All Locked Up

I wasn't banking on this for Cespedes. It wasn't looking like the Mets had enough room to take him back. And yet, over the last few days the Mets crafted a deal, with an opt-out, that was a ton more savory than going to Baltimore or Washington. So, for once, we have some Cespedes soldarity for a season or two. Something we haven't really had since 2013 or so.

The biggest part of this deal is that it secures the Mets' status as a big figure in the NL. With 2/3rds of the division throwing in the towl, and the other 2/3rds slowly rebuilding, it's looking pretty good for the Mets in 2016, yet the little moves they've made, nabbing Neil Walker and Alejandro de Aza and shoring up Cespedes, have been the real difference maker. This is a team who has nothing to lose, and here they are making their already-strong team even stronger. It's fascinating, actually.

The best part is that Cespedes is coming off the best season of his career, and is entering into a system he's used to, and he's thrived in before. This guy is definitely for real, and could be even huger given an entire season in Queens, rather than just 3 months.

Very big stuff here for the Mets. Let's see if it pays off.

Nostalgic Box Break: 2002 Upper Deck Series One (Part Two

PREVIOUSLY ON 'JORDAN KEEPS OPENING OLD BOXES OF CRAP'!

There is a ton to like about to product, but there are some aspects that keeps it from being a universally loved set, and that's mostly because it lacks a lot of the edge that 90's UD and 06-09 UD would eventually inherit. This is a set in a transitional period in Upper Deck's history, and with that in mind it's kind of admirable.

Last 12 packs coming your way.

 Pack 13- Like with the 90's CC, a TON of full body shots, but when there is cropping there's a very good reason for it, like the Glavine at the bottom.

 Here's your yearly reminder that Brady Anderson once tried a season in Cleveland. As you can imagine, since this set isn't from the 90's, it didn't go too well for him.
Also, Reggie Sanders is practicing his bunting, which is pretty cool.

 Gotta love Bernie. He's on the run, evidently from his ASG nod from the previous year. Also, Tom Glavine, still on top of his game for one last season in Atlanta, throwing fire like the Future HOFer he is.

 Pack 14- Jeez, call me biased, but I was tempted to call the rookie on the far left a D-Backs player. Then I remembered the red uniforms don't come in until 2007.

 Two reminders that the early 00's Brewers weren't too impressive. Eric Young's best years were behind him, and Sexson's bat hadn't officially erupted yet.

 Plus, here's Curt Schilling, mowing 'em down in Arizona after a stellar postseason in 2001.

 Pack 15- That's one giant-ass ball.

 After paying his dues on those landmark Yankees teams, Tino Martinez took three seasons off, and two of them were spent at Busch stadium. Tino's not too well remembered generally (unless you're this guy) but he had some nice years as a Mariner and Yankee. He wasn't too shabby as a Cardinal either.

 Ruben Sierra, that DH guy, as a member of the Mariners. In case you wondered why they didn't get back to the playoffs in '02.

 Two big hitters from the 2000's. Giambi missed out on his chance at a ring with the Yankees when he left the team in 2009. Burrell stuck around Philly to grab a ring himself...and then high-tailed it over to San Francisco to be a part of the Cinderella team in 2010.

 Pack 16- Oh yeah, guys I forgot to warn you. My hit's in this pack, and it keeps calling me...so...how about we ignore him for right now, until he comes over. Got it? Thanks...

 This is a pretty important card if you've seen Moneyball. Carlos Pena was playing pretty well for the A's in 2001, except he didn't get on base enough for Billy Beane to want him around. Great scene in the movie, when Jonah Hill has to tell a very confused Pena that he's been traded to Detroit.

 Also, here's a card that reminds you how much of a beast Albert Pujols was in 2001.

 Okay...deep breath in...deep breath out.

There is so much wrong with this hit that I have to just take a step back and take it all in. There's a ton of awfulness in there.

For those of you out there who've heard of Omar Daal (and for that, I apologize), he was the Phillies' 2001 Opening Day starter, before becoming a burnout in the LA rotation. Pulling a hit of Omar Daal is not something I was thinking of doing when I woke up that morning.

Add the fact that the swatch is VERY CLEARLY a Phillies one, complete with a red pinstripe, and the fact that Omar Daal's Dodgers jersey looks pretty photoshoppy, makes this one of the single WORST HITS I have ever pulled out of a pack of anything. Ever.

That bad, folks. THAT BAD.

I'll say that I broke another 00's UD product later, and got a MUCH BETTER hit out of it. But this is too pathetic for words. I'm truly sorry you all had to witness this.

 Pack 17- Three hall of famers in this pack, and one box office giant.

 Scott Hatteberg was a HUGE part of the Moneyball movie, going from a low-hitting catching convert to the offensive cornerstone of a playoff team. And he was played by Chris Pratt, no less, which is awesome.
Matt Williams is currently out of a job...which is fun.

 Not a ton of cool rookies in this set, but So Taguchi was a decent hitter for a few years.

 Two of our Hall of Famers. Pedro was in the middle of another killer season in Boston. Frank was still hitting up a storm in Chicago.

 And this Return of the Ace insert set, a pretty cool one too, highlights the sheer AWESOMENESS that is Greg Maddux. Can't help but appreciate the guy's stuff.

 Pack 18- The highlights are running thin here.

 John Flaherty's a basic no-name, but this is a pretty cool catcher shot.

 Can't go wrong with an Ichiro checklist.

 But you CAN go wrong, VERY wrong, with a Jose Valverde rookie.

 Pack 19- More sweet Expos uniforms!

 Our lone highlights are Carlos Beltran in the process of a base-run, and Curt Schilling in strikeout mode.

 Pack 20- More posed shot shenanigans!

 David Justice, YET ANOTHER star of the Moneyball movie, in his final season, coming from a season as the Yankees' DH.
Also, it's Omar Daal again, and he JUST...WON'T....LEAVE!

 Jeromy Burnitz looks pretty happy to be back in a Mets uniform, I think. Either that or it's Darrell Hammond.

 Another Return of the Ace. This one hasn't held up as well, as it's Wade Miller. Pretty soon after this card's release, a true ace would emerge in Houston, and that'd be Roy Oswalt. Sorry, Wade.

 Pack 21- Tons of pitchers in this one.

 A fan of this photo, a full wingspan shot of Eric Milton.

 Hideo Nomo FINALLY returned to LA in 2002, after a barrage of stints in Detroit, Boston, Queens and Milwaukee. Nomo would only play for three more teams over the final five seasons of his career.

 Pack 22- Very colorful, but quite a few posed shots.

 Another Moneyball tie. Jason Isringhausen was dealt away from Oakland after the 2001 season, into St. Louis, where he'd make a name for himself as a monster closer.

 Two HOFers. Robbie's there now, and Jim will join him in a couple years.

 Pack 23- Definitely winding down.

 This week in 'HE WAS STILL PLAYING IN 2002?' Rick Helling, as a D-Back.

 Also, here's a card commemorating Sammy Sosa's third 60-homer season. Not suspicious at all...

 Pack 24- Last pack, and not too much left.

 Jeff Kent probably won't make it into the Hall of Fame, but at least he'll have his tenure on Survivor...

And we'll finish it off with a super-cool shot of Jason Kendall stopping the runner toward home. One of the more consistent catchers of that era.

So, that's the box. Lots of fun, lots of cool photos, and one really crappy hit. Stay tuned, as I might get bored and throw another box from the archives onto the blog sometime soon.

Nostalgic Box Break: 2002 Upper Deck Series One (Part One)

Well, I think we've had enough of Collector's Choice for right now. So I'd say we go for a more contemporary, more recent set that does some things well that deserves some more credit. And, in this case, it's 2002 Upper Deck.

The way the Upper Deck flagship dynasty worked went in heats. From 1989 to 1993, UD put out some very basic, very cool, very photography-based sets that are still well-liked today. 1994-1999 is a completely different heat, of very foil-based, overdone sets that are really products of their own time. 2000 to 2002 is its own little cluster of more minimalistic, photo based sets, before the design kind of took over and semi-bland-ified the set from 2003 to 2005. 2006 to 2009 was the last of the golden age- quirky photos, minimalistic designs, collectable, fun sets, and stuff that still gets remembered to this day.

2002 is the tail end of the earl 00's era of big photo, waning-design type sets, and is still pretty damn cool, as we're going to find out in these next 24 packs. I think I'll be able to knock this out in two posts.

 The difference from the last few boxes is that this one has a box-topper, which is a pack of two numbered cards. So, I got...

 Curt Schilling, a potential future Hall of Famer, and Carlos Lee, who is not. Both are numbered to 1125.

 Onto Pack One. You can see the design is very minimalistic, but there's enough of it there that you can get a sense of color and everything. Rookie cards have red-white-and-blue starred card bottoms, rather than the little Tron T that the other ones have.

 Some 90's players in unfamiliar uniforms- Todd Zeile, best known as a Cardinal/Met, in a Rockies uniform, and Ray Lankford, a Cardinals legend, as a Padre.

 One of the inserts is Year of the Record, and this is a Chipper Jones one. Not a lot to it, but still nice.

 I adore this card, especially because of how much color is factored into this photo. It's wonderful, and it's a great shot, too. Regardless of the fact that it's a Garret Anderson.

 Pack 2- Ah, those 2000's Pirates uniforms.

 Here's Marty Cordova as an Oriole, a far cry from where he was a few years ago in Minnesota.

 Two legendary guys who took their time retiring. I-Rod, looking awesome in his catcher's gear, and Jamie Moyer, still on top of his game.

 Another really cool insert, a Superstar Summit one of Todd Helton, at it looks very cool. Great use of circles.

 Pack 3- Blurry, but here you can see some evidence of some pretty nice photography in this set.

 Todd Hundley was still hanging in there in 2002. I had no idea.

 A reminder that way before the Tigers were perennial offseason buyers, they were a perennial 5th-place-team whose flagship star was Bobby Higginson. How times change.

 Hey, look, two Hall of Famers. I mean, Robbie is currently there, and Derek will be there shortly, but still. Two NY Hall of Famers.

 Another Superstar Summit insert, this one of everybody's hero, circa 2001, Ichiro Suzuki. Glad to see he's gonna be back in Miami next year.

 Pack 4- Wow, reading the names here is reminding me that, for the first few years back there, the 2000's were slowly turning back into the 90's.

 For instance, here's a sweet bat-barrel shot of Juan Gonzalez, in his return appearance in Arlington.

 Also, here are two expansion heroes, Larry Walker and Luis Gonzalez. Gonzo's card is referencing his major work in the 2001 World Series.

 Pack 5- For every really cool shot in this set, there's at least one shot of someone just standing around.

 2001 was a big year for Shawn Green in LA, and 2002 would be even bigger.

 Andruw Jones' decade of terror was just getting started, and he'd hit some even higher Home Run peaks as the years go by.

 Oh hey, Barry Bonds hit 73 in a season. Wow, almost forgot.

 Pack 6- A ton of wider shots here, but at least in a great deal of them things are going on.

 Forgot that both of these guys were with these two teams. Brian Jordan is a Cardinal/Brave to me. Meanwhile, Alex Ochoa's just happy to be here.

 John Burkett, one of the more underrated arms of the 90's, was with the Red Sox in the early 2000's.

 Hey, here's another Shawn Green. This one's in the outfield.

 Pack 7- Ooh, those sweet, underrated Expos uniforms.

 Now, if you view this Chris Gomez card in the right perspective, he's being chased by a killer living car. It's like a Stephen King novel.

 I've always liked this card, mainly because it's Damon's first as a Red Sock, but also because he looks so casual waiting there. Very stoic.

 Also, here's Omar Vizquel making a play in the field. Gotta love it.

 And, as an added bonus, here's Hall of Famer Barry Larkin.

 Pack 8- A few more horizontals in this one, all pretty nice uses, and pretty dynamic shots. This set is actually pretty good at more nuanced, balanced shots, very similar to the later Collector's Choice releases.

 Jeff Cirillo is crouching down, pondering his next move. He actually looks pretty hostile here, too.

 Meanwhile, Delino DeShields (Sr.) fields a grounder at 2nd.

 I like this one too, especially how excited Berkman is landing safe.

 If we're being technical here, this is essentially Marlon Byrd's rookie card. Byrd, who's become a pretty solid consistent hitter for a bunch of different teams in the past few years, started out as a very nice outfield bat with the early 2000's Phillies team.

 Pack 9- A few cards in here that'd be huge back in 2002.

 KAZUHISA ISHII! Remember him? Guy was a huge deal when he came up in 2002, and was one of the big Korean imports for a while. He eventually Daisuke'd out of the leagues, but did some solid stuff for the Dodgers early on.
BriRo, a little while before he clinched the starting job, in a nice infield play.

 Oh, hey, another Barry Bonds subset.

 This is a nice Chasing History insert, as it commemorates Kenny Lofton's quest for 500 career steals. It also documents him in a White Sox jersey, which is very rare for cards.

 Meanwhile, Magglio Ordonez celebrates with Derek Jeter in the ASG, which is pretty cool.

 And here's a card commemorating A-Rod's 52 homers in 2001.

 Pack 10- A nice array of colorful jerseys here.

 This is one of my favorite shots in the set. Bruce Chen is warming up, in full winter regalia, which you don't see very often.

 Also, here's Miguel Tejada, fielding his way to an eventual MVP. Also, I think he's tagging out Dante  Bichette.

 Pack 11- Two more excellent cards in here.

 I love this card, because it's a Giants outfielder on the back of a golf-cart. You just don't see that everyday.

 Also, here's Mark McGwire with his kid. Even if he is a steroid abuser, there is a little bit of joy in here, and you can kind of see that Mark was just trying to be a good guy. Also, this is one of McGwire's last cards.

 Juan Gone was evidently close to 400 home runs in 2002.

 Pack 12- A very AL West-centric pack.

 Mike Cameron, right after his huge '01 Mariners year, looking awesome on base. And Tim Hudson's got a nice in-action shot.

Also, here's another footnote of Ichiro's awesome rookie season in 2001.

That's 12 packs, so I'll finish off the rest of the box another day, but so far I'm liking the slickness of this set.