Cubbie Up!

I was a little disappointed that I did not get to see Arismendy Alcantara at last year's Triple A All-Star game.  The Cubs infielder had been trending upwards for all of the 2014 season.  Well, could we just say that Arismendy has been trending up for the last three or four years?  He's got some pretty good minor league numbers and he's one of those players who's a blast to watch.  He hits, he runs, he fields.  He kind of does it all.  Again, all of his numbers are trending upwards too......

Check out those slugging and on-base percentage numbers.  Pretty good increase.  Alcantara ended up missing the All-Star Game in Durham this year because he was promoted up to the Cubs.  That's a pretty good reason to miss the Triple A All-Star Game.  The initial results for the versatile player were slightly disappointing.  I do not drink the Kool-Aid on all of the Cubs prospects headed towards the Majors, but I still really like Arismendy and think there will be a good bounce back this season.  If you have not checked him out during a game, this was my favorite highlight of his from last year.  Three hits, a double, single, and triple, and four RBIs.

I Made A Trade!

I used to make a ton of trades when I first started my blog a few years back.  I would throw out a card on Twitter or a Facebook group and ten to fifteen minutes later I would have something simple ironed out with the other collector.  I would drop the cards in the mail and a few days later would have a nice bubble mailer to open.  It was always a great feeling to rip open the mail, scan the cards, and post them here on my blog.  There was a little drama every once in awhile, but it was a great inexpensive way to move unwanted cards and pick up some adds for the collection.  

Where did the trades go?  I am not entirely sure, but I have kind of gotten away from the practice over the past year or two.  I cannot point to one specific incident that made me push away from the practice, but I think the fact that I actually have a local card shop that is worthwhile has been a factor, along with the fact that the Facebook groups have exploded.  Most of the groups started out with a circle of collectors and they were all generally known.  You knew who to avoid and who was cool to deal with.  Now?   Maybe I have been away to long.  

Last week I ventured back out into that world looking to unload a few of the cards I picked up in my Topps Update box.  Some of the offers were decent.  A Sepia Taveras parallel, a gold Zobrist refractor, and a handful of low end Rays autographs for a Jeter jersey card could be doable to name one of several which were worthy of some thought and consideration.  Others just made me cry.  A 2007 SPx Juan Salas autograph with a throw card of a 1999 Just Minors Adam Kennedy autograph for a Julio Teheran Strata Autograph, or a Jared Sandberg autographed baseball for both the Jeter jersey, Teheran autograph, and a Joe Morgan World Series Trophy Card.  Ridiculous.  

So, the point of my post was not to dump on all trades and tell people that the world of baseball cards is filled with terrible trade offers.  First, I had someone offer me the price of a completed auction listing on Ebay for the Jeter card.  Only the card was not listed on Ebay, so I paid no fees.  Good and good.  I also ran into an old trade acquaintance who had no interest in trading or buying anything I pulled out of my Topps Trade box, but did trade me a few other cards I was interested in adding to my collection.  

Here are my newest four autographs:

Alcantara Autograph

I missed Arismendy Alcantara at the Triple A All-Star game earlier this month because the Cubs called him up to the Majors.  Like all prospects there are players who are a little bit hyped up, but there are also those that live up to the hype.  The Cubs currently have, according to Keith Law, the best minor league system in the Majors.  Lots of big name talent right now including Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler, Javier Baez, Addison Russell, etc, etc, etc.  Why don't people talk about Arismendy Alcantara?

During his half season in Triple A Alcantara posted a .307/.353/.537 line with 25 doubles, 11 triples, and 10 home runs.  Throw in 21 steals and it's not quite Mike Trout, but I am not sure there are many teams who would not like to have a player like Arismendy Alcantara in their system.  Or on their big league team.

So, where's the love for this guy?  Alcantara was only ranked 83rd by Baseball America before the 2014 season.  MLB.com has him ranked 89th.  Breaking it down amongst only the Cubs prospects Baseball America had the infielder ranked 7th and MLB.com placed him 7th too.  I know that people are high on Bryant and Baez, but both of those players have some serious holes in their swings.

A similar trend has followed Alcantara in the hobby.  Collectors have also been very high on Bryant, Baez, and Soler while taking a slower approach with Alcantara.  In my opinion, he is one of the better bargains out there for collectors to snatch up.  I choose to pick up a copy of his Bowman Inception last week.....

While Bryant is striking out a few hundred times in Triple A, Alcantara is hanging out in Wrigley.  His autographed rookie cards can be a little pricy, but they are not even close to the Bryant autographed cards.  For $40 to $50 you can own the Bowman autographed rookie card of Alcantara.  For about half of the price you can pick up this Bowman Inception card.  A really nice looking card with a great looking autograph.