Large Pirate Collection Update with a SICK CUTCH PATCH!

It's been a while since I have done a major update and looking at the stack of my cards needing to be scanned, I'd say it's way overdue. 

The Pirates got swept by the Orioles this week.  The team is now just 2 games above .500 as they continue to face off against interleague opponents for most of June.  The only team in baseball close to the Pirates consecutive losing season streak entering this year was the Orioles.  I really wanted to sweep those damn birds.

2008 UD Premier Combos (dual patch) 22/25 Jason Bay & Nick Markakis

Jason Bay hit a HR for the Mets today.  It's nice to see him starting to find his swing again.  I don't remember how much I bought the dual patch card above for during the offseason, but I think it was under the price of a blaster and was part of a lot of other Markakis/Bay base cards.  Basically it was the hit of a pack of duplicate Bay/Markakis filled packs.  I'm good with that.
 
The Pirates have continued to sign many of their top 10 draft picks.  Some of the most interesting include supplemental round pick Barrett Barnes, second rounder prep catcher Wyatt Mathieson, and third rounder prep pitcher Jon Sandfort.  In addition to those three included are college seniors Jake Stallings, Pat Ludwig, and Eric Wood.  The Pirates have saved roughly half a million dollars on underslot signings in this draft class so far.  This means the Pirates can offer above slot money to Mark Appel or 11th round and later draft picks.  Personally, I don't think that Appel should be offered too much more than 3.1 million.  If the Pirates go above their draft pool they risk losing a pick next year.  Appel as good as he is isn't a once in a generation pitcher worth losing that type of risk over.

Mark Appel 2011 Bowman Sterling USA Dual Jersey Xfractor 170/199 purchased for $7

Let's hope the Bucs sign Appel for slot prior to the signing deadline.




The most depressing news for the Bucs today is that Charlie Morton who had a breakout season last year through the first half underwent Tommy John surgery.

2008 Bowman Sterling Gold Refractor 17/50 purchased for $0.99

 Morton was placed on the DL earlier in the month and stated that he felt fine on numerous occasions during his workouts to rehab.  This is a huge blow to the Pirates starting rotation.  With Jeff Karstens already on the DL, and Brad Lincoln struggling in his spot starts the Pirates will most likely have to call up a starter from AAA.

2012 Bowman Chrome AUTO and Redemption AUTO purchased with printing plate below for $24.73

Jeff Locke 2012 Bowman Magenta Printing Plate 1/1 purchaed with lot above

Last year, when the Pirates faced starting rotation depth issues, they called upon Jeff Locke (who like Morton was traded from the Braves for Nate McLouth).  I would love for the Pirates to call up Jeff Locke again this year.  He is a top 10 prospect in the Pirates organization and projects as a back end of the rotation starter.  The Pirates could use some stability in the back end of the rotation right now.

From depressing news to great news.
Many analysts are saying that at this point in the season, Andrew McCutchen is putting up MVP level numbers.

Topps Museum AUTO/Logo Patch 8/10

I've talked about getting the Pirates logoman on cardboard before and picked up this super sick auto/jersey Topps Museum card for an amount I would rather not talk about.  Let's just say it went into triple digits. 

The Pirates lost the series to the Orioles and will go to face off against the Cleveland Indians in Cleveland for the weekend.  The cards available for this contest are some of my better offerings.

How about a 1961 Golden Press Tris Speaker, and 3 jersey relics?  CC Sabithia, Ellis Burks, and Jim Thome ought to be nice for this series.  3 game series, 4 cards.

LET'S GO BUCS!!!

BEAT THE TRIBE!!!

ZOLTAN!!!

Go Away Nate McLouth

I'll admit I was wrong.  I got excited to see the Pirates sign Nate McLouth to a minor league free agent deal.  I thought that this would give the Pirates an extra left handed bat off the bench and provide more depth in the outfield.  Nate could also be used as a defensive replacement late in games or as a pinch runner.  On top of that he's incredibly fan friendly and WAS a fan favorite. 

Nate McLouth in 2012 isn't even close to being what he was in 2008. 

Nate currently has a worse batting average in the month of May than 2 of the Pirates pitchers.  Yup 2!!!!! 
For the year he has 18 strikeouts in only 57 at bats (32% of the time).  He's been bad defensively too despite having a 1.000 fielding percentage he has taken lots of bad routes which have lead to base hits. 
To put into perspective how bad he has been, he is 13th on the team in OPS (on base plug slugging).  Very closely behind him are three Pirates pitchers. 

Quite honestly, whether he's ready or not, I'm ready for Starling Marte to make his MLB debut.  I'm sure it will happen in June so the Pirates get an extra year out of him before he goes to arbitration by being a Super Two.  When I did my interview with Phungo I stated that Marte wouldn't be called upon based on how he's doing, but more than likely how poorly Presley or McLouth might be.  Presley has already been sent down to AAA.  I suspect McLouth won't be with the team come July.

Earlier in the year, I did pick up a few Nate McLouth cards that I didn't have in my collection previously.  They were bought very cheap which in hindsight I'm still happy about.

picked up for $2.99 shipped (.99 with $2 shipping)
Not a bad card featuring a steroid user MVP

picked this up for $0.75 shipped
miraculously it was shipped in only a penny sleeve between 2 pieces of cardboard and arrived safely

This was the most expensive of the bunch costing me $4.25

Overall I am happy with picking these up for under $10, but wow is Nate McLouth terrible now.

Gone are these type of memories seen in the highlight film below

One thing is for sure though, the dude picks awesome entrance music to walk up to the plate to.