While I was working on putting together a trade for one the Cardinals cards I actually ended up with a cool Cardinals Bowman card from last year. One of those cards that was a little bit more than what I would spend on a prospect card, but I felt good with the price of the card in terms of trade. If I going to trade for a more expensive prospect card I'd rather give up other prospect cards and not older established players.....
This card cost me a small stack of prospect cards. I can live without them for the most part. One of them made me a little a sad, but it was something that I can find again.
The card that came my way belongs to last year's Cardinals first round pick Delvin Perez......
Perez was actually supposed to be taken at the top of the first round, but ended up failing a PED test which dropped him down to the Cardinals. It seems like the Cardinals always take a college pitcher in the first round, but they veered a bit last year by taking the high school infielder.
This card has always been pretty pricy during the past year, and with Perez being in the low Minors, it seemed like a risky proposing to me. Depending on the version of the autograph that you buy, this Perez card can be send anywhere from $35 cards and up. In terms of a Cardinals rookie card, Perez is not in the neighborhood of Pujols in 2001, or J.D. Drew in 1998, but he is certainly more than other recent high draft picks like Michael Wacha and Stephen Piscotty.
More importantly, I actually like the start that Perez got off to last year in his first at-bats in professional baseball. He had a total of 180 plate appearances and posted a slash line of .294/.352/.393 with eight doubles and four triples. No home runs, but I like that he got on base and he was also able to steal 12 bases. I'd love to see more power, but Delvin Perez is just 18 and is 6'3. I'm sure he will fill out a bit, the Cardinals will put him in a weight room, and he will continue to grow as a hitter.
Beyond the Delvin Perez card I also did manage to pick up a few 2017 Bowman autographs. I also landed a freebie of "The Koz" who is sort of a cult classic in many Cardinals fans collection. If you do not know "The Koz" he was the team's shortstop for a few seasons, hit about .200 in his best year. He also let a fly ball fall in between himself and Matt Holliday in a playoff game, but was bailed out by an infield fly call......
in better news he also once had a series clinching hit against the Nationals back in 2012.
I don't have many cards of "The Koz", but I always enjoy them when I run across one. I didn't have this card, so it was a really cool throw-in from my trading partner.
I will have a post up on my new Bowman autographs sometime in the near future.
Oscar Taveras Bowman autos come to mind when I think of Perez. They were in the same dollar range until he hit Double A, then they went really high. I have not purchased on yet. Waiting to see how he does in a full season club first.
ReplyDeleteI kicked myself for a few years while Taveras was in the high Minors for not pulling the trigger on his cards sooner. Beyond cards, I also had someone once try to trade me an autographed game used bat for roughly a $30 card. I turned it down at the time. Hopefully Delvin has a little happier ending....
DeleteStill painful to think what might have been.
Delete