2007 Mets

 

Oh man, there are some weird ones in this post.

The Mets were one year removed from being a playoff threat that nearly made it all the way, and were trying to repeat, despite pressure from the Phillies and Braves. And...they made a lot of very strange roster decisions, from spring training to the end of the season. We're gonna do the sort of understandable ones first.

Jason Vargas, before he became a standout for Seattle and KC, was shipped over to New York in exchange for Matt Lindstrom, and figured he had a shot to try some starts. Unfortunately, the Mets' rotation was pretty set in stone, with Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Orlando Hernandez, John Maine and Oliver Perez staying pretty strong the whole year. So he only got two starts, and they didn't go well. Vargas came away from the season with a 12.19 ERA, with 17 hits and 14 runs allowed. This would be a run that would wound his career, and make him a suspect candidate for the majors until the Mariners would take a chance on him in 2009.

But, with the injury to Pedro Martinez, the team needed more starting options before landing on Mike Pelfrey. 

So they fished Brian Lawrence out of a deal with the Rockies. Lawrence, a former Padres starter, was traded to the Nationals for Vinny Castilla and didn't play a game for them due to injuries. So he needed to prove something to someone, and the Mets really needed rotation help. Lawrence, in 6 starts, had a 6.83 ERA with a 1.9 WHIP. Not a great run, and after the release he'd never make the majors again. Lawrence as a Met would have been a cool Topps card, but...it was not to be.

We just talked about Aaron Sele a few days ago, talking about his 2005 with the Mariners, but at this point in his career he was bouncing around, just trying to make some playing time, in relief or starting or whichever. In 34 games, all relief appearance, with the Mets, Sele would pull alright numbers, with a 5.37 ERA and some long-man work. Like Lawrence, Sele would bow out after this season.

Okay, now some REALLY weird ones.

Ricky Ledee, former Yankee bench bat and guy who sort of bopped around the league for 10 years afterwards, finished his career with the 2007 Mets. In 17 games, Ledee hit .222 with 6 RBIs and his last homer. 

SANDY ALOMAR JR., who I always thought bowed out in 2006 with LA, played some games with the Mets in 2007. Sandy Alomar Jr. was 41 in 2007, and still catching. Yes, understandably his defensive numbers had gone down, but he was still playing, and the Mets...needed a 41-year-old backup catcher? I will say, though, that his defensive numbers weren't bad in his 8 games, but he did hit below the Mendoza line and didn't last very long at all. 

And this is the weirdest one. Ruben Sierra had been a bench bat/DH for most of the 2000s, and I assumed, mostly correctly, that his career ended in 2006 split between the Yanks and Twins. But...at 41, he decided he still wasn't done. So he attempted to make Spring Training with the Mets. This is an incredibly strange sight, and I kinda wished he'd have made the team so Topps could make a card of him. He didn't, and he retired afterwards, taking his career total of 306 homers with him.

Tomorrow's got some strange ones too, courtesy of the 2007 Nationals.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2007 Dodgers

 We start with the big takeaway. I've documented on here, once or twice, the struggle of having the last three years of Nomar Garciaparra's career blacked out by Topps' lack of a contract for him. I've made cards of him from 2008 and 2009, and now I'm finally doing a 2007 Topps one. It's an important one, because in 2007 I was just getting into the hobby, and had a knowledge solely based off of 2003 and 2004 era MLB stars, and wanted to make sure they were all still around. And I found 2007 Topps issues of people like Chipper Jones, Randy Johnson, Frank Thomas, etc, and I wasn't finding any of Nomar, yet was reassured that he was still playing. I only found out about the contract thing later.

So, here's Nomar's 2007 Topps card. It commemorates a statistically down year, where he'd hit .283 and 59 RBIs over 121 games, but struggle mightily in WAR and on defense, leading to a diminished role in the 2008 team. Still, it happened, and now the Topps card is out there.

As for other former Red Sox All Stars that popped up in LA in 2007, you also have noted ass Shea Hillenbrand, who'd essentially yapped himself out of a career. Hillenbrand had argued himself out of two straight contracts, one with Toronto and one with Anaheim, and had demanded to be traded from both. After leaving the Angels, he nearly came up with the Padres, but he was stuck in the minors there, so he tried the Dodgers, where he did play 20 games, hitting .243 with 9 RBIs in that period. These would be the last numbers of Hillenbrand's career, as no one would want to sign him after this. Though, can you imagine Hillenbrand and Jeff Kent in the same infield? Assholes are like magnets, they either attract or repel, and I wanna know how they did.  

Speaking of assholes [man, Nomar may be one of the few genuinely alright people in this post], noted coke baron, drag-racer and guy who may or may not have paid off a guy to crash his wife's plane before the divorce settlements were finalized [ALLEGEDLY] Esteban Loaiza, also played for the Dodgers in 2007. After starting two games for the A's, and doing relatively well, the cloudiness of Loaiza's speeding charges led to him being benched and waived. After the Dodgers picked him up, Loaiza started 5 games for LA, losing 4 of them, and walking away with an 8.34 ERA. He would re-sign with the Dodgers for 2008, and become mired in the LA celebrity scene [where he'd meet said airborne wife], but would fizzle out after that.

And finally, former Phillies outfielder Marlon Anderson was still bopping around in '07, and after finishing the season with the Dodgers in 2006, he stayed on as an extra outfielder for the first few months of the season. While he was used mainly as a defensive substitution, he had 6 hits in 23 games. Eventually, though, he was released by the ASG break, and would sign with the Mets, who he WOULD appear on a 2007 Topps card with [man, remember when Update's deadline was at the right time?].

Tomorrow we go back to 2006 to talk about a few Giants who really should have been documented by Topps.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2007 Athletics

 

Continuing our trail through the Topps Cards That Should Have Been backlog I've left, we have four forgotten members of the ill-begotten 2007 Athletics. 

Todd Walker was a handy utility guy that got around as an infield piece for the 90s Twins teams, and a bunch of 00s mid-tier teams including the Cubs. By 2007, he'd played for 11 years and had been everywhere, so he gave Oakland a shot as a 1B type bench guy for 18 games. He hit .271 with 4 RBIs and subpar defensive numbers, so his career ended there.

As we've been celebrating a lot of 'life begins at 30' hurlers recently, like Charlie Morton, Miles Mikolas and Scott Kazmir, let's not forget one of the early proponents of this, that being Rangers favorite Colby Lewis. After coming up as a Rangers arm in the early 2000s and flaming out, Lewis bounced around a bit, also playing for the Tigers and A's. In 2007, Lewis was used mainly in relief by Oakland, and had a 6.45 ERA in 37 innings. After this, he'd play 2 seasons in Japan, recapture his control, and have more productivity in Arlington afterwards. This was the very edge of the turning point for Lewis.

Jeff DaVanon was an outfielder and bench bat from the 2000s Angels team, being a lesser-remembered teammate of people like Garrett Anderson, Troy Glaus, Darin Estrad and Tim Salmon. After a few seasons in Phoenix, DaVanon was waived by the team that initially signed him, the Athletics, and finished his career there, with a .238 average in 26 games.

As a lot of these players were finishing with Oakland in 2007, Santiago Casilla used this season to break out. After a few years of near dormancy in the Oakland bullpen, Casilla was put to fuller use, appearing in 50 innings with a 4.44 ERA and 52 Ks. It would be the stepping stone to a number of great seasons in relief for Casilla, to the point where Topps really should have documented him earlier than when they did.

Tomorrow, some very odd could-have-beens for the 2009 Blue Jays.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Salomon Torres Chronicles

 

More with Topps' vendetta against relievers.

From 2002 until 2008, Salomon Torres was one of the most consistent relievers in the NL Central, averaged a 3.61 ERA with 381 strikeouts and 57 saves, and was a middle relief rock for a market that was anything but consistent. 

However, you probably never knew that for five of those years because A.) Torres was a middle reliever and B.) Torres played for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Topps would mostly shrug through issuing Pirates cards every year of their mediocrity in the mid-2000s. A lot of Pirates that'd show up in Topps sets in this period were educated guesses. Sure, maybe this veteran will have a good season there, maybe this rookie. Meanwhile, people like Nate McLouth and Ryan Doumit didn't get cards as Pirates until they were about to be traded, essentially. And people who deserved them, like Salomon Torres, got none in flagship. 

Heck, pulling a card of Torres' in 2004 Total was how I learned he'd hung on as a Pirate to begin with. I knew Torres from being a high-profile rookie in the mid-90s, making the cover of 1994 Stadium Club Series 3, and being a highly-touted Dominican prospect that didn't pan out in SF. So he bopped around the leagues, sat out for 3 years, had a comeback in Korea and starting in 2002 was a mainstay in the Pirates bullpen.

2003 was the first Torres year I could get images from. This season Torres was still being partially utilized as a starter but eventually moved to the bullpen, where his ERA would even out to 3.20 in 25 appearances. From here, the Bucs knew what to do with Salomon Torres.

In 2004, Torres raised his productivity, pitching in 84 games with a 2.64 ERA. His 2.3 WAR that season would be a career high. 

2005 was similar- 2.76 ERA in 76 appearances, and still one of the better performers on the team. 

In 2006 Torres pitches in a league-high 94 games, and gets a 3.28 ERA with 72 strikeouts. The league is recognizing Torres' versatility and consistency, even if Topps won't. 

And in 2007, Torres powers down a bit with a 5.47 ERA in 56 games. Though in the past two seasons he's accumulated 24 saves, he's still a middle reliever and his 2007 struggles seem to point to the end of his era in Pittsburgh. 

After the 2007 season, he's traded to Milwaukee for a pair of prospects. Milwaukee rewards Torres by giving him the closing gig and letting him save 28 games with a 3.49 ERA. Topps rewards Torres by finally, FINALLY including a base card of his in Update. I think it's very telling that they waited until he joined a team that was A.) playoff-contending and B.) not the Pirates in order to do this, but thankfully they gave him the final sendoff he needed. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Rey Ordoñez Chronicles

 Rey Ordoñez, for those unaware, was one of the core members of an infield that MLB Network once voted one of the greatest of all time. For a shining few seasons in Queens, the Mets were protected by the infield combo of John Olerud, Edgardo Alfonzo, Rey Ordoñez and Robin Ventura. In 1999, the four of them combined for 21.1 WAR, with Alfonzo, Olerud and Ventura scoring WAR over 5. Ordoñez only had a 2.8, but was no slouch, capping off his third straight gold glove and his career-high 60 RBIs in 99.

After the World Series team subsided, Ordonez and Alfonzo left in 2002. Eddie went to San Fran and had a steady gig for a few years. Ordonez bounced around, spending 2003 with Tampa, and botching a 2004 spring training audition with the Padres, picked up by Topps despite him never playing a game there. 

But, eventually, an MLB team did call upon the services of the once-strong shortstop, and the Cubs came calling in 2004, signing Ordoñez in May. In 23 games, Ordoñez hit .164 with a negative WAR, and was released after about a month of service. As he was gone before Update went to press, Rey Ordonez' time in Chicago never made it onto a Topps card.

It's not the official end of Ordoñez's story, however...

Yes, in 2007, three years after playing his last MLB game, Rey Ordonez tried to break back into the majors one last time with the Seattle Mariners, a team that would eventually start Yuniesky Betancourt at short. But Ordonez persevered, doing his best in Spring Training despite being one of the last members of the 2000 Mets team left in the majors [Benitez, Piazza, Hampton and Payton were all winding down]. The gig didn't work, and the Mariners didn't give him a major league run at things, which means Rey Ordonez wasn't even good enough for the 2007 Mariners by the end, but it's an interesting 'what if' scenario. 

Actually...hell, since we're talking about spring training attempts by former Mets infielders, I've got one more, and it's very relevant: 

Yeah, turns out Rey Ordonez wasn't the only member of that infield to try to break back in. 

In 2008, Edgardo Alfonzo, whose last game was in 2006 with Toronto, auditioned for a role with the 2008 Rangers, a low-level team that was beginning its trek back to relevance thanks to Josh Hamilton and later Elvis Andrus. He was 35, not to the level he was with the Mets, and just wanted a chance to play again, even for someone like the Rangers. Like Ordonez, Fonzie didn't get very far, and was cut before the season began, but we still have this picture of how the Rangers could have gone with things. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Roberto Hernandez Chronicles

Once again, this series has become another opportunity to talk about closing pitching in the 90s and 2000s and how it was grossly under appreciated by the Topps flagship people.

Roberto Hernandez was another one of the more consistent closing pitchers of the 1990s. His killer 1996 season with the White Sox caught the attention of the league, which led to him changing teams every few seasons, including being one of the charter members of the 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and notching a career-high 43 saves with the 99 Rays. 

After a few years of bopping around the Royals, Braves and Phillies, it became clear that Hernandez was being utilized more as a middle reliever than a closer, which wasn't a problem for him. 

Heck, his best season in middle relief came with the 2005 Mets, where he had a 2.58 ERA in 67 games, with 61 Ks and even 4 saves in there covering for Braden Looper. You wouldn't know it, as Topps didn't make a Mets card of Hernandez in 2005 despite him playing the entire season there and signing there in January, but it definitely happened.

Thankfully, both halves of Hernandez' 2006 season, with Pittsburgh and New York, would be documented on Topps cards. I mean, the deal to bring him and Oliver Perez to the Mets for Xavier Nady was a pretty big deal, rightfully so. 

However, they neglected to document any of Hernandez' 2007 season:

2007 was an odd one for the Cleveland Indians, as they employed two different pitchers on their staff named Roberto Hernandez. A starter, still going by the name Fausto Carmona, and the reliever, the 17-year veteran we're talking about today. Therefore it was very difficult to find Roberto Hernandez reliever photos for this custom, cause the starter had a bunch. 

But, regardless, Roberto Hernandez continued his middle relief reign over whichever teams would employ him, and, after a strong 2006 season, looked to be a hot commodity for Cleveland. Ultimately, Hernandez' age caught up to him, and the 42-year-old mustered a 6.23 ERA in 28 games. As the Indians would make it all the way to the ALCS, Roberto Hernandez would be released in mid-July.

 The Dodgers would be nice enough to pick Hernandez' up for the remainder of the year, where his ERA grew to 6.64 in 22 more games. Again, there wasn't a great deal left in the tank for Roberto Hernandez, but he was still a consistent, safe choice for middle relief for a team that was struggling for one of the last times before competing in the late 2000s and early 2010s. 

After the season, Hernandez retired, and there would only be one Roberto Hernandez left in the league. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Rajai Davis Chronicles

 

Something about relievers and people who steal a ton of bases that always falls into the category of 'people Topps isn't exactly racing to make cards of'. I dunno, some things you can't help. 

Rajai Davis has a rookie with Topps in the 2003 Traded set. It's one of those 'XRC' type 'catch 'em before they start playing' things that the MLBPA told them to stop doing in 2006. And then, in 2006 and 2007, when Topps could have made a 'RC' issue for Davis, they didn't. They, uh...didn't want to. Stuff in 07 '52 or Bowman Heritage, whatever, but nothing in flagship. 

So. In 2007, Davis was coming off a mild rookie season in Pittsburgh where he only played 20 games. So in 2007, with the Pirates, he gets more playing time, and in 24 games he hits .271, with 5 stolen bases and 13 hits, which is a solid audition for an outfield that already has Nate McLouth, Jason Bay and Xavier Nady pretty locked up. 

Then, at the trade deadline, tragedy strikes- the Pirates, who have Paul Maholm, Ian Snell, Tom Gorzellany and Zach Duke all pitching relatively well...decide they need starting pitching help. So who do they decide that they need to fill the void? That's right, 2007-era Matt Morris. Matt Morris, his 7-7 record, his 4.35 ERA, and his promise of a return to his Cardinals numbers that will eternally go unfulfilled. So they trade Rajai Davis, who could potentially win an OF spot, to the Giants for Matt Morris. Morris proceeds to have a 6.10 ERA in 11 starts. Hooray.

Davis, however, blossoms in San Francisco. In 51 games, he hits .282 with 17 steals and 40 hits, gains a mentor figure in the form of Barry Bonds, plays more often, and makes a run at Bonds' OF position in 2008. It's a fantastic rookie effort, and one that does indicate a long career for Rajai Davis.

Unfortunately, the baseball gods had other ideas. After hitting .056 in the first 12 games of the 2008 season, even with 4 steals, the Giants gave up on Davis, and waived him. Not only did it put a stop to what would have been a fruitful career for Davis in SF, it also ruins Topps' effort to FINALLY produce a base card of Davis in flagship with the Giants. 

Because of this, they never actually produce a 2008 Topps card of the team that claimed him. [Something something Yamid Haad].

Which looks pretty mismanaged considering that Rajai Davis was the A's starting centerfielder in 2008. 

All the accolades are obvious. He hits pretty well for average with .260, leads the team in stolen bases with 25, gets 50 hits and is phased out once Carlos Gonzalez gets more starts. 

The rest is not only history, but well-documented by Topps- Gonzalez is traded to Colorado for Matt Holliday, centerfield is Davis', and he becomes a base-stealing mainstay for Oakland, Toronto, Detroit and Cleveland. 

In 2017, after a huge season for him in Cleveland, he returns to Oakland for a victory lap essentially and steals 26 bases despite hitting less for average. But the A's don't go anywhere in 2017, and in August, he's waived yet again, landing in a competitor's market...

Yeah, bet a lot of you don't remember that Rajai Davis played for Boston, eh? 

In a season where the Sox' outfield was clearly Betts-Bradley-Benintendi, Davis was brought in as a bench player, base-stealer and defensive sub. In 17 games he hit .250 with 3 steals. He was used as a defensive sub in the playoffs and didn't see any time at the plate...perhaps one of the reasons why they couldn't get past the Astros that year. 

In 2018 he returns to Cleveland, does okay. In 2019, he has one last year in Queens, which I'd definitely make if A.) 2019 Topps was easy to customize and B.) Topps managed to add that to the custom card maker. Someday I'll figure it out.