Topps Cards That Should Have Been: Late Career John Franco

 

Mets fans have every right to be salty.

John Franco was the closing pitcher in Queens for 10 years, notched 268 saves in that time and averaged 27 saves per season. Franco was a rock for the Mets in one of the rockiest decades of Mets baseball since the 60s, lasting from the end of the Strawberry era to the rise of Mike Piazza. And because he was phased into a middle relief role for his last four seasons in New York, he doesn't get the kind of respect that the...OTHER...New York City closer who was there for a decade or so does. 

John Franco isn't Mariano Rivera. He's John Franco. That's awesome enough.

But still, by 2003, Franco was seeming less and less of a factor in the Mets' bullpen endeavors. Armando Benitez already usurped the 9th inning gig for the 2000 postseason run, and after missing the 2002 season, was still a middle relief guy behind Benitez. 

In 2004, Armando Benitez was gone, which meant Franco had another shot to close games...except he pitched a 5.28 ERA in 52 games. His velocity was going, he wasn't as masterful as he was in the 90s, and he was pitching his age, at 43. The closing gig went to Braden Looper, and Franco's days of closing were essentially over.

The Mets didn't re-sign Franco after the 2004 season, and everyone figured the 20-year MLB veteran was done playing. Not so. 

Yes, that's right. John Franco played for a team that wasn't the Reds or Mets. In 2005, the Houston Astros were building their NL Champion bullpen, and signed Franco to a minor league deal. Surprisingly, Franco made the team, and was a solid middle relief option behind closer Brad Lidge. In 31 games, he had a 7.20 ERA and 16 Ks, which wasn't exemplary, but for a 44-year-old, it wasn't bad, and it was solid work. Franco was released in mid-July, so he wouldn't see the Astros head to a World Series, but he was at least a part of the ramp up to it.

Topps didn't do either year's Franco card possibly due to space or indifference, but it would have been nice to see Topps send-off John Franco officially. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: 2010 Jim Edmonds

 

Jim Edmonds has a 58.3 WAR from 1994 until 2006. For comparison, Albert Pujols has a 45.9 WAR in the last 12 seasons. Put some respect on Jim Edmonds' name- he may have been predominantly a power hitter, but he was also not afraid to hit for contact, hitting over .300 5 times in his career, and finishing his career 50 shy of 2000 hits.

However, the years beyond that mark weren't as satisfying. After a down year in St. Louis in 2007, Edmonds was traded to San Diego for a fresh-eyed third base prospect named David Freese. Edmonds had a solid season in 2008, despite a rough go at things for the Padres- he signed with the Cubs and was a huge player in their postseason attempt that year, hitting .256 with 19 homers in 85 games.

In 2009, Edmonds apparently didn't get any good offers to play, so he sat the season out. But, in 2010, he got a good one from Milwaukee, another NL Central team. They needed help in the outfield in case Braun got injured, and Edmonds responded with his best season since 2005- a 2.0 WAR, a .286 average and 62 hits in 72 games. Not bad for a 40-year-old who came up with the Angels back when they were still called the California Angels. 

Of course, the Brewers weren't going anywhere in 2010, but the Reds were, and they traded utility outfielder Chris Dickerson to Milwaukee to get Jim Edmonds' 2010 season. Edmonds hit .207 in 13 games with the Reds. ADV- Brewers. 

Topps put out a card of Edmonds in Update of his Reds tenure, which means the better season and uniform for Edmonds never got produced by Topps. Which is too bad, as it's a solid last season for the Cardinals hero and the hard-hitting outfielder. Like the rest of his career, it should be kept in better regard.

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.

Eliminated Football Roundup: Week 17

As the playoff picture became fixed today, it became clear that no matter their heights, their QB, or their momentum...the Miami Dolphins just aren't ready to be a playoff team. Despite coming up with 26 points today, they were still up against the 2nd-seeded Buffalo Bills, who scored 30 points more, and handsomely. There are still great pieces on this team, like Tua and grade-A corner Xavien Howard, but a lot more needs to be added before they can make a successful run at the postseason.

As Washington won the late matchup and notched their ticket to the postseason, it was a goodbye to both NFC East teams playing in what at one point looked to be a win or die matchup. For the Giants, it was a 'win AND die' game. Even if they could get past Andy Dalton and the Cowboys, Darius Slayton and the Giants still needed to rely upon the Eagles to make the postseason. And if it's one thing the 2020 season has taught us all, it's that the Eagles are unreliable as shit. 

Justice is served, I suppose- two mediocre NFC East teams miss the playoffs, and Washington, the least mediocre with a 7-9 record, goes on to have to play Tom Brady next week. Unless Chase Young can really throttle the hell out of Brady, we're probably looking at a quick ouster for Washington as well.

Of the four last-minute eliminees, the Arizona Cardinals looked the most playoff-ready, thanks to a great season from Kyler Murray, and a great first year out of DeAndre Hopkins. However, as Murray left the game early and handed things to a CFL-alum backup...against an XFL-alum Rams backup, the season began to unravel rather quickly for them. Even if the Rams have some trouble next week with the Seahawks, they still had more momentum than the Cards today, with a loss that ended both the QB's NFL career and Larry Fitzgerald's NFL career in one fell swoop.
 

Next week should be interesting. Lots of fun playoff teams [Browns! Bucs! Washington!], and a chance for some extreme upsets. Plus, the team I have a rooting interest in doesn't even have to play.

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Jeff Conine Chronicles

Jeff Conine won two rings with the same team, 6 years apart, two teams in between, and they were the club's only WS wins to date. 

I dunno, I'm no Tim Kurkjian, but I think that's pretty cool. 

Jeff Conine was best known not just for his Marlins year, being one of the first true Marlins heroes and all, but for batting directly before Cal Ripken in the Orioles lineup during the last few years of Ripken's career. When I saw the O's play in 2001, I got excited when Conine got up, because that meant Cal was up next. And Conine was pretty damn good with the O's too, with some solid contact seasons. 

In 2003, Conine spends most of the year with Baltimore, but after the trade deadline, and after Topps has finalized their Traded/Rookies checklist, the O's ship Conine to Miami for Denny Bautista, in a minor waiver deal that gives the Marlins one of their marquee stars back right before they're about to absolutely dominate the postseason.

The deal works like gangbusters for Conine. Conine hits .353 throughout the entire 2003 postseason, with 22 hits, 5 RBIs and a home run. He helps the fish win their second World Series, then rides out the rest of the deal with the Marlins, spending two more years there and splitting after it runs out in 2005. 

Conine then does the same thing he did the last time he was a free agent- he signs with the Orioles.

Granted, this is a late-career Conine with a last-place O's team, so he's doing this mostly as a victory lap. It's most curious to me that Topps didn't do a flagship card of him with the O's, as he's basically their starting first baseman that year, hitting .265 with 103 hits in 114 games.Yes, his positive WAR days are over, but he's a nice lineup asset for the O's in a season where nothing seems to be coming together for them.

Topps does depict Conine as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2006 Update, and as a member of the Cincinnati Reds in 2007 Topps. Both stints are relatively uneventful. However, the Reds trade Conine one last time, also past the trade deadline, leaving us with a rather odd sight in 2007:

That's right. Jeff Conine, the Marlins and Orioles hero, played for the New York Mets. And Topps never got around to putting that on a card. The nerve.

His Mets tenure is pretty boilerplate, honestly. 21 games, a .195 average, 8 hits. Not much going on for Mr. Marlin out of his own tank. He retires after the 2007 season, signs a one-day contract to retire as a Marlin in '08, continues to make occasional appearances in Miami, and is now waiting for his son Griffin to make his debut as a member of, you guessed it, the Miami Marlins [and I'd like to thank Jonathan Villar for making that serendipity happen]. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Rod Beck Chronicles

I think we've been wasting time comparing Craig Kimbrel to Trevor Hoffman when we really should be comparing him to Rod Beck.

I mean, swap out Huntsville for Van Nuys, and a slightly lower average saves-per-season, and Rod Beck's first decade of MLB service looks quite similar to Kimbrel's. Both big-game closers with insane consistency and intimidation that peters off spontaneously. And right now, we're in the 'early 2000s in Boston' portion of Kimbrel's career. A great market [Chicago], a golden opportunity, and nothing's coming together. 

Rod Beck, though, had more drastic troubles, with less of a sharp cutoff. He was struggling in Chicago in 1999 before a trade to Boston gave him a crack at a ninth-inning gig, which he did much better with. In a full season for the Sox in 2000, he did much better, with a 3.10 ERA in 34 games. Only problem was he didn't have a chance at the closing gig- Derek Lowe, of all people, closed 41 games for the Sox that year, in Boston's attempt to fill the bullpen with starters [Wakefield also relieved that year] and fill the rotation with people like Pete Schourek and Ramon Martinez [note to self, he didn't have a 2000 Topps card with the Sox]. 

Beck wasn't the officially designated closer in 2001, and only notched 6 saves for the Sox, but he did have a fuller, more relied-upon season as a middle reliever, appeared in 68 games and had a 3.90 ERA with 63 Ks, which is a different season for the man who's usually responsible for 50 saves, but one that was more indicative of where relief pitching was going in the following seasons. 

In 2002, the year Topps actually decides to make a card of him, those numbskulls, Rod Beck required Tommy John surgery, and sat out the entire year. The Sox moved on, getting Ugueth Urbina to pitch the ninth, with 40 saves as well. Beck would be a free agent for 2003, and it would take a lot to get someone to sign him, even for a minor league deal.

One of Beck's former teams decided to bite, though. The Chicago Cubs, with whom Beck notched a career high 51 saves in 1998, took a chance on Shooter, signing him to a minor league deal. The Cubs went into Spring Training with both Joe Borowski and Antonio Alfonseca looking at the closing gig, so a rehabilitated Beck would be facing sharp competition. Despite some decent showings in March, Beck doesn't make the team, spends two months in Iowa living in a motor home and becoming friends with all the fans, and he's released in May. Topps doesn't make a card of this Cubs tenure, but if they had a mind, they would have made one for Series 1. 

So Beck is a free agent once again...but only for a few days, as another California team, much like the Giants whom he came up with, needed help in the ninth.

The San Diego Padres signed Rod Beck with the sole intention of giving him the ninth inning and letting him close again. They had no one willing to hold the job for more than 4 saves, Trevor Hoffman was out for the season, and Beck was a tested solution. In 36 games, Beck held a 1.78 ERA with 32 strikeouts and 20 saves. For a last place team, Beck was a steady constant with more than enough in the tank to keep them from completely falling apart. These were the last great numbers of Beck's career, and proof that he could still perform post-Tommy-John.

 The Padres re-signed Beck for the 2004 season, but things would be different. Trevor Hoffman would be healthy, and would deliver 41 saves. The bullpen itself was sturdier, with great performances from Scott Linebrink, Akinori Otsuka and Antonio Osuna. Rod Beck had much less of a place in this much better team, and in 26 games his ERA ballooned to 6.38, with more NL East offenses getting to him than ever before. It was a disappointing, heartbreaking finale to Beck's career, made even more heartbreaking by Beck's passing three years later.

The other stark difference between Rod Beck and Craig Kimbrel is that Topps has always been behind Kimbrel, no matter where he went and no matter how dire his ERA looked. It is a mindset that Topps had never previously adopted with relievers, even leaving late-career moves from Rich Gossage, John Franco and Jesse Orosco out of their sets entirely. I'm not sure if Kimbrel's going to bounce back, but because he'll be doing so in 2021, rather than 2003, maybe the card companies will be more there for him than they were for Beck back in the day. 

Topps Cards That Should Have Been: The Bronson Arroyo Chronicles

Unless my calculations are incorrect, Bronson Arroyo might be the only active MLB player in history to ever appear on a VH1 'I Love the' series. Not only did he appear in 'I Love the 80s 3D', but he also appeared in 'I Love the 70s Volume 2', which I believe was taping around the same time. 

Think about that. The fun-loving, guitar-playing member of the 2004 Red Sox was cool enough to be one of the many talking heads on VH1 along with Hal Sparks, Michael Ian Black, Loni Love, Patrice O'Neal and Mo Rocca. Talking about...I dunno, 'My Bodyguard', or 'St. Elsewhere' or something, I don't remember. 

I'll add in here that he's not the sole MLB personnel to be featured on an I Love the series. Heidi Hamels was in one of the 90s ones. Yes, pre-Cole, but post-Survivor. So I'll allow it.

This anecdote serves the purpose to inform you all that despite being a steady arm in Cincinnati for a good decade or so, Bronson Arroyo's best moments came as a baseball personality rather than a baseball player. He was a character, a regular 2000s guitar bro kind of guy that happened to post a mean fastball. And I think the baseball world latched onto that in the late 2000s, as he became a standout for the Reds, and his high leg kick became something to watch for.

But what most people forget, especially Topps, is that he had a career as a relief specialist before his big break with the Sox and Reds. He was stuck in the Pittsburgh bullpen waiting behind Jason Schmidt, Kris Benson and Todd Ritchie. By 2001 he was, in fact, getting some starts, but he still finished with a 5.09 ERA in 24 games. Mediocre even for 2000s Pittsburgh. 

By 2003, Arroyo has been waived by the Red Sox, and is finally playing for a good team. He's not given much of a chance this season in Boston, though, only playing 6 games in relief. He does post a 2.08 ERA with 14 Ks, though. Additionally, he strikes out 5 Yankees in the ALCS, providing some much-needed relief help on the road to a heartbreak thanks to Aaron Boone. So they're getting the idea that Arroyo can be an asset, they just don't know what to do with him yet.

By 2004, their championship year, the Red Sox FINALLY figure Arroyo out. In a rotation featuring Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe and Tim Wakefield, already four insanely tough pitchers if they're all on at once [and all but Lowe were], Epstein and Francona decided that Arroyo should be given that fifth rotation spot. And oh boy did he deliver, with a 10-9 record in 29 starts, a 4.03 ERA and 142 strikeouts, his best year to date.

In the 2004 postseason, Bronson Arroyo would strike out 14, and even if he'd allow more earned runs than hoped for, he still was a crucial part of the championship Sox team, and they rewarded him with another strong year in 2005, and eventually a trade to a market where he could be an ace. 

Topps somehow didn't do a base card of Bronson Arroyo until 2005, but they'd be good for the rest of his run. I've rectified this, which must help.