Jake From The Will Myers Trade

I am still trying to catch up on all of the different trades that the Rays made this offseason.  There should be some sort of player directory created for fans watching the games early in the season.  Maybe some printable info graphics on the team website that contain really awesome facts about the players.  The same thing will likely take place at several of the Rays Minor League stadiums this spring, but minor league fans cope with change a little bit better than some of our Major League counterparts.

A few of the really highly regarded prospects that the Rays picked up from the A's, in the Zobrist trade, and the Padres, in the Myers trade, seem like they are actually a year or two away from playing for my Durham Bulls squad.  However, it is never too early to start picking up some of their cards.

One player I am looking forward to seeing in the not to distant future is first baseman Jake Bauers from the Will Myers trade.  Here's a look at his numbers after roughly 150 minor league games...

While the power is not there yet for a corner infielder I like the average and on-base percentage.  At just 19 years old in A ball there is still time for Bauers to get bigger and stronger and improve as a hitter.  In the meantime, I am going to go ahead and start looking for a few of his cards.  I found one really cool autograph this past week that was dirt cheap.  

This is a Leaf product, but they did a good job of hiding the fact that it is a non-licensed product.  Really, it's a pretty cool card.  Die-cut, autograph, sweet design.  I was happy to find out that one of the newest Rays had an autograph, but was really happy with the looks of the card too.  The High Ceiling autographs set is actually a pretty cool little collection of signatures if you are into minor leaguers.  Some of the signers include Tyler Kolek, Alex Jackson, and Joey Gallo.  

Foodie Post: The Blistered Pig

My wife and I headed out for a delayed Valentine's Day dinner Sunday night and decided to check out a new barbecue place that recently opened in downtown Apex, North Carolina which is about 20-25 minutes south of both Raleigh and Durham.  The restaurant is about a five minute drive from our house and is located inside a cool old building near some of our favorite local hangouts.  Our favorite North Carolina barbecue place has been going downhill for the past two years, so we were eager to give this place a try.  

 

For my readers outside of North Carolina, like all southern states, barbecue is a pretty big deal here and definitely a unique experience.  When I first moved to North Carolina a decade ago I was not quite sure what to make of it at first.  There are two types of North Carolina barbecue: Eastern and Western.  The Western Carolina barbecue is tomato based and not too far from what I was accustomed to growing up in Missouri in terms of sauce.  Eastern is vinegar based.  All of it is made of of pork which is slowed cooked using some sort of wood.  The wood and spices within the tomato base or vinegar base vary from restaurant to restaurant.  

Let's start off with a couple of little things with the Blistered Pig.  The service was really good the night we went in.  Yes, it was a Sunday night, but the place was still pretty busy.  I really liked the hush puppies, a staple of North Carolina barbecue, that were brought out before dinner.  I know the famous restaurant rule of not filling up on bread, but these were awesome.  The mixture of cornbread that was used was light, they can be really doughy some places, and had actual pieces of corn in the mixture.  The butter sauce was homemade and had a little hint of jalapeño peppers which give it a little bit of heat.  Nothing obnoxious.  Great way to start dinner.  

After a decade I have become a bit of a traditionalist in terms of my North Carolina barbecue.  What makes the barbecue good here?  Pulled pork, vinegar sauce, great sides.  The Blistered Pig offers customers a variety of different meats, but I had to go with the pork on my first trip into the restaurant.  For my sides I went with baked beans and red mashed potatoes.  The platter also came with two of those really good hush puppies.  They also have grits, brussel sprouts, collards, and two different types of slaw.

Overall the barbecue was excellent.  Really well cooked and well seasoned.  The restaurant offers two different sauces for your meat.  At most North Carolina barbecue places you have Eastern Barbecue Sauce (vinegar based) and Western (tomato), but the Blistered Pig offered a combination sauce (tomato and vinegar) and another sauce with jalapeño flavoring.  I went with the combination sauce.  Really good.  

My sides were excellent too.  The beaked beans had a kind of stew like texture to them with big chunks of onion and meat mixed in with the beans.  The potatoes were really good too, but I should have tried the slaw.  Nothing against the potatoes, they were good.  I love cole slaw, not sure why I did not try one of them.  On the return trip it is going to be a must for me.  

My wife got the same barbecue, but opted for the brussel sprouts and the grits.  The sprouts were served with bacon and onions and were delicious if you are a brussel sprouts person. Let's talk about the grits.  As a midwesterner I have zero use for grits.  In my opinion, grits are a really bad version of oatmeal that every southerner I know loves.  I throw all of those opinions away for these grits.  They were cheesy and delicious.  Honestly, I would actually order these and eat them.  Really, really good.  

The restaurant also offered some tasty looking desserts.  All pies.  We went with a Key Lime Pie which came in a small round and was lined with graham crackers.  Really good flavor in the crust, which was moist, and in the pie filling.  Perfect portion for sharing and a great way to end a good dinner out with the wife.  

Overall, if you are in central North Carolina this is a must visit for barbecue restaurants, or if you are visiting the area and want to experience some unique dining to North Carolina this would be an excellent stop.  

#MyCardMonday

I had a card in mind for today's #MyCardMonday, but after getting an afternoon off due to an impending ice/snow storm in Raleigh I decided to put off making my post until after I got back home.  While everyone is a little panicked here about how much snow, or ice, will show up over the next 24 hours I have resigned myself to missing a day or two of school this week.  Maybe I can catch up on blogging since I have been terrible inconsistent and sporadic this month with posting.

So, after reading the baseball news this afternoon I have decided to change my card up for today.  This week's #MyCardMonday is.......

If you had missed the news, Giambi announced his retirement from baseball today.  It was actually long overdue, but I am still happy to give a post to Giambi.  As a huge baseball fan of the 90s and early 2000s it's hard not to recognize the greatness that was Jason Giambi.  I know there is the whole steroids thing, but lots of players did that.  Giambi was a unique personality in the game and was a fun player to watch.  In his prime with the A's he was one of the best hitters in the game.  You can toss a coin between his 2000 or 2001 season being his best, there are few players in my lifetime who have posted seasons with offensive numbers equal to Giambi's

While his Yankees years were not the best, but he still put up decent production when he was healthy.  He ended up back in Oakland for a bit, then the Rockies, and finally on to Cleveland before his retirement today.  It was a great, and fun, career for the Giambino.  I will miss seeing him play and seeing his cards.  If I get a day off of school I am going to have to pop in Moneyball.   Farewell friend.  

Opening Weekend!

While a large majority of baseball fans are getting ready for the beginning of spring training this week the college baseball season kicked off this weekend.  As a resident of Raleigh-Durham that means that the big 3 ACC teams returned to action Friday afternoon.  I wish there would be a year where I could attend the opening of college baseball, but they tend to play their first games during the day and there is a little matter of work.  For me, Friday met work with a meeting where I was a presenter.  I did not make it to a baseball field.  Instead I followed along on Twitter.

The Tar Heels got started early in the day and had dozens of posts leading up to their early afternoon game against Seton Hall.  The sixth ranked Heels defeated Seton Hall 7-1 behind some great hitting from outfielders Tyler Ramirez and Snorting Bull favorite Skye Bolt.  The Heels have a good core of players returning this year and should go deep into the NCAA tournament this spring.  If you get a chance to check out a Tar Heels baseball game this year I would watch the two aforementioned outfielders along with Landon Lassiter and pitcher Trent Thorton.

My primary rooting interest, and alma mater, NC State also played a mid afternoon game on Friday.  While I was analyzing student data looking at gaps in achievement levels and text levels for students at the mid year point, the Wolfpack were battling Villanova.  The Wolfpack won the game 14-5, but put the Wildcats in an 11-0 hole after the first three innings.  The offensive star of the game for the Pack 9 was Preston Palmeiro, son of Rafael, whose three run bomb in the second made the score 10-0 and essential sealed the win.  NC State had two first round draft picks last year, Trea Turner and Carlos Rodon, and about six or seven other players on the team selected afterwards.  This should be a year where the team takes a bit of a step back, but if you watch a Wolfpack game be sure to check out Palmeiro and senior Jake Armstrong.

And last up was Duke's game on the west coast against the Cal Bears.  While Duke does not have the talent or ranking of UNC's squad they have the best player in the area in pitcher Mike Matuella (pictured above).  The triangle area has had a good run of pitchers from all three schools over the last decade from Andrew Miller, Daniel Bard, and Matt Harvey at UNC to Carlos Rodon at State, and Marcus Stroman at Duke.  Matuella appears to be the latest in that line and should be off the board in the first couple of picks in this summer's MLB amateur draft.  Of all the players I want to see this spring he is absolutely at the top of the list.  Might happen next weekend.

So, outside of getting to see each of the triangle area ACC baseball squads play here are my goals for this college baseball season:

1.  See Mike Mattuella pitch for Duke.

2.  See an NC Central game at the original Durham Athletic Park.

3.  Go to the ACC Championship game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Friday Five: Durham Bulls Pitchers

It's Saturday, not Friday, but I love making these posts and had a really busy week.  I am catching up a little bit on cards and baseball today.  So, I missed out on my Durham Bulls Friday Five yesterday, but I had a lot of fun doing the research on this one.  Rather than doing the normal five players for this post I am going to give you six cool Durham Bulls pitchers, three modern players and three older players.  Modern first......

Jeremy Hellickson

In my opinion the best Bulls pitcher in history of the franchise since they moved up to the Triple A level.  Hellickson appeared on the Bulls roster during the 2009 and 2010 seasons and returned this last season for several rehab starts.  In all Hellickson has started 35 games for the Bulls in his career with a 19-8 record, 2.93 ERA, and 209 strikeouts.  Half of the losses came during his 2014 and his ERA was 7.36.  So, subtract those numbers and you only have 30 starts with a 18-4 record and 193 K's in 175 innings pitched.  Hellickson also took home a haul of hardware while playing in Durham.  In 2009 he was named the MVP of the Triple A National Championship game.  The following season he took home the International League Pitcher of the Year Award, Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award, and the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year award.  

J.D. Martin 

J.D. Martin pitched in the Cleveland and Washington farm systems for a long time before he made the 24 starts for the Nationals in 2009 and 2010.  Then he ended up back in the minors again and on the Bulls roster in 2013.  Martin was not always the prettiest pitcher to watch, but the guy got a lot of people out en route to taking home the Bulls second International League Pitcher of the Year Award.  Overall, Martin went 16-4 for the Bulls with a 2.75 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 27 starts.  Martin finished his career playing for in the Korean Baseball League.  

Kent Mercker 

Merker won the Carolina League Pitcher of the Year Award for the Durham Bulls back in 1988.  He only pitched in 19 games for the Bulls that season before he was promoted to Double A Greenville, but his efforts were still good enough to earn the award.  In 19 starts that season the left-handed starter went 11-4 with a 2.75 ERA, and 159 strikeouts in just 127.2 innings pitched.  

and now the always fun old guys in the Durham Bulls post.  All of these players had better career numbers with the Bulls than any of the modern guys, but they also all played multiple seasons for the team.  The stat sheets are a little shaky for some of these players.....

Robert Cruze

Cruze first appeared for the Bulls in 1950 as a 20 year old prospect for the Tigers.  He completed the season at 11-8 with an ERA of 2.31.  There are no strikeout totals for the season, but it appears that he pitched 140 innings that year and allowed zero home runs.  Cruze missed the 1951, 1952, and 1953 seasons, possibly for the Korean War?, but returned to baseball and the Durham Bulls in 1954.  Cruze went 19-7 in 33 starts for the Bulls that year pitching as a 24 year old with the Tigers Class B team.  After bouncing around to some other Tigers minor league teams Cruze returned to the Bulls in 1956 where he went 16-8 with a 3.28 ERA while pitching 206 innings.  Overall, Cruze went 46-23 in three seasons for the Bulls with an ERA of 2.84.  

Eddie Neville 

Neville pitched for the Bulls in the late 1940 and early 1950s.  He was actually a teammate of Cruze's for one season in 1954, strangely the first two old time pitchers on my list seemed to play the same era fro the Bulls, but managed to miss much overlap.  Neville's career with the Bulls started in 1949 when he went 25-10 with an ERA of .259 in 274 innings.  After stops in Toledo and Williamsport, Neville returned to Durham for the 1952, 1953, and 1954 seasons.  He won 17 games, 21 games, and 12 games in those three seasons to give him an overall mark of 75-38 in a Durham Bulls uniform.  

John McPadden 

There is not a lot of information out there about the playing career of John McPadden, but he played five seasons of minor league ball as a Tigers farmhand in the late 1940s and early 1950s all of them were with the Durham Bulls.  Overall McPadden went 61-55 with an ERA of 3.69, but two of the five seasons he played for the Bulls look like they were pretty solid.  In 1948 McPadden won 18 games with a 3.48 ERA.  He was the staff ace before Cruze and Neville appeared in Durham, but spent time playing with both players.  He capped off his minor league career in 1951 with a 20-10 effort with an ERA of 2.93.  It appears on paper to be his best season.  After that year these is no trace of McPadden playing baseball again.  

Friday Five: Cardinals Starting Pitchers

5.  Chris Carpenter

There is no doubt that Carpenter could have been on top half of the list, if he had stayed healthy during his time as a Cardinal.  The Cardinals signed Darth Carp in December of 2002.  He would spend the rest of career, he retired after the 2012, with the Cardinals.  However, he missed full seasons in 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2012.  He also missed the 2004 Postseason which might have looked a little bit different with the team's best regular season starter making starts for a team which reached the World Series, but lost to the Red Sox in 4 games.  Let's talk about what Carpenter did while he was healthy.  In 2004 he won 15 games with an ERA+ of 122 pitching in his first full season since 2001.  In 2005 he won 21 games, pitched a National League best 7 complete games, struck out 213 hitters, and posted an ERA+ of 150 with a WAR of 5.8.  Carpenter won the National Cy Young Award in 2005.  In 2006 his numbers declined slightly, but the Cardinals made it to the World Series and beat the Tigers in 5 games.  Carp's lone World Series win that year was an 8 inning, 3 hit, 6 strikeout gem which gave the Cardinals a 3-1 series lead and slammed the door on any hopes the Tigers had of winning the Series.  He missed 2007 and 2008, but returned in 2009 and pitched the best baseball of his career going 17-4 with a NL leading 2.24 ERA, an ERA+ of 182, and a WAR of 6.5.  2010 and 2011 were good seasons too, but the 2011 Postseason was the real highlight of his career.  He pitched the Cardinals past the heavily favored Phillies in the Divisional Series, the Brewers in the National League Championship Series, and the Rangers twice in the World Series.  David Freese won the World Series MVP, but I would like to think Carpenter was a close second.  

4.  Adam Wainwright 

Wainwright is still active and still only 33, so it's possible if this list is revisited in the future, that he could end up as high as the second spot on this list.  The Cardinals traded for Wainwright in 2004 when he was more or less a throw in from the Braves for J.D. Drew.  He spent his first season with the Cardinals pitching out of the bullpen and ended up the team's closer in the Postseason when Jason Isringhausen was injured.  Wainwright helped the Cardinals through the 2006 Postseason and recorded the final out of the team's 10th World Series win by striking out Tigers third baseman Brandon Inge.  The next season the Cardinals moved Wainwright into the rotation and the rest is history.  In seven seasons as a starter Wainwright has consistently been worth 15 wins, almost 200 strikeouts, and 200 innings every season.  Wainwright is not the flashiest of pitchers, and is far from overpowering, but he always seems to get the job done.  He has been an All-Star three times, but has never won any other individual awards.  Wainwright's best season was probably 2010 when he went 20-11 with a 2.42 ERA, 230 innings pitched, 213 strikeouts, an ERA+ of 160, and a WAR of 6.3.  

3.  Harry Brecheen 

Brecheen was a really important pitcher for a brief time on the 1940s and 1950s Cardinals.  Really his career had a dramatic fall off in 1950, but before that he had about six or seven years of really really good baseball.  Brecheen originally came up with the Cardinals in 1940, but then spent the 1941 and 1942 seasons in the minors.   He returned to the Majors in 1943 and split the season between the rotation and the bullpen, appearing in a total of 29 games (13 starts, 11 games finished) with a 2.72 ERA and an ERA+ of 150.  He also appeared in three World Series games that season in a loss to the Yankees.  The next six years after that were his best years which netted the Cardinals two World Series rings.  Starting in 1944, running through 1949 Brecheen won 16, 15, 15, 16, 20, and 14 games.  He won the National League ERA crown in 1948, led the National League in strikeouts, ERA+, FIP, WHIP, and posted a WAR of 8.9.  After 1949 his career had a sharp decline, but Brecheen spent three more years pitching for the Cardinals and his last year with the St. Louis Browns in 1953.  

2.  Dizzy Dean 

Dean's career was similar to Brecheen's: short, high peak, quick fall.  Jay "Dizzy" Dean first became a Cardinals regular in 1932 winning 18 games and leading the National League with 286 innings pitched and 191 strikeouts.  His next four seasons (1933-1936) netted Dean more than 100 wins, 3 All-Star appearances, a World Series ring, and an MVP award.  His best season was easily 1934, he won the National League MVP and a World Series ring, but also went 30-7 with 29 complete games and struck out a National League leading 190 batters.  In the 1934 World Series Dean went 2-1 with an ERA of 1.73.  After the 1936 season, Dean would only win 29 games the rest of career, or one fewer victory than he had in 1934.  He spent time with the Cubs in 1938, 39, 40, and 41 before disappearing and then reappearing for one game with the St. Louis Browns in 1947.  

1.  Bob Gibson 

This was not really that close.  While some of the pitchers on this list have had a good run for a brief period of time, Gibson was able to put together a great career that include a stretch of more than a decade of really good pitching.  During his 17 year career Gibby only pitched for the Cardinals and helped the team win two World Series rings to go with his two Cy Young Awards, MVP Award, and 8 All-Star Game appearances.  Gibson started with the Cardinals in full time in 1960 when he split his time in between the rotation and the bullpen.  By 1961 he was in the rotation full time where he would stay until his final season as a Cardinals when he had an unsuccessful return to the bullpen.  His best season was easily 1968 when he won 22 games with a 1.12 ERA, struck out 268 batters, and had an incredible WAR of 11.2.  Gibson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981 and is rated by JAWS as the 14th best starting pitcher of all-time one spot ahead of Phil Niekro and one spot behind Warren Spahn.  

Mini Mania!

The other week I saw a Facebook post from Topps that was a little too good to pass up.  Three boxes of a newer product for $50?  That's a steal, and while I am sometimes critical of rehash products, I was happy to pick up some boxes of mini for a great price.  2014 was the third edition of the Topps Mini product, and since I have bought exactly zero packs of the previous two sets, I was excited to see the product in person.  

Well, let's start off with the no brainer stuff first.  The set is 660 cards and basically mirrors the regular Topps base set that we all know and love.  As far as I can tell the checklists and the pictures are the same as the regular full version of the Topps set.  Just smaller.  

If I didn't tell you that the Matt Holliday card pictured above was a card from Topps Mini you would really not have any way of knowing it was not from the regular set.  So, yeah the base set of Topps Mini is a rehash and there is no other nice way to put it.  That's really the only negative with this product, but there are three huge positives with this product that still make it a great buy at less than $20 per box:  

1.  Small numbers of relics and autographs 

I bought three boxes of Topps Mini and got three relics.  Autographs are actually one every four boxes, so the autograph odds were actually against me.  I love autographs and relics, but they are way over done.  Relics have been downright stale for awhile and much of the problem, in my opinion, has a lot to do with overproduction.  Has anyone ever tried to track down and buy some of the relic cards out of the late 90s Upper Deck products when the odds were long on landing a relic?  The cards have held there value very well and are highly sought after.  Not to say that reducing the numbers of relic cards is the only way to make them fresh and relevant, but it would help a lot.  Topps Mini got this right.  

2. Simplified Inserts 

Not saying that all sets have complicated inserts, or that only one insert set is a good thing, but it makes it easy to put them together when there are few of them and they are simple.  Topps Mini only has one insert set, The Future Is Now, and after three boxes I put together a large portion of the set.  How many insert sets did the regular Topps set have?  How many of the insert sets have a repetitive feel to them?  

3. Simplified Parallels

There are printing plates in Topps Mini, but I did not pull one.  I believe that they are one per case, or something like that, so I missed out.  I did pull a black parallel of Brandon Belt which is numbered out of 5......

Three pink minis which are numbered out of 25 and.........

a bunch of Golds which are numbered to just 99.  How many parallels were in the regular 2014 Topps set?  There is orange, green, light blue (Wal-Mart), red (Target), gold, camo, black, pink, acetate, platinum, and the printing plates.  That's a lot and I am not sure sometimes how modern player collectors manage to cope with all of these parallels.  Pretty overwhelming and I am glad that mini has just four parallels.