Durham Bulls, Future Durham Bulls

Besides picking up a pair of Pro Debut boxes last weekend, I also picked up four single cards from Jimmy, who used to own the local card shop Big D's in Raleigh.  He still does a lot with cards and is still a great person to work with on new cards.  Last week's new additions were a pair of current Durham Bulls players and a future Durham Bulls player.  First let's look at the current players.....

I love the look of the black bordered Bowman parallels.  There have been a few sets with dark borders over the years that have been duds, but I generally enjoy this look on cardboard.  This is from last year's Bowman Chrome set and is serial numbered to just 35 copies......

This is Romero's third season on the Bulls, but he is still just 24.  He's made only 3 starts this year for the Bulls and has also had a brief stint with the Rays already.  The card has Romero's usual scrawl like signature on the front.  This is definitely my best looking Romero card in my collection.

The second card is awesome.  I am not a huge in person autograph collector, but Jimmy picked this up for me at a Durham Bulls game.  Taylor Motter, current Durham Bulls spark plug, went to Coastal Carolina which is near Jimmy's hometown in South Carolina.  Motter has been a popular player around these parts during the first half of the baseball season.  This is a cool autograph and I am happy to have it in the collection.  Motter actually does not have any certified autographs.  

On to a future Durham Bulls player......

I make those Collecting the Durham Bulls posts about players who are on the Bulls roster.  I cannot wait to make one for this guy.....Daniel Robertson.  The Rays picked up the former A's shortstop in the Ben Zobrist trade and so far he has been pretty impressive in Double A Montgomery.  The interest in his cards has picked up a bit in recent months, but his cards are still very affordable.  I cannot decided which of these I like more.......

They are both great looking cards and I am looking forward to adding a few more Robertson cards soon.  He does not having any Rays cards yet, but I am hoping that Topps will throw him into one of the Topps products later this summer.

Heavy Bottomed Chrome Cards Make The Rockin World Go Round

I did not buy a box or open any packs of Topps Chrome this year. This is actually the second year in a row that I have decided to skip this product.  Nothing to do with chrome rehashes or anything like that, but more to do with the fact that the product could be described as "bottom loaded".  To some degree all products are "top heavy" in their concentration of high-end autographs being the hardest to pull and low end autographs being easy to pull, however Topps Chrome takes it to a different level.  Again, not "top heavy" like most products, but "bottom loaded"

Here's the skinny on the Chrome autographs.  The originally sale price on Chrome boxes was around $75.  Collectors received two autographs per box.    Think about this way:

If you go on Ebay and search sold items under 2014 Topps Chrome Autographs the first page (I'm using 50 items per page sorting high price to low price) has a few listings which go for over $500 (there are seven as I am typing this) and then several pages of cards that cost somewhere between $200 to $100.  After that it goes off a cliff quickly.  Let's explain it this way.  Flip the search around and look finding the lowest sale priced cards first....It takes 41 pages, with 50 items on each page, to clear the price of $5.  Now, resale price on your hit cards is not everything in the world, but over a quarter of the 2014 Topps Chrome autographs on Ebay sold for less than $5 and over half sold for less than $10? 

Here's another comparison.  Half a box of Triple Threads (or one mini box) cost the same as a box of Topps Chrome.  At the quarter mark of completed Chrome sales on Ebay, collectors reach the $5 mark.  On Triple Threads, the completed sales for the bottom quarter sales on Ebay top out at $10.  At the $5 mark on Chrome collectors can find names like Ethan Martin, Enny Romero, and Tommy Medica.  Sure there is a Taijuan Walker and Yordano Ventura autograph slipped in there, but most of the low end autographs in that product are low end for a reason.  The quarter mark on the Triple Threads sales include names like: Christian Yelich, Matt Adams, Mike Napoli, Sonny Grey, and Adrian Gonzalez.  

So really, for the price of Chrome, collectors should call up a friend and go halveses on a box of Triple Threads.  Better names, better value for the price hence the term "bottom loaded"  So about those Chrome autographs...I still like the looks of the products, but why should I spend $75 opening a product for two $5 autographs when I can let someone else do the work for me?  I bought two lots of Topps Chrome autographs in the past two weeks each lot of cards cost me roughly $10.  Here is the first:

Get on your bikes and ride....

All-Star Triple Threads

Topps has spent much of this year cycling through the same few Cardinals and Rays players in their sets.  I love Lance Lynn, Kolten Wong, Jake Odorizzi, and others, but really let's get some new faces in here.  I have already harped on this several times this year, so let's move on.  I have checked out some of the Triple Threads cards floating around, but have been a little bit slow to pick up any of them.  I was thinking along the lines of something cool and unique.  I found one.

The blue is not right to be a Rays jersey and they never wear orange.  I was interested, but I have seen Romero relic pieces like this before in the Bowman Future Games relic set.  Topps usually puts these cards in the Bowman Draft set and fills them with some nice jersey and patch pieces from the Futures Game.  The pieces are usually small, so I am sure there are some extra pieces hanging out somewhere.  Here's a look at Romero in his Future's Game jersey.

Leftover jersey pieces is something that Topps has been doing this year in their sets this year.  Still a really cool card and a nice add to my collection of Rays and Durham Bulls cards.

Super Cheap

I attended a Durham Bulls game about two weeks ago with Jimmy, the owner of Big D's Card Shop.  We had the chance to see the Bulls take on the Pawtucket Paw Sox in what was billed to be a prime time pitching match up between Enny Romero and Anthony Ranaudo.  While Ranaudo is no longer ranked as a Top 100 prospect I have seen him pitch several times and have been quite impressed by the tall right hander.  It was a nice night too.  Here's that Bull fellow.....

Unfortunately the game turned out to be not so great for the Bulls.  Anthony Ranaudo pitched great for Pawtucket pitching 7 innings of 2 hit ball with 7 strikeouts.  Enny Romero?  Not so great.  Three innings, 8 hits, and 6 runs.  Merrill Kelly pitched great in relief, but I hate watching the Bulls lose in a stadium full of Red Sox fans.  It's painful.  

Really, Romero has had an up and down season this year.  During the month of May Enny Romero made five starts.  Three of the starts lasted less than 5 innings including an outing that lasted less than 2 innings where he gave up a grand total of six hits, three walks, and 8 runs.  The start against Pawtucket was bad, but it seems that it may have been a turning point in the season for the talented left handed starter.  

Since the start against Pawtucket Romero has posted two quality starts in a row both lasting six innings with Romero giving up a single run in each game.  It's a start.  I'm going to a few Bulls games in the next week and hope to see a good pitching performance by Romero.  

Meanwhile, it seems like collectors are still banking on the bad version of Romero, but I am counting on the talented pitcher to get a shot with the last place Rays sooner than later.  His autographed cards seem to still be floating near free.  Maybe more in the 99 cent range.  Too cheap.  

Romero has two new autographs out this year and I had neither one until last week when I picked up a copy of his Bowman autograph.  You cannot beat an autograph for less than a dollar (plus shipping) and it's really hard to find one of a guy who's in Triple A, left handed, and throws in the mid 90s.  Pretty good risk picking up a copy of some Romero cardboard.  I just a need a copy of his Prizm autograph and I am all caught up.  

Collecting the Durham Bulls: Enny Romero

One of the more promising prospects on the Durham Bulls is hard throwing right hander Enny Romero.  This is the first full season that Romero has spent in Durham, but as of this afternoon it may not really be a full season.  The Rays called up Romero to make a spot spot this week against the Mariners.  Not entirely clear why Romero is making the start, but the Rays obviously like the upside on the left-hander.  This is actually the second time that Romero has made a spot start for the Rays who also used Romero for a game in September last year against the Orioles. 

Romero went 4 2/3 in his debut giving up 1 hit, and walking 4.  Romero is a very harder thrower with a moving fastball sitting in the mid 90s topping out around 97 to 98.  I have seen Romero several times during the past year with the Bulls and am always really impressed with how lively his arm is and how much movement his pitches have on them.  Just 23 it is pretty clear that the Rays have big plans for Romero in the future.  In my opinion he is probably the best arm I have seen in Durham since David Price pitched for the team in 2008 and 2009.  In fact, if the Rays make the playoffs this year it should surprise no one if the team uses Romero much like they used Price during the team's run to the 2008 World Series.  

Card wise the selection of Enny Romero cards is pretty deep and is also pretty affordable.  It seems that many collectors are sleeping a little bit in terms of value on his cards.  Basically, Romero is a raw Top 100 prospect, but has card prices like he's a fringe prospect.  I have seen every pitcher in the Rays rotation come through Durham and can promise you that the prices on Enny Romero cards are too low.  Let's start with his rookie card.  

 

Romero's first appearance on a certified piece of cardboard came in the 2011 Bowman set.  As we all know the Bowman sets are always driven by rookie cards.  Bundle a few nice rookie cards together and the set tends to take off.  There are plenty of big names in the set: Bryce Harper, Francisco Lindor, Dylan Bundy, etc.  Romero will be one that you will want in your collection sooner than later.  Right now his rookie cards from the 2011 Bowman set are an afterthought and are often $2-$3 shipped.  Low prints and serial numbered cards too.  Bargain bottom prices for a top prospect, but there's more.  Romero also has a few autographs and relics floating around too.  

 

Enny Romero has a relic card in last year's Topps Heritage Minor League set and also has one from a Future's Game appearance in the 2012 Bowman Draft set.  Neither card is particularly splashy, but they can both be found for less than $5 and are extremely easy to find.   The Futures Game relic can be found in patch form, but the patch pieces tend to be small and I have not seen one in a long time.  Dry market for those cards.  

 

Romero also has two certified autographs from Bowman.  The one above is his 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects Rookie Autograph.  Not the best signature, but I still love the card.  Romero also suddenly reappeared as a signer for Bowman this year and has an autograph in the 2014 issue.  Both cards are easy finds for less than $5.  Romero also has photos on his Twitter account from a signing he did for Panini America at the end of March.  

 

 I guess we are going to get to see another Romero autograph in this year's Prizm release which comes out next week.  I am probably not going to open any wax from that product, but I will have to keep my eye out for some of Enny's cool looking cardboard from the set.  That shirt is cool too. 

2014 Topps Heritage Base Set

Last post for a few days on the 2014 Topps Heritage set.  I love the base set for this year's set which is based on the 1965 Topps design.  Pretty spectacular looking cards and I really am looking forward to seeing this set put all together.  Here's my quick spin through this cool looking set:

 

Again, the base set borrows the design from the 1965 Topps set.  One of my personal vintage favorites.  There are some great looking cards in this set, but the Eric Sogard is really cool.  The glasses of Eric Sogard are highly underrated and are cool to see on a baseball card.  The set also features some players showing off some cool hair. 

My personal favorites are the Bryce Harper comb over and the Colby Rasmus mullet.  Harper always seem to have cool hair.  We've gone from mohawk early on in his career to this...Well played.  Colby I am not so sure about.  The hair looks like something from Kenny Powers.  Perhaps Colby has a future as a gym teacher in North Carolina.  

There are also cool prospects cards in the set.  Both Enny Romero and Tim Beckham had rookie cards long ago, but it's nice to see a pair of Durham Bulls players on the same card.  I believe all of the teams have a pair of prospects in the set.  The Cardinals have a prospects card with Kolten Wong and Audry Perez.  They also have a split prospect card featuring Kevin Siegrist and Giants prospect Heath Hembree. 

 

The League Leaders cards are cool too and a great copy from the originals in the 1965 set.  The backs are cool too and again a great copy.  Sorry I did not put a scan up on the back of the card.  

The World Series cards are also a great throwback to the 1965 Topps set.  Well, the Cardinals won the 1964 World Series so the final outcome of the cards in the 65 set was better.  There are still good cards in the Heritage set for Cardinals fans.  I like this Wacha card from Game 2 of the Series.  

There are also some great update cards in Heritage.  Plenty of players in new uniforms and Topps actually did a pretty good job on these cards.  Yes they are airbrushed, but they are well done.  It was nice to see a Jhonny Peralta and Peter Bourjos in a Cardinals uni. 

Sweet Rays!

The season came to a close for Rays a few days ago when they lost in Game 4 of the ALDS against the Boston Red Sox.  Much of the focus after the loss focused on long-time Rays ace, and former Durham Bull, David Price.  It's clear to many that the Rays will likely trade Price this off-season and will go into rebuilding mode next year without their ace.  However, I strongly disagree with this take on the Rays.

Yes, the Rays will likely trade their ace, but if the James Shields and Matt Garz trades taught us anything, its that the Rays will make a good trade for the Rays and will use Price to restock their minor league.  Not that it really needs to be restocked.  So, if James Shields was worth Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery, and Patrick Leonard I think it's safe to say that the Rays will make out just fine in trading Price.  I will still collect my David Price cards, but will have a few more good young players to track down.

Until then, I am still working on finding some cards of Rays current minor leaguers and ran into a pair of really cheap relics this past week.  Both cards come from the recently released Topps Heritage Minor League set.  The first is most likely the initial replacement in the Rays rotation for David Price.

2013 Topps Heritage Minor League Enny Romero Clubhouse Collection Relic 

Romero pitched at three levels in the Rays organization this year making appearances for the Montgomery Biscuits (Double-A), the Durham Bulls (Triple-A), and finally for the Rays at the Major League level.  Romero is a hard thrower with a very bright future.  I've featured a few of his cards on my blog during the past month.  Really inexpensive cards and well worth the risk.

2013 Topps Heritage Minor League Black Hak Ju Lee Clubhouse Collection Relic /50

I was really happy to pick up this card.  Numbered to just 50 copies, this is the only Durham Bulls relic or autograph in the Topps Heritage Minor League set this year.  It probably means they could have put Mike Fontent on the card and I would have bought it, but luckily they went with my favorite Korean shortstop prospect.  I actually really like the black background with the purple stripe.  Pretty catchy.

Impressive Ray

I made a post last week about a pair of new Rays I was thinking about collecting with a strong leaning towards pitcher Enny Romero.  A few marathon games against the Orioles this weekend actually landed the young phenom a starting gig in this afternoon's series finale in Tampa.  I was excited to watch the game, but the awesomeness of the Major League blackout rules prevented me from actually viewing.

The ESPN Gamecast helped me keep track of Romero's four and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball which helped keep the Rays in the hunt for the American League Wild Card race.  The game also made it nearly impossible for the Orioles to make a return appearance to the post season.  Given the impressive performance this afternoon by Romero I am going to go ahead and post my latest pick up from the Rays rookie left-hander.

2011 Bowman Chrome Enny Romero Autograph 

As I said in my previous Enny Romero post, he has very few "hit" cards out on the market.  Before this week he basically had two relics cards and an autograph card.  Topps did release their Minor League version of Heritage this week which does feature another Romero relic card as a Montgomery Biscuit.  Obviously I really the autograph card the best, but it also does not hurt the card to be from the 2011 Bowman set which is a really strong autograph list.  

Romero seems to have a really inconsistent signature, but I think a lot of it has to do with the pen he used to sign the cards.  Hand sign items on Ebay seems pretty strong and consistent, but his Bowman autographs are a little bit streaky looking and the loop seems to fade on cards.  I am happy to own this card, but might have to look around for another copy with a better signature.  

New Rays? Maybe.

I am in the market for a new player to collect.  A new Rays player, or Cardinals player...something different.  Tonight I am going to share a pair of Rays players on my radar to add to my collection.  In fact, I recently went out and picked up a card of each player to start the juices, marinate, and determine my interest in each player.  Let's take a look:


Candidate One: Kyeong Kang

2010 Topps Debut Kyeong Kang Futures Game Jersey

Kyeong Kang is a Korean National, but was drafted out of a High School in Georgia by the Rays in 2006.  Last year Kang hit 15 homers in just over 100 games, showing very good pop, but this was also his third season playing for the Rays Double A team in Montgomery.  Kang has some pretty high strikeout totals, but has also shown the ability to take a walk with an On Base Percentage above .350.  I am curious to see if Kang will be bumped up to Durham next year, or if he will linger another year in AA.  He is also eligible to become a minor league free agent, so it will also be interesting to see if he stays with the only organization he has ever known.  Still intriguing.  The Rays always have some older guys in Durham who play a lot and play well.  See Dan Johnson, Steve Cox, Kevin Witt.



Candidate Two: Enny Romero

2013 Topps Pro Debut Enny Romero Jersey

Romero is a little bit more of a traditional prospect.  He's sure to pitch a significant number of games next season in Durham after starting 27 games this season in Montgomery with an ERA under 3.  During the final week of the season Romero started a game for the Bulls and went eight innings while pitching a shutout.  The Rays have done well with developing quality starting pitchers and I have no doubt that Romero is a player the team views as a future contributor in the Major League rotation.  So, really this seems like a no-brainer.  What's there to think about?  Well, in order to collect a player they need cards.  Romero has two relics cards and one autographed card.  Not a really big catalog.  Maybe Topps will make more.  Maybe they will make more Alex Cobb autographs.  Maybe.