Pirates trade with Yankees

Welcome aboard AJ Burnett!  After a week long negotiating process with the Yankees, the Pittsburgh Pirates have aquired 2 years of AJ Burnett.  I love this trade.  There were a lot of concerns regarding the durability of the Pirates rotation heading into the off season especially when they declined the nearly $10 million club option on Paul Maholm who has been the most durable Pirates pitcher over the past few seasons.  That $10 million option in turn netted us both Erik Bedard and AJ Burnett for the 2012 season though.  While Bedard has had injury plagued seasons recently, Burnett has been a horse pitching nearly 200 innings. 

The Pirates will only owe AJ $13 million of his $33 million salary over the next two seasons ($5 million in 2012, $8 million in 2012.  In exchange for the Yankees absorbing $20 million of AJ's salary they received minor leaguers Diego Moreno and Exicardo Cayones.  Moreno is a 26 year old fireballing reliever that has upside to be a quality 8th inning setup man. However, he has struggled since his breakout 2010 campaign being demoted back to A ball.  At age 26 he hasn't pitched above AA yet.  The Pirates have plenty of right handed relievers in the farm system all with greater ceilings than Moreno and younger.  Exicardo Cayones is an international big signing bonus failure.  He has upside of being a replaceable center fielder but lacks great upside.  At his age 20 season he hit .063/.189/.063 in 32 at bats in Low A ball State College.  He does have the tools to be a plus defender and speed, but only shows the ability to hit line drives with no power.

Overall the Pirates traded from an area of strenth (right handed relievers and young athletic outfielders).  I could not be happier with this trade as I think a change of scenery will greatly help AJ return to his form he had in Florida and Toronto.  In addition he can help mentor the young Pirates pitchers advancing from the minors over the course of the next two seasons.

Join me tomorrow as I show off a trade package I got from Drew's cards.  It's fitting since he's a Yankees fan and I'm a Pirates fan.

3 Vintage '73 pickups and Stargell update

I'm feeling retro today.  Maybe because I worked out at Retro Fitness.  Maybe because I was in toys r us and saw the "Classic" Thundercats figures.  Maybe because I received a package of vintage goodness.  Yup, I think that's the reason.  Today in the mail I got 3 Pirates 1973 Topps cards that help me complete my team set.  I'm still a ways off from completing it, but for .50 a piece I couldn't go wrong.  Even the very off centered Ramon Hernandez is worth .50 in my book.  Bruce Kison and Rich Hebner are always worth more than .50 too. 

I just realized that I had never completely uploaded my entire Willie Stargell relic collection prior to getting sick last year.  Well, I finally did it.  Here's what was previously not added to my photo album from my PC.  Enjoy!  I currently sit at 1 printing plate, 1 auto, and 34 relic cards (bat/jersey/seat)

If you want to see the rest of the collection click here.

2012 Collecting Goals pt1

I recently won this card on ebay for .99 with $2 shipping.  Not a bad price for an autograph manufactured letter card.  Daniel McCutchen or "No Relation" as he's known to Pirates fans is a very reliable bullpen swingman that can do it all on the mound.  He can come in and get that needed groundball double play.  He can throw mid 90s heat past a batter to get a much needed strikeout.  He can pitch multiple innings in relief and even make a spot start if needed.  Daniel McCutchen was the "losing" pitcher for that blown call Jerry Meals made in July of last year that started the Pirates collapse from first place.  In relief he threw 92 pitches before the most recognized blown call of 2011.  I really like D Cutch a lot and he helps make the Xavier Nady trade to the Yankees one of the most lopsided trades the Pirates have had in recent years. 

Anyway, I'm going to try and spell out McCutchen.  I found the c and C cheap on COMC and recently won another auction for the U on ebay.  That could put me at McCUTC in a little over a week.  I still need the H, E, N.  Because I don't want them to look odd when fully assembled it has to be the numbered out of 106.  None of the blue, green, etc. limited refractors.  Just the base only.

Also, I'm trying to assemble the black bordered /61 Pirates cards this year.  I've never attempted to put together a parallel team set like this before and be completely committed to it.  Last year I bought a few of the 2011 Heritage blank back 1/1s off Topps site, but some of them are now in permanent collections so I have no shot at obtaining that team set.  This seems a bit more realistic.  Not to mention that the black borders this year really look great on the Pirates cards.

Here's what I have so far.
-D'arnaud
-Alvarez
-McDonald
-Hughes
-McKenry

I picked up Kevin Correia off ebay for $7 (hasn't arrived yet) and I assure you I will never pay more than $1 for a Kevin Correia card again in my lifetime had it not been for trying to complete this set. 

I'm still looking to add Neil Walker, Jeff Karstens, and Jose Tabata.

Some more Pirates hits from yesteryear

I'm short on time today, so here's a quick recap of some recent ebay purchases I've made.

 2009 Topps Unique Prime Time patch numbered 46/99

Josh Fogg 2004 UD Etched in Time on card AUTO 12/150

Bill Mazeroski 2004 Skybox AutoClassics BAT 277/350

Dave Parker 2006 SP Memorable Moments Jersey 198/225

Pittsburgh Pirates team card 2010 Topps Black Printing Plate 1/1

Frank Thomas 2001 Archives AUTO (on card)

Lots and lots of trade bait

I've got a lot of trade bait for anyone that's interested.  Leave a comment below if you see something that you like.  As always, I'm looking for Pirates, Penguins, and Steelers.  It doesn't have to be relics or even "hits" you send.  I gladly welcome base cards too.