Girls like to collect cards too

My girlfriend is very entertained with opening up boxes of cards and digging through relic/auto cards.  Every time we go to a Target or WalMart she looks through the card aisle to pickup a pack or two.

She even challenges me to a game of Ginter cuffs.

Her favorite players are Ross Ohlendorf (she loves that last name), Garrett Jones, Buster Posey, Bryce Harper, and Pirates prospects Starling Marte and Andrew Lambo.  She's also taken to Casey McGhee this spring training.

She absolutely loves old vintage cards especially Bowman.

On Sunday I mentioned I might do a future post about her collection.  Well, here's some of her favorites of the collection.

Ace of Cakes is one of her favorite shows so I surprised her for Christmas with this fans of the game Duff Goldman autographed card inserted into 2011 Pinnacle Hockey boxes.

Some of her vintage. 

I didn't want to scan every single Ross Ohlendorf card she has, but she has about 2 printing plates, 30+ autographs, 20+ jersey cards, and way too many parallels.  She's also got a couple game used items from Ohly including a complete 1979 throwback uniform signed by Ross himself.

 

My girlfriend and one of her friends excited to meet Ross before a rain delay game.

 Here's Garrett Jones and Ross Ohlendorf posing with her at PirateFest 2011.

Are the Pirates moneyballing?

Moneyball featuring Brad Pitt came out today on DVD.  I haven't bought my copy yet on bluray, but I did see the movie in the theatre.  I thought that the movie was really good for a mainstream audience and showed how tough the business side of sports can be especially when trying to compete against the Red Sox and Yankees in the American League.  Having the movie focus entirely on sabremetrics would have been a bore so I'm glad that they focused more on the thoughts and feelings that Billy Beane was going through during this transition. 

I bring this up because a lot of people bash the Pittsburgh Pirates.  I mean let's be honest, they've had 19 losing seasons after all.  This doesn't mean that they aren't trying to get better.  Signing free agents like Albert Pujols or CJ Wilson would cripple the team if they were to not perform above expectations.  A similiar situatin happened in Texas awhile ago when they signed Alex Rodriguez to that ridiculous contract.  Texas didn't make the World Series and the team went bankrupt.  Now Texas is doing good, but it was because they built a Championship caliber team through the draft and international signings.  They built a strong young core of players and have been piecing things together with veterans to fill the gaps. 

The Pirates also have a strong young core of players at the major league level in Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, and Jose Tabata.  The jury is still out on Pedro Alvarez.  Alex Presley looks like he will be above replacement level in the outfield and there's lots of talented pitching coming up in the next few years.  Unfortunately, I believe that some of the young core will be traded off by then.  Why?  Because they won't be competing for a championship and would like to remain under the payroll budget saving up money for when they are finally close and can go out and get a key free agent.

Now....getting back to the Moneyball movie.....

In the movie, Billy Beane expresses interest in Ricardo Rincon and says that he wanted to get him for $1 million.  Rincon was playing for Cleveland at the time, but he got there from being traded by the Pirates for Brian Giles.

Brian Giles, all domestic abuse cases aside, was a phenomenal player for the Pirates and broke out in a big way when he came to Pittsburgh.  He was an all star in 2000 & 2001.  He was the first player in club history to hit .300 with 30+HR and drive in more than 100 runs in back to back seasons.  He was sensational!!!!!

After playing 4 1/2 seasons with the Bucs, Giles was traded to his hometown San Diego Padres for Oliver Perez and Jason Bay along with a minor leaguer whose name escapes me. 

We all know the story of what happened to Jason Bay.  He went on to win the NL rookie of year in 2004.  He was an All-Star for the Pirates in 2005 and 2006.  Then he was involved in a blockbuster trade with the Red Sox sending Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers and the Pirates receiving 4 players that amounted to nothing (yet).  They included former 1st Round draft picks: Bryan Morris, Craig Hansen, Brandon Moss, and Andy Laroche.  I was a huge fan of Jason Bay while in Pittsburgh and still root for him with the Mets.  He's just a very classy hard working ball player.

Oliver Perez lead the NL in K/9 in 2004, the same year that Jason Bay broke out to win NL ROY.  Oliver's K/9 was an astonishing 10.97 and finished with a 2.98 ERA (tied with Roger Clemens that year).  He was a true ace pitcher, but got little run support (less than 2 runs per outing) and finished with a 12-10 record.  The next two seasons were not so kind and saw Perez begin to be hit hard as he posted an ERA around 6 for each season.  In 2006 he was sent to the Mets with pitcher Ramon Hernandez (a journeyman relief pitcher) for Xavier Nady.

Xavier Nady didn't do much of anything while in Pittsburgh, but he was viewed good enough along with reliever Damaso Marte to net Jeff Karstens, Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf, AND Daniel McCutchen.  I've talked before about my love for the way Jose Tabata plays so I won't go into details again regarding that.  Daniel McCutchen is a very versatile pitcher and can be used to throw to one batter or do a spot start or pitch 6 innings in relief in needed.  He could be a future closer and demonstrated this year that he keeps getting better.  Jeff Karstens broke out in a big way last year as he mixed up all his off speed pitches to be in the top 10 in ERA.  Ross Ohlendorf, well.....he's been released because of two injury plagued seasons.

So I finish with this thought.  The Pirates have been playing to their market, but they have yet to get enough pieces in place to field a team that can be above .500.  I truly do think that GM Neal Huntington has done a sensational job building through the draft and just can't wait to see a team that is all homegrown take the field in 2013 and beyond. 

So to recap, 1 relief journeyman pitcher (Ricardo Rincon) helped net
4 All-Star appearances (2 by Brian Giles & 2 by Jason Bay)
a 2004 NL ROY(Jason Bay)
a 2004 Cy Young candidate (Oliver Perez)
a 2010 NL ROY candidate (Jose Tabata)
a 2011 top 10 ERA leader (Jeff Karstens)
the 3rd smartest professional sports player (Ross Ohlendorf)
more pieces for future trades

Now that I've talked waaaayyyy tooooo much, I will shut up and show off some cards that I haven't spot lighted yet of players all discussed in this post.  As a side note, I have finally updated my Jason Bay relics/auto hits.  I currently have 21 and hope to double that by the end of 2012.  I'm actually hoping to finish with 44 (his current Mets jersey number)

Brian Giles 2002 Leaf Statisical Standout BAT

2003 UD City All-Stars Mario Lemieux & Brian Giles JERSEY

 Jason Bay 2007 UD Black Lustrous 15/50 AUTO

 Jason Bay 2007 UD Black 31/75 AUTO, 4 JERSEY (one which is 2 color)

 2008 UD Generations Ralph Kiner BAT Jason Bay JERSEY

Jason Bay 2006 UD EPIC SWATCH JERSEY 15/50

 Adam & Andy Laroche 2009 Upper Deck SPX Winning Materials DUAL JERSEY

Brandon Moss 2008 & 2009 Topps Gold

Oliver Perez 2005 Upper Deck Origins ATUO

Xavier Nady 2007 UD Masterpieces Stroke of Genius AUTO

Jose Tabata 2011 Topps Next 60 AUTO

Daniel McCutchen 2010 Topps Triple Threads AUTO JERSEY 21/25

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

I've been away for some time and didn't get a chance to react to the Pirates off season moves as they happened.  Some made sense, some didn't.  For this I'm going to give my opinion of the Pirates off season so far by looking at some cards I have. 

The Good
The Pirates signed Nate McLouth to a MINOR LEAGUE deal for $1.75 million.
I like this signing a lot. Nate was awesome when he was in Pittsburgh.  He even won a gold glove in CF in 2008 for the Bucs, as he was a breakout star.  After signing a very team friendly contract in the offseason of 2008 and being told that "Nate McLouth is a large part of our plans for the Pirates future," he was traded to Atlanta in the summer of 2009 for Charlie Morton, Jeff Locke, and Gorkys Hernandez.  Charlie had a breakout year last year.  Jeff made his major league debut after starting the season in AA.  Gorkys was promoted to AAA and is still ranked as the best defensive outfielder the Pirates have in the system.  Nate on the other hand struggled A LOT for Atlanta and was even demoted to AAA while over there. 

I have 2 jersey relics of Nate the Great and am happy to move them in my cardboard stack of "Former" Pirates to Current Pirates.  The Allen & Ginter relic is like every other Ginter relic out there.  Plain, boring, blah.  But the Topps Authentic Ticket Stub & Jersey Relic is unique.  I like this concept and hope Topps can revisit this idea again soon.  I just wish Nate was wearing #13 instead of #49 in the photo.

It's nice to see a fan favorite back in Pittsburgh.  Now if we could only get Jason Bay or Jose Bautista on a 1 year minor league contract, all will be right with the world

The Good
Ryan Doumit signs with the Twins before the Pirates have to offer arbitration for him, thus ensuring the Pirates get a draft pick compensation for losing Doumit (a type B free agent).

The Good

The Pirates signed often injured, but very talented Erik Bedard to a 1 year deal for $4.5 million + incentives.  I like this signing.  With the Pirates buying out Paul Maholm and his $9.75 contract, they lost a veteran lefty.  While I will miss Paul, I think Erik will fill that role nicely for half the price.  Let's just hope he can stay healthy. 

The Bad

Ryan Doumit signs with the Twins on a 1 year deal for only $3 million and we sign Rod Barajas for $4 million.
I'm going to miss Doumit a lot.  It's really sad actually.  Doumit was never a top tier fielder, but his bat was something special.  There was a number of times that I just knew he would come up with a huge hit when the Pirates needed it most.  He's actually one of the main reasons, Trevor Hoffman was taken out of being the Brewers closer in 2010 when he hit 2 grand slams in back to back nights in the 9th inning off the then all-time saves leader. 

I still plan on collecting cards of Dewey, even though he did stuff like what's below when runners were attempting to steal a base.

I'll miss you Ryan Doumit.  At least, you're reunited with Matt Capps and Steve Pearce.
Anyone got an opinion on Rod Barajas? Because I sure as hell don't.  I'm still mourning losing Doumit.

The Ugly

The Pirates avoid arbitration of players who could have proved to be useful next season.  That list includes Steve Pearce, Ronny Cedeno, and Ross Ohlendorf.  I don't think any of these guys are big time stars and probably don't deserve being on a 25 man roster for any team except the Pirates, but here's some facts.
Prior to injuries Steve Pearce and Ross Ohlendorf were absolutely amazing in 2009 and 2010.  They both wouldn't have gotten much of a pay increase and probably deserved taking a flyer on at spring training this year.  Ronny Cedeno, for as inconsistent as he can be with the bat, is actually a damn good short stop.  Few NL shortstops provided a better fielding UZR or fielding percentage than Cedeno. 

I'm not terribly upset about these releases, but am dumb founded on taking a guy like Clint Barmes at SS and giving him all the money that these 3 could have made collectively.  Clint Barmes is not that good.  PERIOD

MASSIVE RELIC/AUTO UPDATE!

I have been busy trying to update everything to my Picasa webpage to show all my Pirate treasures, but lack of a fast quality scanner and lack of time has disabled that goal.  Here's some older ebay winnings from earlier in the year that didn't get posted until now.

First up a Paul Maholm silk card

a Freddy Sanchez 2006 Topps Update All Star Game Jersey

 Brian Giles Prime Patches SHOE JERSEY HAT

Chase D'arnaud Tristar AUTO

a dual relic of Willie Stargell & Dave Parker

2 game used bat relics & an auto of Al Oliver

an Oliver Perez AUTO

 Dave Parker Topps Archives BAT

an Andy Van Slyke jersey relic

A Maury Wills Jersey relic 44/350

a Pedro Alvarez manupatch and triple signature of the Vanderbilt stars (Mike Minor, Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Flaherty)

a Ross Ohlendorf UD Signature Stars AUTO

2 Zach Duke jersey patches

and a Joel Hanrahan 2010 Peak Performance AUTO


I currently have several trades in the works so expect updates on that soon.  Also my birthday is approaching so I will probably treat myself to some cards to celebrate.

I will add all my Dave Parker, Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski, Bill Madlock, and Jason Bay cards soon.  I promise.

On a completely different note, my favorite pitcher Charlie Morton is on the mound again tonight so LET'S GO BUCS!

My girlfriend wants to get in Ross Ohlendorf's pants & MY 1ST TRADE POST!!!!

My girlfriend is also a Pirates fan and her 2 favorite players are Ross Ohlendorf and Garrett Jones.  When she told me she wanted to get into Ross Ohlendorf's pants, this is not what I was expecting.  Fortunately I am a little relieved. LOL!  These were won on eBay about a month ago and arrived not too long ago. 

She has over 60 cards of Ross Ohlendorf in her PC and also has an autographed game used jersey of his that she had bought at PiratesFest this past year.....and now she has his pants from a throwback game.

Today is Ross Ohlendorf's birthday.
Happy Birthday Ross and continue to get better.  The Pirates pitchers need you back either in the rotation or bullpen.

Call it coincidence, but today I got a package in the mail from Greg at plaschkethysweaterisargyle.blogspot.com/.  He sent me this sweet Ross Ohlendorf 2010 Allen & Ginter Auto for a 2011 Topps 60 Matt Kemp Jersey Relic.  I had pulled the Kemp in my very first 2011 Topps pack I bought earlier in the year.  I am really digging this blogging trading community.  To my pleasant surprise he sent me a nice care package of Pirates cards too.  A lot of late 80s early 90s Donruss & Score, but I don't care. I love the Pirates!!!!!


Here's 5 of the highlights:

2010 Allen & Ginter This Day in History Andrew McCutchen which I previously didn't have that is now going straight into the PC binder.

2010 UD Lastings Milledge card that shows him actually hustling

1996 Pacific Collection (spanish) Denny Neagle

1988 Score Bob Walk (look at that mullet/mustache combo!!! It's breathtaking LOL!)

2010 Ryan Doumit Topps Opening Day (going straight into the PC)

Thank you so much Greg for the trade and I hope you enjoyed the extra goodness I put in your package.