Uber Taveras

The market place on Oscar Taveras cards really cooled last year when the Cardinals uber prospect wasted his first full season in Triple A with an ankle injury.  Add in a buffoon sports writer in St. Louis questioning his maturity and the team's commitment.  Taveras had a little fine tuning done on his bum ankle, worked hard this off-season, and is back to crushing minor league pitching for the Cardinals Memphis affiliate.  The sports writer is still trolling is own fan base.

The reaction to all of this from the sports card hobby was a slide in the price of Taveras cards.  Sure Oscar is hitting .320 something with power in Triple A, but last season still lingers in the minds of collectors who sunk hundreds of dollars or more into Taveras autographs and short prints.  The reluctance to spend on Taveras autographs has pushed the price of some of his autographs down below the $20 mark.  

I suspect that the Cardinals are planning on leaving Oscar Taveras in Triple A until the second half of the season.  The team already has a crowded outfield in St. Louis with Matt Holliday, Peter Bourjos, Allen Craig, and Mike Matheny's man crush on mediocrity, Jon Jay.  Throw in that Taveras is sharing the outfield with two other top offensive prospects, Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk, and something is going to have to happen to make room for all of these players on the Cardinals bench.  

I suspect that as long as Taveras is in Triple A his cards will not regain the value the cards possessed during the summer of 2012.  If you are a regular reader you know that I am always cautious with spending money or trading resources away for high priced, high end rookie cards, but Taveras should be very high on your buy list at the moment.  

I figure at worst Taveras is probably going to be an above average Major League player for the next decade or so.  Add in the fact that he plays in a baseball crazy town with a good market for baseball cards and you've got to be pinching yourself over the prices Taveras cards have been selling for this year.  It's amazing what a high ankle sprain and garbage journalism will do to help out your cause.  

So here is my latest Taveras autograph I added to my collection:

I am still pinching myself a little bit over the cost of this card which I traded for over Facebook.  I ended up parting ways with a pair of Mets autographs, a Jeremy Hefner Gypsy Queen autograph and an Upper Deck Etchings autograph of former shortstop Jose Reyes, for this great looking Taveras autograph. While I already have a copy of this card, it's hard to pass up on this card at that price. Plus Upper Deck Etchings is one of my least favorite sets of all time.