2008 Bowman Chrome Case Break

Posted by Jeremy on August 22, 2008 under Market Watch, Prospects in Products | Be the First to Comment

 

Today I had the privilege of busting a case of the newly released Bowman Chrome set with the owner of Rainout Sportscards, John Sandstrom.  As my eyes spilled over the twelve boxes of factory sealed goodness, I couldn’t help but fantasize about pulling a pretty colored refractor auto of Lars Anderson or Angel Villalona. 

 

Nearly an hour later, this assortment of pulls stared back at us.

 

Best Pull of the Box:

• Head of the Class Dual Auto Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes # 302/350

 

12 Autographs—(9 Pitchers 3 Position Players)

• Daniel Bard Orange Refractor #11/25
• Danny Rams X-Fractor #160/250
• Mitch Boggs Refractor #181/500
• Jake McGee Refractor REDEMPTION
• Angel Villalona REDEMPTION
• Matt Harrison
• Fautino De Los Santos
• Danny Lehman
• Ludvicious Van Mil
• Tim Bacsom
• Bud Norris
• Chaz Roe

 

Gold Refractors—(1 Prospect)

• Christian Lopez #50/50

 

Blue Refractors—4 (2 Veterans 2 Prospects)

• Heath Rollins #116/150
• R.J. Seidel #131/150

 

X-Fractors—7 (4 Veterans, 1 Rookie, 2 Prospects)

• Yamaico Navarro #18/250
• Graham Godfrey #212/250

 

Refractors—77 (59 Veterans, 13 Rookies, 5 Prospects)

• Augustin Murillo #24/500
• Nevin Ashley #242/500
• Brandon Laird #201/500
• Glenn Gibson #232/500
• Christian Lopez #170/500

 

Overall, the case delivered on par with Bowman’s estimated per box estimates, and the Head of the Class autos of pinstriped hospital ward roomies Chamberlain and Hughes was a pleasant surprise.  However, the assortment of autographs were disappointing as all but De Los Santos, Van Mil, Bacsom, Norris, and Villalona have had cards in previous products and ratio of the various veteran and RC refractors (79) to the variety of prospect refractors (10) was a little overwhelming.

 

Based on my biased one case assessment, I give the 2008 Bowman Chrome product a C+, However, in my quest for complete objectivity, I may need to open another one to confirm my results!

 

These cards and much more are available for sale at Rainout Sportscards, an Ebay Power Seller and Beckett Marketplace Power Dealer.

Fav-5 Things That Need to Vacate the Baseball Card Premises

Posted by Jeremy on June 29, 2008 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

Here’s a change up from the normal daily minor league reports. While I do believe the baseball card market is in good health, there are trends and products in the market that need to be phased out altogether.

1. The confusion of the “RC logo”

• The designation of the Rookie Card logo, placed on post-2005 products, was designated with the stated intent of clearing up the confusion felt by newer and younger collectors as to what is “officially” a player’s true rookie card.  Since this has begun, however, players that have already had cards in numerous sets and years have had cards that have been tabbed with the RC logo.  In my mind, this only adds to the confusion, and misleads those less experienced collectors into believing that they do “in fact” have a player’s true rookie card.  The fact remains that no matter how you present it, a player’s RC, in the minds of many collectors is, in fact, the player’s 1st issued card.  Maybe the who “Rookie Card” moniker needs to be scrapped in favor of “1st year card” or some other simple designation.

 

2.) The Proliferation of the Parallels

• I love refractors and serial numbers just as much as the next person, but the inundation of multi-tiered parallels (Topps Co-Signers and Milestones and Moments being the worst) is making a mockery of this industry.  The concept of the serial numbered card is superb when used in moderation.  The thought of there being 165 variations of an Alex Rodriguez card within a set each serial numbered to #165 is tedious overkill defined.  If a parallel within a set does not have a significant increase in value or demand over its base set peers, it should be banished from the set F-O-R-E-V-E-R (just watched The Sandlot with my boy). 

 

3.) Redemptions?????

• What a buzz kill to open a box to find that your prize is a plain text card stating that you received a redemption ticket for a J.R. Towles autograph.  Yippee!!! Strike up the band and parade through the streets…after you fish out a pen, develop writer’s cramp scrawling your name, address,phone number, work phone, social security number, pin number of your debit card, and waist and inseam measurements within lines the width of a toothpick.  Oh, and don’t forget that stamp…wait, you’re out of stamps!  Gotta go to the post office and buy a book of stamps because they don’t sell them in singles anymore (not in my town anyway).  Then you have to scrawl out the address of the card manufacturer with your off hand (because you are still cramped in your writing hand) on an envelope you hopefully have, praying the whole time that it will be legible enough for the postman to read.  A paper cut on the tongue and jog to the mailbox later and you are ready to receive your card.  Wait…if you read in the fine print you would notice that your card will take another 6-8 weeks to arrive, regardless of the fact that it takes 2-3 days for a package to reach virtually any cross-country destination.  Ah, a happy day is the day that your much awaited Albert Pujols redemption auto arrives in its nifty cardboard shipping box.  As you tear it open with childish delight, you are subjegated to the last proverbial kick in the chonies that the redemption boot offers; an apologetic letter from XYZ card company stating that your Pujols auto is out of stock, but an equally exciting auto has been issued in its place.  As you peek through the plastic hard case, you discover that Richie Sexson is not equally exciting and neither is the concept of the redemption card.

 

4.) Sticker Autos

• Bold silver stickers obliterating the bottom 1/4 of a card is nearly as tacky as the sometimes smudged, sometimes cut-off sharpie autograph that graces it.  True, clear plastic stickers have done wonders to improve the visual appeal of the card, but it still compromises the pure allure of knowing that your card was held, signed, and sometimes hand numbered by the player featured on it.  For many of us, that morsel of child-like magic is enough sustenance to keep our passion for all things baseball alive.

 

5.) Dime-sized Mono-color Jersey Swatches

• First of all, virtually anyone who owns a game-worn jersey from a major leaguer would tell you that jersey swatches, in general, stink.  I mean, have you ever tried to wear a jersey swatch?  The worst of these fingertip-sized pieces of polyester are the ones that are one color and ambiguous as to what part of the jersey it, at one time, belonged.  The card manufacturers’ intent with the jersey card was initially good.  The widescale distribution of bits of player uniforms evoked similar sentimental feelings that on card autographs have as many collectors (myself included) thought “Wow, I have a piece of a jersey worn in an actual MLB game!”  However, much like the error card era of the late 80’s and early 90’s and the insert craze of the early to mid 90’s, the overload of chinsy white, gray, or black jersey swatches with infinite variations (remember my distaste for parallel overkill?) has sapped the sentimentality of the game worn relics.  Even patch cards are ridiculous if you cant tell what part of the patch you have.  Also, what good is a patch if you only have the bottom right hand corner of it?  These scraps are no longer souvenirs, they are the rubble and chaff of a tired marketing campaign that needs to be revamped or scratched altogether. 

 

OK, there are my 5.  Feel free to agree, disagree or contribute some of your own.  As always, your imput is always welcomed as it is the lifeblood of this blog…or it will be…someday…

The sun is warm and my boy has a game tomorrow.  Sounds like the perfect recipe for baseball practice!

6/23 AA Minor League Report

Posted by Jeremy on June 24, 2008 under Minor League Ball today | Be the First to Comment

Although the Southern League had the night off, there still were some fine performances turned in by several solid prospects in the other two leagues.  Here’s my list.

Mike Carp

• 1-4 HR(10) RBI—Cooling off over last 10 games (.206 BA 1 HR)

 

J.P. Arencibia

• 2-5 2B—.292 1 HR 6 RBI over 6 games at AA

 

Nolan Reimold

• 2-5 2B R 2 RBI—.277 9 HR 33 RBI 36BB/39K

 

Trevor Crowe

• 4-6 2B R 2RBI—Sizzling .455 BA 2 HR 10 RBI 15 Runs 20 Hits last 10 games

 

Wes Hodges

• 2-5 2B 2 RBI R—.319 9 HR 58 RBI

 

Chris Tillman

• 3.1 IP 7 H 4 ER BB 2K (ND)—1st poor outing in last 9 starts

 

Luke Montz

• 2-3 HR(14) 2B 3 RBI 2BB—.296 58 RBI .955 OPS (25 yrs old needs promotion soon)

 

Michael Daniel

• 1-4 2 RBI 2R BB—3 HR 11 RBI last 10 games

 

Drew Sutton

• 2-5 HR (8) 4 RBI 2B—.304 33 RBI 11 SB

 

Elvis Andrus

• 3-5 2 RBI 2R BB—.277 1 HR 29 RBI 24 SB (just 19 yrs. old @ AA)

 

Steve Murphy

• 2-4 2R 2B 2BB—.290 11 HR 54 RBI 9 SB

 

Thomas Diamond

• 6IP 4H 2ER BB 4K—2-1 5.51 ERA 31K/33IP (but 23 BB)

 

Kila Kaaihue

• 3-3 HR(17) 2RBI SB(3) 2R BB—.357 3 HR 6 RBI 12BB/2K last 10 games

 

Daniel Cortes

• 4IP 3H ER 3BB 5K—2-3 3.48 ERA 58K/54IP

 

BUY/SELL Analysis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kila Kaaihue began the season off of Baseball America’s top 30 prospect list for the Kansas City Royals.  While Kila’s 2007 season was not spectacular (.248 21 HR 82 RBI), his control of the strike zone (76BB/78K) was very solid.  This season Kaaihue has shown continued improvement hitting .284 with 17 HR and 48 RBI.  Even more impressive is Kaaihue’s 50BB/29K ratio.  The Royals have struggled to find a steady 1B in the post-Mike Sweeney era.  Kaaihue is a robust 6-4 233 lb. and bats left-handed.  At 24 yrs. old,  Kila has progressed slowly but steadily through the Royals system and should make his debut late this season or early next season.  Kaaihue has cards in the 2005 Bowman Chrome and Bowman’s Best sets.  There hasn’t been much action on his base cards, but his Blue Refractors have sold recently for about $10 each. 

Market Advice: Kaaihue is a low-mid level prospect who is playing for an improving organization.  I would BUY his serial #’ed chromes for 20-30% of Beckett value and sell at any price above that.  Long-term, the Royals will have better prospects filling the 1B and DH positions, but Kaaihue should get a brief window of time where collectors may notice him enough to learn to pronounce his name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel Cortes is the top pitching prospect in the Royals farm system and he is rapidly making his way to the major leagues.  Armed with a wicked 93-96 MPH fastball and sharp 12 to 6 curveball, Cortes is a 6-5 225lb horse who will soon join Zack Grienke and Luke Hochevar at the top of a very young and talented Kansas City Royal rotation.  Cortes may be the best of the bunch and he is making a strong case to get a look this September, with a 3.48 ERA and 58 K’s in 54.1 IP.  Cortes has cards in the 2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects set and it seems reasonable to expect that he will have autographed issues in upcoming ‘08 sets (perhaps Sterling and Bowman Chrome).  As of now, his chromes sell for about 50-75 cents each and are available in bulk.  Even more alluring are his refractors (#’ed to 599) which sell for $4-6 each.  The fact that Cortes plays for the Royals system and has a pedestrian 2-3 record makes him an under the radar prospect that prospectors love.

Market Advice: Cortes will debut in September or next season and he will open eyes.  BUY BUY BUY any of his cards and keep your eyes peeled for autos in future 2008 products.  Cortes’ ceiling is as high as any pitching prospect in the minors right now and I think the Royals are going to be a solid ball club next season.