Patient Zero

 

Marcus Stroman is a perfect fit for the Mets because he'll do something astoundingly well for half of a season, and then immediately afterwards everyone will be expecting him to continue to do that thing astoundingly well for a long period of time, and then he won't be able to for a good three years. And that's the Mets' whole M.O.

Right now the Mets are in first place in the NL East. They only have three players with WARs higher than 0.2, they have no one with more than two home runs, they've only played thirteen games, and they're still waiting on good numbers from Michael Conforto, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso, three batters they've based the entire team around...but they are in first place in the NL East. Because my Phillies squandered their head start by winding up at exactly .500 after a 4-game winning streak to start the season.

Yeah, the NL East is a mess right now. Maybe you'd expect the Marlins and Nats to be underwhelming, but the Braves in fourth?? Yes, they're beginning to creep out from under Miami thanks to a series with those lovably incompetent New York Yankees, but they've been struggling for the first few weeks of the season. As have most of the teams in this division.

And here are the Mets, ahead in the East after beating the Phillies several times and letting the top of the rotation, mainly Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker, just steamroll over opposing offenses. They don't even NEED a good lineup right now, which may explain why most of the lineup is taking this opportunity to coast essentially. 

I mean, look...Luis Guillorme, Brandon Nimmo and Dominic Smith are all hitting to a degree. Jonathan Villar and J.D. Davis are hitting off the [abnormally large] bench. But the core is where this team needs to surge, and it's not surging. Lindor had a homer last night, that's all well and good, but he's not hitting for average at all. Neither is Conforto, and he used to be good at that. 

As much as I wanna go 'hey, these guys are in first, relax', and as much as I don't always want to be critical of the Mets on this blog, this is the reality of the situation. This team is good enough to reach first, but may not be good enough to stay there.

Coming Tonight- This post was about a team in first that shouldn't be. Tonight's is about a team in fourth that shouldn't be. Don't worry, it's not a Yankees post. Further north.  

Bichette Hits The Fan

 

Was not expecting the Blue Jays to take a tremendous step backwards from their breakout 2020, but here we are. 

The Blue Jays, during the offseason, made it a point to make a lot of veteran signings to bolster the youth movements. So they went and got ALL OF THE FOLLOWING- George Springer, Kirby Yates, Marcus Semien, Robbie Ray, Steven Matz and Tyler Chatwood. Only one of them is currently not only healthy but playing above standard, and that is Steven Matz. 

So...props to the Jays for figuring out how to get Steven Matz to do well. The Mets have been trying for years. 

The fact that Yates, Chatwood and Springer are injured right now is a crushing blow to the strength of the GM's moves. Also, the fact that Chatwood, Ross Stripling and T.J. Zeuch are all injured right now, and Tanner Roark, Tommy Milone and Anthony Kay are all struggling in starting positions...means that for the second year in a row, the pitching crisis is gonna threaten to doom the Jays. 

It does help, though that the Jays do have a strong triptych of Hyun-Jin Ryu, Steven Matz and Robbie Ray who are all A.) healthy and B.) posting ERAs under 3. So yes, for three days out of five you have a good starting pitcher in Dunedin, but the other two you really hope for a lot of stars to align in order to squeak out a win.

The other piece of good news is that enough of the lineup is impressing me right now that the absence of George Springer isn't, like, killing the team. Vladimir Guerrero, as teased by his stellar spring training numbers, is off to a hell-raising start with a .368 average, 11 RBIs and 4 homers. His battery partner Bo Bichette also has 11 RBIs but one more homer than Vlad does, which is surprising but also welcome. Also, Randal Grichuk's having his best season since landing in Toronto, Joe Panik's been excellent off the bench, and both Josh Palacios and Santiago Espinal have been promising in waiting. 

The issue is that the whole lineup isn't there right now, and we're looking at torrid batting averages in the cases of Cavan Biggio, Danny Jansen, Rowdy Tellez, Marcus Semien and Lourdes Gurriel right now. Because it's easier to laugh at the Yankees right now because they've fallen harder, you haven't heard about how the droughts on this team are just as bad, and appearing in more crucial players. Right now the Jays are higher in the standings than the Yanks, but the Yankees' failures haven't come entirely from the youth. 

The Jays need to figure out how to get a lot of these big pieces to start working, or else the Yankees will eventually lap them. Somehow. I don't know how at this point, but there's a chance.

Coming Tomorrow- A former Blue Jay, honestly. The way he's pitching, I bet he doesn't miss Toronto at all.

Turner Overdrive

 

It should not shock you that right now, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the best team in baseball. They've been the best team in baseball since like 2016 or so. Why would they stop now?

Not only do they have the best W/L ratio in the league, but their entire rotation of Kershaw-Bauer-Buehler-Urias-May is ALL pitching really well, the majority of their lineup, including new rookie standout Zach McKinstry, is doing well at the plate, and Kenley Jansen seems to have put his recent woes behind him with 4 saves already. It's a triumph that, while everyone may have seen it coming, still feels really good. 

One of the biggest successes of this team so far might be Justin Turner, who was a last minute decision to re-sign with the team for another two years [three if he does well enough]. Turner's 36, has had a few injury-plagued years lately, and was expected to be a low-key contact hitter like usual. Right now, however, Turner is leading the league in RBIs and doubles, and is hitting .381 with 5 home runs. Call it April supremacy, call it good momentum, call it whatever you want, but Justin Turner is absolutely on fire right now, and it's an incredibly good thing for baseball. We need more great contact hitters right now, and Turner can do that while also hitting for power when necessary. 

Matter of fact, the best performers on the team right now are all guys in their 30s. Max Muncy has the highest WAR on the team with 1.1, and is finally becoming a solid defensive option at first, which we were all worried about for a while. Clayton Kershaw at 33 is finally returning to his days of running the rotation easily, with 3 wins and a 2.19 ERA in his first 4 starts. Even noted 30-year-old Trevor Bauer is leading the team in strikeouts and narrowly avoiding controversy with his alleged ball-doctoring crisis. While the youth still does well on this team, and while I'm very thankful for under-25 guys like Dustin May and Julio Urias [jeez he's still only 24, holy crap], this is still a veteran-led squad, and with the amount of promise this team has this year, I'm happy for it.

The only issue I can foresee is injuries. They've lost Cody Bellinger for a bit, and they also just lost Gavin Lux. McKinstry is a good replacement for Bellinger, but they have yet to find a solid enough replacement at second. It's gonna be guys like Sheldon Neuse and Edwin Rios for a bit, and I hope they figure out how to hit. 

Still, first place Dodgers, and best-in-the-league Dodgers. That's not a bad way to start things off.

Coming Tonight: [just said to myself 'dang this division is a shitshow'] Hero infielder for a team that really should be better off in the standings than they are right now.

Full Barrel

 

I like to stagnate out my CardBarrel orders so the people there don't think I'm a psychopath.

The Online Dime Box ones are easier, cause at most I'm just filling a Hamilton and they can do that easily. But CardBarrel is a larger database with more filing cabinets and more stuff lying around and I don't wanna tax them too often by throwing countless cards into a bubble mailer sent towards Jersey. Yes, the consumer is already right, but this consumer has anxiety. 

So I wanted to make sure the iron was hot when I made another order, and judging by a lot of the stuff in this post, the iron was very hot. Being able to get this 1999 Upper Deck Bobby Abreu card, a very cute and poignant portrait of the Vet in 1998, almost made the whole thing worth it, but there's more to cover. 

Player Collections:

CardBarrel had a Pat Venditte MLB card I did not have. This was a problem that needed to be rectified. This 2016 Heritage issue is not the classiest Venditte card, but it is still a Venditte card, and I enjoy those immensely.

There were also some other small player-related needs I filled here.

I realized recently that I have lots of Coco Crisp cards on the Indians and A's, but not otherwise. Mostly his Sox days have evaded me, so getting these cool ones helped, as did the rare Royals Crisp card from 09 UD.

A rare 2008 Update card that fell through the cracks was Ben Zobrist's 2008 Topps issue. I feel like this one has a chance of being photoshopped from a 2007 photo? That blue jersey looks a bit green, that Rays logo looks a bit pasted on, but I've been wrong before. Still, it's a young Zo card, and a pre-fame Zo issue I didn't have

And more Phillies Andrew McCutchen cards is never enough. This was also my first taste of 2020 Gallery, which for obvious reasons did not show up on my radar during my retail quests. Looks cool, though.

And four from 2020 Heritage High Number. Didi and Wheeler were obvious Phils-related needs, but those top two I needed from the moment I realized they existed. Lucroy played maybe a game or two as a Red Sox, but CarGo didn't play ANY in Seattle. A zero year card that doubles as a sunset issue. Wild.

Set Intrigue:

This 2004 Fleer Showcase Barry Zito continues my quest for the 2004 Fleer sets I chased in my intro to collecting [detailed in this post]. They stand out in my memory, and finding new issues from them continues to really impress me. 

These four as well. 2004 Classic Clippings, while simple, still stands out to me, and getting some of the bigger cards, like Nomar and Glavine helped. Plus, Andruw Jones was another needed Patchworks card. 

My similar quest to nab Topps base cards of all the people I collect continued as well, with two 1999 Topps issues. One easy to find, Brad Radke, the other a bit rarer, John Smoltz.

I also was piqued by a recent baseball card store dot com order that featured lots of late-90s Pacific issues to look towards Fleer's more Pacific-esque endeavors under their Skybox umbrella. So these two issues of guys I collect from 2000 Skybox Dominion made it into the cart, despite the oddness of the b/w background.

As did these...absolute oddities from 1998 Skybox Thunder. I didn't know when I scanned these that certain cards combine to create a T, so only Colon and Lofton together demonstrate this. But...man these are wild, in the best way possible. Perfect 90s-Fleer looniness. Also cool to see late career Eck, Boggs and Molitor subscribe to this. 

Diamond Kings:

This is one of those properties I've been pilfering cards from since I started collecting. The texture, elegance and modesty of these 2000s Donruss DK sets have been something I've always respected, even after Playoff became more copy-and-paste about it after 2004. So getting a whole bunch of these felt really good, especially this 2004 commemoration of I-Rod's 2003 Marlins year.

2002- Fairly simple backgrounds but good detailing all around. Ramirez' might be the best of these. 

2003- I have a ton of these already so I'm just getting the stragglers, including a Yankee Ventura, and some usual suspects like Huddy and Wood.

2004: Lots of variety here. Yes, some more usual suspects like Abreu and Beckett and Konerko, but Padres Oliver Perez, and baby Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez. Also, nabbing a semi-action static shot of Cubs Aramis Ramirez was a cool change of pace.

2005: Another one I have a ton of already but I still strive for more of. Hudson's is an 05 DK Update issue, so it's on slightly different stock [as Playoff were essentially closing its doors upon its release], but getting Smoltz, Larkin and that Dave Parker one were important to me.

UPPER DECK BASE CARDS:

This was a biggie. CardBarrel had just gotten a huge shipment of 90s-00s Upper Deck base sets, spanning most of the run. So I had to go back through the sets I was both familiar with and had busted boxes of in college in order to find stuff that was new to me. Some, like this BEAUTIFUL Jimmy Rollins in Baltimore, stood out to me immediately. 

1999 UD: This one I'd nabbed some from CB before [back in the JustCommons days], but the refresh brought some new stuff as well, like more Colons and Loftons, and these late-career issues from Harold Baines and Wade Boggs.

The 99s even included a subset or two, like this Foreign Focus one giving us Panama's Mariano Rivera and Dominican Bartolo Colon. All for cool, international-centric subsets, as you'll see.

2000 UD: Another one I don't have a ton of, so my usual suspects [McGriff, Lofton, Colon] show up here as well. Kind of a transitional set, from the bulkier sets of the 90s to the crisper, cleaner ones of the early 2000s.

These two really struck me. Potential final releases for HOFer Harold Baines and...guy I enjoy collecting Orel Hershiser. Cool to see them both in this set.

2002 UD: Mostly collected stuff from Series 1, cause 2 was the one I broke. Hideo Nomo in Boston is the coolest sight here. 

Another international-themed subset, World Stage, netted me two cool-to-collect guys, Nomo and Walker, representing their home countries. 

2003 UD: Most of these were taken from Series 2, cause 1 was the one I busted. Good to see some presence from the younger players from that season, as well as some vets, and a rare Pirates Kenny Lofton card.

Four horizontals. Rivera I was shocked to nab at a low price. McGriff and Pierre look awesome from this dimension. 

2004 UD: The last of these they had a ton of. More usual suspects [Colon, Lofton, Oliver Perez], but a Cardinals Larry Walker card, and early closer Joe Nathan. 

The best part of there being an onslaught of 2004 Upper Deck is that I could get both Roberto Alomar cards, each depicting him at a different stage of the final season of his career, in Arizona or in Chicago. Impressive stuff.

Set Needs:

This 2008 Trading Card History one of J-Lo's weeping ex-husband brings my search for that 75-card insert set from 2008 Topps down to three cards- that elusive Mickey Mantle card, Joey Votto's rookie, and, of course, Derek Jeter. I've been chasing this one since I started collecting, and it feels good to bring home another one. 

I also knocked off a bunch of 2020 Archives needs, a set made harder to chase by its exclusion from retail shelves. These commons from 55 continued the chase, even if the larger ones are gonna be tricky. 

74s. Mostly basic photography here, though Frank Robinson's is awesome. Kiner's is grouped in here cause Topps gave him 2 cards in this set and hoped we wouldn't notice. 

More 02s. Two legends, a steroid abuser and Geno. Eclectic mix.

A rookie card of 2015 World Series champ Yordano Ventura brings my chase to complete the 2014 Stadium Club set down to ten cards, which is pretty huge. 

And these two big pieces of the 1988 Donruss set bring my set endeavor down to just four cards- Roberto Alomar and Al Leiter's rookie cards, Jose Canseco, and Matt Williams' rookie card. Again, big pieces to go, but not undoable. 

So yeah, that was a really productive CardBarrel order, and I'm glad I was able to snag a lot of nice 00s DK and UD stuff. Might wait it out til I do another one, but I did get a lot out of this one. 

2020 Topps Final Edition: Card #163-171

 With this post, we reach the halfway point of 2020 Topps Final Edition. We started in February, we've hit 165/330 in April, which means at this rate we'll finish in like June. Hope that's alright. I'm still enjoying rolling these out, hope y'all are still enjoying looking at them. 

Anyway, here's the next 9 cards in the set:

Card #163- Jace Peterson, Milwaukee Brewers

A former Braves infielder from the dire mid-2010s teams, Jace Peterson had bopped between New York and Baltimore for a few years before settling in Milwaukee for 2020. Peterson, primarily a 3rd baseman, was used in an outfield role to cover for the loss of Lorenzo Cain, and did alright at the plate with a .200 average and 5 RBIs. His decent bench work was rewarded by the Brewers, as they re-upped him for 2021.

Card #164- Mark Melancon ASG, Atlanta Braves

If a potential 2020 All Star Game had happened, and both managers were allowed a limited number of relief options, I still think Mark Melancon would have been on Dave Martinez' shortlist. After failing in big-contract deals in SF before this, Melancon finally had the pressure off as part of a super-bullpen in Atlanta, and rose to the closing gig like no time had passed. Melancon's ability not only to work the ninth but aid the team in regular relief was an asset to a surging Braves squad, and would have garnered Melancon his fourth ASG gig. But I suppose that will have to happen this year in Colorado. 

Card #165- David Peterson, New York Mets

David Peterson was the biggest rookie call-up in Queens last year, even bigger than Andres Gimenez. Peterson had been a strong arm in the minors for a few years, and was brought up to cover for the tepid results of Wacha and Porcello's signings. Peterson had to fight injury at one point, but still finished the season with great numbers, including a 3.44 ERA in 10 games, and 40 strikeouts. While he hasn't been as lucky in 2021 so far, he definitely has the big-game ability the Mets were worried they'd lost with the dissolution of the 2015 rotation.

Card #166- Dean Kremer, Baltimore Orioles

The pride of Israel, Dean Kremer became the first ever Israeli citizen [his folks are from there so he has citizenship] to play in the majors, and his first few starts for the O's were a ton to celebrate. He struck out 22 in 18 innings, and had a 4.82 ERA in 4 games, certainly not a bad shake of things for a struggling rotation. So far his numbers have been up to his 2020 standards, and he's since been demoted, but I imagine he's like John Means in that he needs to fail a little in order to get into his stride. 

Card #167- Scott Alexander, Los Angeles Dodgers

Alexander has been one of the many sharp relievers to come out of the Dodgers' bullpen, and he continued his strong work in the shortened 2020 season. In only 13 appearances, Alexander posted a 2.92 ERA with 2 wins and 9 Ks, before missing the postseason due to injury. Nevertheless, Alexander is still counted on as an integral member of the Dodgers' current bullpen.

Card #168- Jason Castro, San Diego Padres

Jason Castro's slow fall from starting catching weapon to backup catcher has officially set in, as his contact ability has dissipated since leaving Houston. After backing up Max Stassi in LA for the first half of the 2020 season, Castro was picked up as a backup option for the Padres, who were now without Luis Torrens and Austin Hedges. Castro proceeded to hit .179 in 9 regular season games, and didn't have any offensive luck in the playoffs. Now he's back to backing up Martin Maldonado in Houston. 

Card #169- Nelson Cruz ASG, Minnesota Twins

This should not shock you. Not that Nelson Cruz would have been an All Star last year, and not that he would have been the AL's starting DH. While an earlier HGH suspension has made me wary of the authenticity of his late-era exploits, it's still a wonder that at 39, Cruz can still hit .300 and bounce homers over the wall. Hell, he already has 4 home runs on the season, and he's hitting .390. Though logically 2021 may be his last contractual season, it may not be the end of his career. 

Card #170- Anthony Bass, Toronto Blue Jays

Anthony Bass is one of those journeyman odd-job relievers that you may not know, but has done some impressive stuff. He's pitched in Chicago, Seattle and Toronto the last few years and been a worthy relief option in all 3 cities. Last season in Toronto was doubly impressive because Bass was a ninth inning option for the first part of it, and he posted a 0.6 WAR in 26 games, even getting his first postseason strikeout out of it. So far, though, he's having some trouble in Miami this year.

Card #171- Phillips Valdez, Boston Red Sox

Phillips Valdez kicked around the minors for 10 years before making the Rangers in 2019, but had to get waived twice more in order to find a true home in Boston. Making the team out of camp, Valdez was an incredible relief option, with a 3.26 ERA in 24 games, with 30 Ks as well. Valdez is this string-bean-y type who throws smoke and keeps runs down. So far he's repeating the same kind of performance this year, so Boston's very lucky to have him. 

The next 9 cards go up on Friday. This batch includes some very big rookies and a few interesting veterans to talk about.

Bundy Driver

 

Yesterday the Angels had first place. Today, thanks to some Twins-inflicted off days, the Mariners have caught up. So they're just sitting in limbo for a few days til their series with the Rangers starts today. Which, when you have as much momentum as the Angels have this year, is not the place you wanna be.

Look, we've been waiting patiently since the middle of the decade for an Angels team to compete mightily, and 2021 might finally be the year where they have something that works. Not only do they still have a surging star in Mike Trout, but they have a competent, on-target base around him, with Jared Walsh, David Fletcher, Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani all performing really well around him. One thing the lineup needs to be careful of right now is injuries- Rendon and Max Stassi are missing some time this month, in addition to the out-for-the-year Dexter Fowler, and so having competent performances from Luis Rengifo and Kurt Suzuki in their absence will be very important. This is the most in-tune this lineup has been in a while, and I really hope they don't waste it.

Also, this is a lot more selfish, but this is probably Albert Pujols' last season. He's not doing too badly right now, but I would love if his WAR passed into the positive so he can finish his career with an 100 WAR. That'd be awesome in the post-steroids era. 

And heck, the pitching is doing well enough right now as well. The big takeaway right now is that Dylan Bundy is capable of recreating his ace material from 2020. He's already got 22 Ks and has a low enough ERA. Alex Cobb is also doing alright in a starting role, and Shohei Ohtani's few starts so far have been golden. The bullpen is really doing a lot of the work right now, not only with traditional types like Junior Guerra and Mike Mayers, but late-offseason pickups like Steve Cishek [from Houston] and Tony Watson [from, sniff, Philly]. Like last year, Raisel Iglesias is having trouble keeping runs down entirely in the ninth, but he seems to be getting slightly better as it goes along. 

This team has too much going for them to be completely lapped by the Mariners, so I hope they gain some ground against the Rangers this week. 

Coming Tomorrow- He made a last-minute decision to return to his beloved team, and it's been working out for him because he's absolutely on fire right now.

Always Be Closing: Don't Call it a Comeback

 

What do we make of a closer who loses a ninth inning gig and eventually comes back better than before? 

On one hand, it's a common trait for ballclubs ever since the delineation of the fireman position to award the ninth inning to the most consistently lights out of the relievers on-staff. Sometimes, that is not the journeyman 300-game closer. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's someone who's been a middle relief specialist for 10 years and now has no one blocking him. But it's less likely nowadays for someone to be a Mariano Rivera or a Kenley Jansen, or even a Rollie Fingers- almost no one is guaranteed the ninth inning job for the entirety of their career anymore. Because of the evolution of the reliever, there are so many more parts to play. 

But closing games like no time has passed despite years of other relief work separating the last 40-save season? That's something that's become sort of common.

This season, there are two major closing pitchers who are returning to the role, whole hog, after some troubles in past years. And they are Craig Kimbrel and Mark Melancon. It is very good to have them both back.

Kimbrel especially. His 2019 and 2020 seasons would be best forgotten if he had his way- from a late signing in 2019 to some frequent ERA issues to losing the closing gig to Jeremy Jeffress, it was not the best stretch of his career. But, regardless, Kimbrel is still the active saves leader with 351, and is still probably the best active closing pitcher of the class [if the Kenley Jansen fangirls come sliding into my comments again, I'm getting the hose]. What he's capable of in a ninth inning situation is bonkers, and the fact that he still has a career 2.15 ERA even despite the first two Cubs years says more than anything. 

Right now, despite the Cubs' inefficiency, Kimbrel has a lock on the closing gig and has 3 saves already with no runs, or HITS, allowed. While it's not out of the question for Kimbrel's previous woes to return, he's looking better than he's looked since Boston, and is probably gonna head back to his previous glory.

However, Melancon might have the edge on Kimbrel right now, solely because the Padres are a better team than the Cubs. And Melancon going in for save situations with a monster lineup like the Padres one is just as dominant as he was with the early 2010s Pirates. He's already notched 5 saves, and is looking for more as the Padres gain more ground with the return of Tatis.

I hope this means that Kimbrel and Melancon are back as prime closers now. It saddened me when Trevor Rosenthal returned last year and then immediately got injured this year. It would also be nice if a closer from this class had a HOF-worthy second act, and Kimbrel might be the closest to doing that. 

Coming Tomorrow- The Mariners have been batted down, and the Angels have the AL West. Which means this guy can be an ace for a 1st place team. How about that?