Thank You David Price

As a fan of baseball (or any sport) it can be hard to understand that sports are not just for our entertainment, but it is a business for the people who are directly involved with the game. We can get attached to players and not want to see them leave the team if is from free agency or via trade. For Detroit Tigers fans seeing star players such as David Price being traded away from Detroit can be especially hard with knowing that the team is (as Dave Dombrowksi stated) rebooting. In other words we are going from winning four straight Central Divisions title to missing the playoffs to build for the future.

David Price was only with us for half of last season and half of this season. I loved Price before he came to Detroit and I will continue to follow what he does afterwards. In his short period in Detroit he went 13-8 with a 2.90 ERA and 220 strikeouts. He posted a 136 ERA+ in the 32 starts he made for Detroit. With the Tigers trading Price to the Toronto Blue Jays they were able to get three prospects in returning, including a top 25 prospect, Daniel Norris. From the sounds of the trade, it was a win win for both sides. Thank you David Price for the great year that you spent in Detroit and good luck with your future.

Collecting Detroit Tigers: Victor Martinez

Out of everyone on the Detroit Tigers since 2011, Victor Martinez has been my favorite player. I really love how he is a fighter at the plate and rarely strikes out. He has came up clutch for the Tigers and has added much needed protection to Miguel Cabrera. One of my favorite cards of V-Mart's to collect is from the Topps Museum Collection. This card here is the quad relic from the 2015 series. I believe I added 3 or 4 of them from last year as well. Sometimes it is just white uniform pieces, but other times it has a pinstripe or part of the Old English D or the Detroit logo from an away jersey. All in all I tend to try to added a card or two now from this series.

I am glad to see V-Mart back in the lineup and producing. After coming back from the DL he has really swung the bat well for the Tigers. They need his bat while Miggy is on the DL. For the past month he has put up .285/.338/.455 with 4 home runs and 13 RBIs.

Joining the Legends

This past Sunday was the baseball Hall of Fame induction in Cooperstown, NY. Craig Biggio, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Randy Johnson were inducted into the Hall of Fame. In honor of my favorite childhood pitcher, Randy Johnson I thought I would shared my favorite my Johnson card that I own.

Being left handed I have always tended to like left handed pitchers. Well the Big Unit was the best one of my generation. I grew up a Detroit Tigers fan, but being 25 years old now I was in the generation that watch Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners. I was never really a Mariners fan, but I loved Griffey and Johnson.

In his 22 year career Johnson would win 303 games with an ERA of 3.29 and 4,875 strikeouts which is good for second all time behind Nolan Ryan. He would win 5 Cy Young awards including four straight from 1999-2002. An amazing stat from his career is that his lowest finish in strikeouts was 8th which was during his final season in 2006 and his rookie season in 1990 when finished 6th. Every other season he would finished no worse then 3rd.

Collecting Detroit Tigers: Kevin Ziomek

Kevin Ziomek was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2013 First Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt. In his first full season in professional baseball he would post a 10-6 record with a 2.27 ERA while striking out 152 batters and only walking 53. Going into this season according to mlb.com he is ranked 4th in the Tigers farm system.

Ziomek is a deceptive left hander with three solid pitches. His ceiling is as high as a 4th starter and could reach the majors by 2017. This season his ERA is up (4.17) but his strikeout to walk ratio is also up (91 strikeouts 24 walks) which shows good signs for the future.

All around good guy

On Saturday Minnesota Twins outfielder, Torii Hunter celebrated his 40th birthday. I was going to use one his cards for #mycardmonday, but being busy yesterday I didn't get around to it and I have some time today and thought I would share it.

Hunter seems like an all around good guy. He played two seasons in Detroit before heading back to the Twins where he started his career. He always seemed to have a smile on his face and is a good team leader in the clubhouse. It was fun watching him play in the Old English D. I don't know if any baseball fan can really hate him.

I really like this card that I picked up also. I first I thought cool it has a pinstripe on the jersey piece. Then thinking about it the Tigers don't have any uniforms with pinstripes that close to each other as you can see in the uniform in the picture on the card. Maybe it was part of an old Twins uniform? I did some research on what it could be from.

Detroit Tigers Negro League uniform is the only jersey that has pinstripes that I found. Makes the card even more cool to me.

The future or trade bait

At the half way point of the season the Detroit Tigers find themselves playing .500 ball. It has really been a roller coaster of a year. From every aspect of the game they have had both good and bad pitching, defense, and hitting. The Tigers have been all in the win it all the past few years and they are still claiming they are this year. With veteran players like David Price, Yoenis Cespedes, Joakim Soria, and Alex Avila due to be free agents after this season it is hard to say if they will be sellers or buyers at the trade deadline.

Steven Moya could possibly be used as trade bait or be our future corner outfielder next year. Cespedes to set to hit the free agent market this off season and with no clear signs of a contract extension he could easily walk, which means Moya could claim a corner outfield spot next year. If the Tigers are buyers again this year Moya could as be used as trade bait. He is our number 1 prospect and 81st overall according to mlb.com. Last season he broke out in Double A Erie while hiting .276/.306/.555 with 35 home runs 105 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. He can clearly hit for power, but does struggle with his strikeout to walk ratio. He only walked 23 times compared to striking out 161 times.

This year his numbers are down, but he has also battled injuries throughout the season. This is another problem he has faced throughout his career. It will be interesting to see what the Tigers do with Steven Moya. Either way he is can an exciting player to watch when healthy.

#MyCardMonday

I figured with today being #MyCardMonday I will pick someone who I personally believes should be the starting third basemen for the National League. I am not trying to take anything away from Todd Frazier, he is having an outstanding season as well. Looking at Arenado stats he is hitting .293/.329/.598 with 24 home runs, league leading 70 RBIs and an OPS + of 135. Throw in the amazing defense at third he has my vote. I am fortunate to watch Jose Iglesias make awesome plays at short for the Tigers and the Rockies get to watch awesome plays at third from Arenado. Either way the National League couldn't go wrong with picking Arenado or Frazier, both are had great first half seasons for their clubs.

Here are some highlights from the season for Arenado.

2015 Topps Archive

Now onto my other box that I bought and ripped into last week. I had some pretty cool pulls in this box also. Each box contains two autographs and in the past I haven't had much luck with the autographs but I think I did okay with this box.

First up is the game insert cards. Doing a little research it sounds like this comes from a 1968 set design. Might have to look up the rules on exactly how to play and try to collect all of the cards. A couple cool names I pulled.

Another insert that Archives did this year was Presidential Chronical Set. I am really not into politics, but I always enjoyed learning about President John F. Kennedy so I was happy to pull this card.

One of the cool things the Archive set does is that they throw in an original or old card into the box. This card from reading the back is from the 1979 Topps set. 

My favorite insert of the box was the 1990 Topps All Star Rookies. I like it for the simple fact that it reminds me of my childhood. I was born in 1989 and had a few cards growing up as a kid, but I remember have a bunch with this design. 

My first autograph featured 15 year veteran, Jose Cruz Jr. Not being to familiar with him I had to look at the back of his card and I saw that he was a career .247 hitter with 204 home runs. His best season came in 2001 when he had 38 doubles, 4 triples , 34 home runs, and 88 RBIs to go with his .274 batting average and 32 stolen bases for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The highlight card of the box was of Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry autograph. Just looking at the back of his card the first thing it say "Gaylord was the 1st to win a Cy Young Award in each league." Pretty cool feat and pretty cool card!

2015 Topps Series 2 Break Part 1

Last week I received my box for the 2015 Topps Series 2 and Archives. Today I thought I would start with the autograph and relic hits from the Topps Series 2. I have to say I was pretty pleased with my pulls from this box.

First up a Robinson Cano commemorative bat knob out of /99. I am not a huge Cano, but I really like this idea for a commemorative piece. I know it would be even cooler if it was a game used bat, but I still like the idea behind it. Probably going to try to add a player or two that I like to collect that is on this list for the bat knob.

I have had pretty good luck this year with pulling Detroit Tigers in the boxes that I have bought. A Nick Castellanos jersey relic honoring his 66 RBIs from his rookie year is pretty cool card to add to my growing collection of Castellanos cards.

What is better then pulling on a Detroit Tigers relic card, but pulling aDetroit Tigers autograph card also! Plus it is my new favorite player, rookie catcher James McCann. He has been playing well offensively and defensively this year. I love his snap throw back to first to try to catch the runner napping. Love adding McCann cards to my collection.

Tigers vs. Pirates Thursday July 2

I'm a little late with doing this post, but better late then never. Last Thursday I took in a Tigers game against the Pirates. I took my dad for his birthday and my sister who flew up from North Carolina. The game didn't go as plan with the Tigers losing 8-4. Kyle Ryan got the start for the Tigers, but ran into trouble with walking 5 batters. JD Martinez made it a game in the 8th with a 3 run home run, but the bullpen would let us down again. I might not be a good photographer but here are some of the photos I took at the game.

My dad and sister by the Mickey Mouse Detroit Tiger. Funny story with my sister she really isn't much into baseball especially when we were at Meijers the night before and she had a shirt in her hand that she liked but didn't want to buy a shirt with a player's name on the back that wasn't good. Yes, she had a Cabrera shirt in her hand.

An ugly swing, for $4 for 10 swings in the batting cage why not try my luck. Did make some contact even let the first pitch go when it was low and outside.

Bruce Rondon waving at the me (or the crowd in general) while walking back to the bullpen.

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Kyle Ryan and third basemen Nick Castellanos.

Miguel Cabrera at the plate. He went 1-2 with 3 walks on the day

My seat was close to the guy we should be voting in on the final vote, Yoenis Cespedes!

Not really one for selfies, but here is the photo of my dad, my sister, and me at the game.

#MyCardMonday

Detroit Tigers has one of the worst farm system in all of baseball and it has been like that for many seasons. It is really hard to get really excited for a prospect in the Tigers farm system. A couple of years ago we saw a young outfielder named Avisail Garcia making a name for himself. It was the same time that Nick Castellanos was their top prospect. Between the two I was more excited for Garcia. It might be from his nickname "Little Miggy" due to the fact he looks like Miguel Cabrera.

Garcia would be traded during the 2013 season to the White Sox in a three team trade that involve Jose Iglesias coming to Detroit. We got a future gold glove winner and the White Sox got a solid corner outfielder. Really happy to see Garcia doing well even though it is for the team I despise the most. So far this year he is hitting .278/.327/.392 with 7 home runs and 30 RBIs. Defensively he has 9 outfield assists with only 1 error. The highlight play from the season for Garcia came this weekend against the Orioles.

Trade with The Snorting Bull

A couple weeks ago The Snorting Bull and I worked out a trade. Last week he posted the cards I had dealt to him. I received my cards this afternoon once my card mule (a.k.a. my mom) returned from her vacation visiting him my sisters and my nephew.

Both of my pick up come from the Topps Pro Debut series. First up is Detroit Tigers 2014 First Round Draft pick Derek Hill. The card features a commemorative pennant patch of the Detroit Tigers Single A team. Hill only being 19 years old still has a way to go to prove if he will live up to a first round draft pick. Excellent speed on the base path and a great defender in centerfield. The question will be the bat.

The second pick up for me is of the Washington Nationals top prospect Lucas Giolito. Same type of card as Hill's with the commemorative pennant patch. Giolito was the 16th overall pick in the 2012 draft for the Nationals. He is known for his command and his control on the mound. His fastball averages between 93-96 mph and has even touched triple digits. He could reach the majors as soon as next year. Definitely someone I will follow closely the rest of the year.