Latest / Cards & Categories / Ep. 25 : Braves Acquire Sale, Bowman's Best

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Ep. 25 : Braves Acquire Sale, Bowman's Best · Cards & Categories

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Hello, and welcome everybody to episode twenty five of Cards and Categories. I'm
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Mike Coolard here from Rasball, joined for the first pot here of the new
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year twenty twenty four by my good friend Jeremy Burer, also from Rasball.
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How you doing tonight, Jeremy? I am doing well. Is this in
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Chili? The heat wave of the Christmas is gone and we are back to
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freezing temperatures. Everybody's sick, at least in my household. So nothing better
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than to turn our attention to fantasy baseball and sports cards collecting. So I
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am looking forward to twenty twenty four. It's gonna be fun year, how
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about you? Yeah? I agree. Now that like the fantasy football playoffs
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have wrapped up last week during Week seventeen for the most part, for most
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unless you're some sicko that plays in a league that goes to Week eighteen.
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Now that that's wrapped up, like it is really time to turn eyes onto
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baseball and fantasy baseball. And we've got new twenty twenty four cards coming around
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at the corner here pretty soon. That is on the schedule now, not
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for today, because we're still discussing twenty twenty three cards later in the cards
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portion, but we've got a lot more moves since we last talked last week
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during the holidays and gave our resolutions. I thought that was one of my
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favorite pods that we've done together. So if you're checking out the podcast here
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for the first time getting into Fantasy Baseball twenty twenty four, I would certainly
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go back and listen to our twenty fourth episode there. It's gonna be a
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good round out of kind of where we stand as fantasy players and card collectors,
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and so it's a good place to update if you don't want to listen
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all the way from the top. So, broom, should we get down
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to the business. Let's get to the news. There has been a lot
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of fun news now. I feel like the floodgates of the free agent market
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have started to open now that we've got some of the big names making their
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decisions. So, uh, where we start? Were we to start with
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the Trady Braves? Yes, because this has been the subject of the past
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few weeks of trying to figure out what Alex Nthopolis was doing down in Atlanta
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with the We still don't know. Let's be very clear, we still don't
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know what he's two. I mean, I guess this is a little bit
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of that culmination though, as he has traded for Chris Sale from the Red
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Sox, Sale moves from the Red Sox to the Braves von Grissome going back
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to Boston in return. And I think a lot of those moves that anthought
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Pulis was doing was just shaving money around the edges to fit Chris Sale into
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this rotation. He obviously comes with the bigger contract that he signed in Boston
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under Dave Dombrowski, which cost Time Bloom his job. It's kind of a
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weird sequence of events that Chris Sale was still kind of around and Time Bloom
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kind of took the x and fell on it. That Chris Stale is landing
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in Atlanta pitching in the NL for the first time, and Brew what do
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you think of this move overall for Sale and his value and what he it's
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gonna do for his ADP overall? Yeah, I actually really like this move
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for Sale. I think it's a good thing for him to get out of
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Boston. I think moving to you know, potentially one of the best supporting
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lineups from all kind of a wins perspective and a team that seems like they
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do really know how to take care of their pitchers. You know, there
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is not a whole lot. I mean, there's been some injury issues with
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the Braves like Kyle Wright, and but otherwise, like they seem to know
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how to get the best out of the pictures, get guys deep into games,
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and that's where Sale has seemed to struggle over the last few years with
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But overall, I like I said, I like this, his ADP is
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going to rise a little bit just because of the trades in general. But
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you know, he had some poor luck last year. He but from like
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May onwards, he was really really good in the earra in the mid to
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low threes, Cage nine of eleven or so, you know, walking to
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per nine, he was Chris Sale of old. Yeah, he's he's maybe
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lost a slight tick, but overall his velocity's still remained there. So I
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really like this for Chris Sale and what it means for his season and twenty
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ty four. Uh, just gonna assume that he can get out there and
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get through through the innings. Yeah, I totally agree that. I think
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we're going to see him rise a lot because you call this one of the
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best lineups to pitch in front of. I mean, it's like the best
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lineup that the number of wins that Chris Sale will be possibly getting and only
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has to go a short length that you know, they have a solid bullpen
4:55
that he can turn it over to. They're not asking the world from Chris
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Sale. They're asking him to be a five and dive guy, and if
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they get more, that's awesome. And I think on top of it too,
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this is a great, like real world move for the Braves because if
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things do go a little wry with Chris Sales health, you can move him
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right into the bullpen for the playoffs and he'll be the funkiest left you've ever
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seen. That you alluded it to. His fastball has certainly declined as the
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injuries have gotten to him, and it doesn't top out, you know,
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in the upper ninety fours. It's hovering upper ninety three, so it's it's
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like a tick or two. And when you look at his stuff plus stats
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too, they're actually all below average. They're all below one hundred on all
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of his pitches. But it doesn't pick up just how nasty his delivery is.
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He's always throwing it from a weird slot and it's really impossible for any
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left you to pick up, and it's hard for any righty as well.
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That I liked Chris Sale last year even in Boston, Like Boston was the
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only kind of black mark on his just overall fantasy profile, because when you're
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a lefty, they stack righties against you, and that does not bode well
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in Fenway Park. That you can see it in his stats in the elevated
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home run rate that he gave up. And I think it also bodes to
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him having below average stuff because when a batter picks up the ball out of
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his funky delivery, it's not like it's a super nasty pitch. They can
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handle it a little bit better than some of the other stuff that you're seeing
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out you know, someone like a Spencer Strider who has some of the best
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stuff. So Chris Sale, I mean, I'm not counting him up for
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many innings, but like, this is a great guy I think that you
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can get is maybe like a three four starter. I don't know the ADP,
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so you'll have to tell us, but I'm guessing he's going to be
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in the three four starter range. And then like you can backfill that just
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knowing that, hey, if I count on him for one hundred and twenty
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innings and maybe like the first two months to the season, I can try
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to figure it out from there. Yeah, and I pulled his ADP,
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but I'm going to back off because I was only looking at like January ADP,
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which just wasn't quite enough for me. Four total, four total drafts.
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So Chris Sales ADP if I can, if I can find where it
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was. Yeah, So just those four drafts, he's up like thirty spots.
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So I don't think I don't think we put a whole lot of weight
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for that. But Chris Sales ADP is one eighty two, So he's the
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seventieth pitcher off the board. I didn't pull up just starting pitchers, but
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you know that that is again, that's more than that three four spot that
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you kind of projected. Names going around Chris Saleh. You've got Shane Bieber,
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Christian Javier Carlos, Radon, Jose Barrios, Mitch Keller, Edward of
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Rodriguez, Braxton, Garrett, Shane Baz like all guys that have a question
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mark. But I liked Chris sale over aner of those guys. And with
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the landing spot, I think it's even even better. So I think you're
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that eighty p's gonna rise, and I think it can rise a decent amount.
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And I still think it's a pretty good, pretty good pick. Yeah,
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I totally agree there. And let's not forget the other side here,
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von Grissom going to Boston and I just alluded to how great of a hitter's
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park Fenway is, and now von Grissom gets to spend half of a season
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trying to hit it over that green monster. I was talking about. It's
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the best non core's park to hit in, and so it doesn't get better
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for landing spots if you're von Grissom. Also looks like he should be slotted
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right into second base Red Sox really don't have a solution there right now.
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Last year they used some mix of Emmanuel Valdez and Robert Refschneider and Yu Chang,
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and it was a revolving door. I had somebody from that second base
8:56
spot constantly running through my waiver wire column west where that he brings a solid
9:03
presence there. You think that he should probably win that job outright in the
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spring. I mean, obviously we thought that could happen for him in Atlanta,
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but Grissom here is going to find I think the reason why they traded
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for him is to put him in at second base, play the keystone across
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from Trevor's story and just hit the ground running. Yeah, I think you're
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right. And you know, if you again trust the very small sample sized
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ADP since really this trade was announced, he was going in the mid five
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hundreds from an ADP perspective, and he's now two fifty seven. Oh boy,
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he has jumped significantly up. But again that's not actually that high of
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a price, right, that's still you're still in the early twenties as far
9:48
as rounds there. And I think you're right, Like he I'd be surprised
9:52
if somebody else gets that job. They traded Chris Sale for him. That's
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a pretty bold move. And we're not gonna just put him, you know,
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say, well, we're gonna let him marinate for a little bit and
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see what we got. Like he's gonna get everyday playing time and at the
10:07
end of the day, his this is a guy with great minor league numbers,
10:11
great plate approach, he's a he's a three hundred hitter in the minor
10:15
leagues more more or less, and he could be a twenty twenty guy without
10:20
squinting too hard. So you know, the Boston offense is not the Atlanta
10:24
offense. That said, there's a difference in uh playing in the major leagues
10:31
for our fancy value where I don't know if Chrisone's gonna be playing there or
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at least not maybe a bench piece. But Boston's not an offense to to
10:39
stuff at either. They're you know, borderline top ten offense as well.
10:43
You know, he's probably gonna slot at the bottom of that lineup. Maybe
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he's gonna get a chance against the lefties to switch with Jared Duran. We'll
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see, but I I really like him, and if his ADP stays anywhere
10:56
near that two fifty range, I'm gonna have a lot of on Grisome Grisom
11:01
shares. Yeah, and he should qualify at shortstop and I think every league
11:07
next year because that was the main position he played last year. So that's
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huge as well, to walk in with second base and shortstop that you can
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flip in between your two mi I spots that I think he's going to be
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a pretty hot name at draft tables here over the next couple of months,
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and I mean, I'm gonna be right there buying I think because of everything
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you said. I mean, I think the floor here is a two eighty
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average that he should be a really great source of average, and anything from
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there is going to be gravy. So it's hard. It's hard to find
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that at second base that I've harped on this a little bit over the winter
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here, that second base is really thin, and this is really going to
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add a really nice piece to that if you're looking for somebody in the middle
11:50
rounds. Yeah, So it's it's gonna be interesting to see how how the
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market reacts. I think for a draft is gonna be happening, you know,
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or at early draft. It's great with Grislm because he's I think there's
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be a number of people are waiting to see, like, is he gonna
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really grab that spot? And I think that the I'm gonna say, like
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an eighty ninety percent chance that he's that he's their starting second baseman going into
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next year. Yeah, I would totally agree. And we're gonna stay in
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Boston for the next transaction we talk about that is Lucas Giolito signing a two
12:20
year deal to join the Red Sox with it's actually like a one year with
12:26
a player option. So if he pitches well, he's going to hit the
12:28
free agent market again. But like we just said, Ben Waye's a tough
12:33
place to pitch, so I'm not totally sure he's going to be walking after
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this year because it's this is a guy who had an absolute home run problem
12:43
last year. That between the indifference of the White Sox melting down around him
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and then just the strange trade to Anaheim, another team that melted down around
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him, and then Cleveland where things also melted down around him, I mean,
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I'm sure it was a really tough year mentally for Lucas Giolito and it
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led to a bloated four eighty eight ERA with two homers per nine. That
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like, there were so many games that I went to on the South Side
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and just saw Gilito get bombed this summer that it was a really rough season
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and a lot of the shine came off of him where he was going as
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like a number two starter last year at the end in drafts last year,
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I mean twenty twenty two. In twenty twenty three, his stock had fallen
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after he had a rough four point nine year RA in twenty twenty two.
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So currently Steamer has him slated for four fifty seven year RA next year in
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Boston, and I think that's maybe right or even possibly low. I guess
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we'll see if maybe there's another gear Giolito can find in Boston. But I'm
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not loving this move for Lucas overall, and it's going to be really tough
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to roster him if he's going to be giving up bombs like that. Yeah,
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totally totally agree. I I personally just don't like U Giolido's profile.
14:07
Too many fly balls, control that's that's questionable, and his velocity. He's
14:13
he's lost a few ticks over the last few years, and that really seems
14:16
as you know, he was a guy that really could rely on his change
14:20
up and now he's just not being able to play his change up off the
14:22
fastball as much as he used to and that's really really hurt him. So
14:28
yeah, he yes, he's had a few good years, but it's one
14:31
of those that literally everything had to kind of come together for him to get
14:35
an ERA in the in the kind of mid threes, whether it was like
14:39
crazy good luck or things like that, Right, it all had to kind
14:43
of come to come together for him, and it looks like he he's really
14:48
gonna struggle in Boston. And you made the biggest point of all, which
14:52
is he's a flyball pitcher that has had home run issues and you're going to
14:56
finway like that. That green monster is quite attractive for those situations. So
15:03
I think he is going to be in a world of trouble. And what
15:07
really does surprise me though, is from a ADP perspective, you know,
15:11
he's the he's the number eighty six pitcher, number sixty three starting pitcher off
15:18
the board. He is going much higher than I would have expected, uh
15:26
for you know, kind of the results that he that he has had in
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the past. Yeah, exactly, I don't. I think you're going to
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be seeing that price drop a decent amount and he's going to fall because that's
15:39
above sale right now. That those two are going to flip flop pretty quickly
15:43
over the next week or so in drafts, and it's gonna continue because I
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think a lot of the things that we just discussed for both those guys,
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Sale and Gilido is going to be a lot of what the market sees as
15:54
well. Yep, I fully agree, and he's he's in the group right
16:00
now that has a ton of upside, and he's been drafted like he has
16:03
a upside, and I think this move just shows the exact opposite. He's
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he's gonna be a guy that's gonna drop significantly down down the draft board,
16:15
in my opinion, or if somebody else taken them, just let him let
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him go, Yeah, exactly. And then for the next picture, we
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got another or I guess another transaction. We got another picture, is what
16:26
I meant to say, and that is Frankie Montes signing in Cincinnati with the
16:30
Reds for one year, sixteen million dollars. And I was a little surprised
16:36
by the size of this deal just given Montes has really struggled with injuries over
16:41
the past two years and went down with a shoulder injury. Of all injuries,
16:47
that's I think scarier than an elbow because it's just a lot more going
16:52
on than the ligament usually. And so Montes is continuing the string of really
16:57
strange Reds moves this offseason as they needed outfielders and relievers. So they've acquired
17:07
infielders and starting pitching, so it's been a little strange to see how they
17:11
round this team out, and I'm not totally sure I'm going to be touching
17:17
Montest here either. It's kind of if he can prove himself and really put
17:22
a good season together, maybe I'll be sad that I didn't have any shares.
17:26
But shoulder injuries are the scariest thing out there, and I try to
17:30
stay away from pictures that are battling them, and especially pictures that. I
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mean, he threw a whole four point one innings four and a third innings
17:38
last year between TRIPLEA and MLB. It's good to see they got back on
17:42
the mound, but they were really limited innings, and you can't really count
17:48
on him for I'm not even sure how many innings to project him for,
17:52
Like where do you even start your projection for an innings on Montesk for next
17:56
year? Yeah, I think. I mean, Steamer has like a hundred
18:00
and fifty innings and he's he's clear that a whole once in his career,
18:03
and so I think you have to He's one of those guys you have to
18:07
look at like you're happy for one hundred innings would be like the the top
18:11
of of what you're going for the And I I feel so wrong saying this
18:18
because of our last podcast where I believe my resolution was to avoid the injury
18:22
guys, and and here we are. I actually like Mantas as a sneaky
18:30
value. Part of it is because when he has pitched and when he has
18:37
been on the mound, he's been pretty good. You know. He he's
18:40
a guy that's delivered, you know, you know e Ras consistently in the
18:45
threes. You know, he's had up and down years. He had a
18:48
good year, he was in the mid twoes. He does strike out almost
18:52
a batter for inning, control usually pretty reasonable, you know, keeps the
18:59
ball on the ground. So there's some good things there. And going to
19:02
Cincinnati, you have to have a guy that's gonna keep it on the ground.
19:04
So I really like those aspects. And that put in the context that
19:10
he is going to be not a number five starter in your fantasy stop,
19:15
number seven starter. He's he's going off the board as a number nine starter.
19:19
He's going off one to nine starting pitcher off the board right now,
19:23
and so there's very limited risk. And if you do get fifty one hundred
19:32
innings of a guy that's in the mid three e ra k per nine.
19:36
You're gonna be just thrilled. H Yes. I realized he's gonna play in
19:40
Great American Ballpark and that's probably gonna be a little risk. But with his
19:44
profile, I think that he has a chance to do okay. There again,
19:48
he's not the guy that you're like targeting. He's at the end of
19:51
the draft. He's a good guy to kind of throw in there and doesn't
19:53
look well cut bait. So again, I'm already breaking my resolution for the
19:57
new year. But I actually kind of like Frankie mantass. Yeah, And
20:03
I mean I would if I knew he was healthy. So, like,
20:06
the one indicator I'm looking at is when he returned last year, in the
20:10
whole inning that he pitched or whatever, he is fastball sat at ninety four.
20:15
Well, it's slider sat at eighty eight, and the slider used to
20:18
sit at eighty eight eighty nine. The fastballs down to ticks. So that's
20:23
a little concerning to see that, Like the slider velocity is in place,
20:30
but the fastball isn't there that I think if he comes to camp in the
20:33
fast balls back again at ninety four, ninety five. I'm actually okay with
20:38
that because guys take a little while to stretch out and usually pick up a
20:42
tick or two throughout the season. So if he opens his first spring training
20:47
start at ninety four ish and above, then you know that he's going to
20:52
be kind of rounding in de form back to where he was, and that
20:55
might be a good indicator in those drafts that are happening around those that time
20:59
to push him up a few ticks. But until I can really see that
21:03
and assess him, it's gonna be tough because of not only the health,
21:07
but that landing spot in Great American Ballpark is tough. So I guess we'll
21:11
see how it works out. But I mean, it sounds like we're a
21:15
little split here on the value we are though. I have to say from
21:18
a pure baseball perspective, I love the mood for the Reds like it is.
21:22
I think it's hard to attract. It's kind of like Colorado. It's
21:23
a degree right. It is hard to attract good pictures to pitching Great American
21:29
Ballpark, even though I have a really good lineup behind them. Is the
21:32
way it's formulating, and so I love the move of you know, they're
21:36
probably the pain a little bit over, but paying to get a guy in
21:38
a one year deal that if he hits great, you're thrilled. If he
21:44
doesn't, he's gone next year on ritual option and you can try again.
21:48
I think that that's a really great savvy move by the Reds, despite the
21:52
fact that they actually need to get rid of the infielders and all these other
21:56
things that are kind of illogical. Yeah, I have a feeling that that
22:00
Sho's gotta be dropping here pretty soon, as maybe like some of these other
22:04
players signed, that we might be seeing a Giathan India trade pretty soon.
22:08
I still don't understand the Condolario's signing, but that's for a different pod.
22:12
So all right, the next signing that we got is just broke a little
22:19
bit ago of it finalizing, and that is the Padres signing Korean closer Wu
22:26
soup Go and he should slot in right into the closer role in San Diego.
22:32
That's what it's been reported, is that San Diego, even after signing
22:37
Yuki Matsui out of NPB earlier this week slash last week, it kind of
22:41
happened during the haze of the holidays that the Padres are still looking to tap
22:48
Go as the closer of the future. So what do you think about Go's
22:55
profile coming over here, Brew. I'm looking at his stats on on fangrafts
23:00
and I will say that they look pretty solid. He's got a solid fastball
23:04
and good velocity on it that's hovering around ninety four point six, and he
23:11
had a great k rate in Korea just over twelve. I'm a little bit
23:15
worried. He averaged four and a half walks in Korea last year that I
23:19
guess I will have to see, like how that translates if it's him nibbling
23:23
or people laying off or bad umpiring or I don't know. So I'm I'm
23:30
intrigued by Go, I will say, but I think I need to see
23:33
a little bit of in action in spring before I really start throwing too many
23:37
darts here other than just kind of late round trying to speck on saves sort
23:44
of situations. Yeah, I'm I'm very hesitant that he's actually going to be
23:51
the closer bringing it to you on a much bigger deal too. He's a
23:55
little more maturity, He's been around the block, and even his results seem
24:00
to speak for themselves to be a little bit more solid and the Padres and
24:04
I will own this is with Josh Hater in the role, but even before
24:08
Hater, they were very consistent about having a true traditional closer and not using
24:14
that guy in the fireman type role. And so to me, I would
24:18
be very surprised that they would go out spend much less on a guy than
24:25
what they did for the five year deal from Matsui and then put him in
24:27
the closure role. It just doesn't I understand that that's kind of been reported
24:32
that way, but I haven't seen, like anybody from the Padres say that.
24:34
I haven't. It's just been like the reports say, oh, he's
24:37
expected to be the closer, like by who. So the biggest thing for
24:45
me, my biggest takeaway is I'm going to buy mat Sui in early drafts.
24:49
Is I think he's a good chance of being the closer and for that
24:53
Padres team, which has traditionally delivered a lot of save opportunities. So you
25:00
know, from my actual profile perspective, to your point, the control concerns
25:03
me. You can get away with that a little bit more in the ninth
25:04
or the eighth inning, but I do have a little concern of how well
25:11
he's going to be able to translate over to the US with control and the
25:18
the hitters being a little bit more patient, being able to punish things a
25:22
little bit more when you make mistakes. I think that's going to be a
25:25
struggle from now. I love the ground ball rate. He's like a sixty
25:29
He has a sixty five percent ground ball rate last year, which was just
25:32
insane. That's one of the that'd be one of the top in the majors.
25:36
So there's a lot to like about him. But like I said,
25:40
I'm just I'm hesitant on on the reports that I've seen that actually have him
25:45
as the closure. It seems like it's more speculation. Even when I was
25:48
just reading a little bit earlier today had kind of already backed off and said
25:52
he might be in the mix for the closure the ninth inning. So I
25:56
think that that's an interesting spin is to be going after Matt Suey and the
26:03
other big piece. Here is what a name to be for a closer.
26:08
It's you can just see here this here. Now, he's he's he's he's
26:12
walked the bases load in the ninth and they're just they're just letting them have
26:17
it. With who sucks? Who sucks? I'm that's I'm not there.
26:22
I'm not doing it personally. That's just not me. But you've see him
26:26
playing in Dodger Stadium or something like that and that chant going on, and
26:30
it's just it's it's rough. So yeah, and he's gonna bring a lot
26:33
of intrigue to the nl West here this summer as he's actually married to Jung
26:37
Hu Lee's sister from who just signed with the Giants. So that's going to
26:41
be a matchup for the Ages when that happens for the first time of seeing
26:47
them face off, Go and Lee and the sister that's involved between it all,
26:52
So it's gonna be I feel like there's a backstory that we need to
26:56
have. Is this kind of like the back in the seventies you were when
27:00
the Yankees had there, they had two pictures traded their wives. Oh it's
27:10
okay, I didn't read the backstory close enough there, but hey, hey,
27:15
you know we can make a stretch of the story here. But yeah,
27:18
I was also going to come in on the Padres closer. Don't don't
27:22
sleep on Robert Suarez. He's been there for a while and he's got a
27:26
little bit of experience here and there. He closed when he was in the
27:30
Mexican League, I believe, and so he he might end up with that
27:36
job. And he's like that kind of classic guy where you're walking into draft
27:40
day here over the next couple of months and bullpens look nebulous that save situations,
27:45
you're not quite sure where it goes, and you just take the one
27:49
guy with experience that's right handed and has kind of been there for a little
27:52
bit, and he just ends up giving you twenty five saves. So I
27:56
would not sleep on Robert Suarez at the end of drafts. I think that's
28:00
a great call because if I recall when he was signed, they were also
28:04
tabbing him as the closer for the pod process, and so like maybe people
28:10
were right, maybe they were right, they just had the timing wrong on
28:14
Roberts Horez. So uh, And I think sures he's had some growing pains
28:17
up and down, but he's actually turned out to be a pretty solid solid
28:21
pitcher back in that bullpen. Yeah, I totally agree. Okay, next
28:25
transaction we got and this one makes me really sad because this was one of
28:29
my favorite guys from last year that he really helped solidify the catcher position overall
28:36
and made it actually one of the stronger catcher positions I've seen in recent memory,
28:41
between his rise and guys like Gabrielle Moreno making the step up and even
28:48
like Blake Saboles just kind of like playing DH and outfield for you every other
28:52
day for a little while. And that is Mitch Garver signing with the Mariners.
28:57
That there was this This is maybe like the main character of my Waiver
29:03
Wire columns summer that like for some reason nobody wanted to pick him up,
29:07
and he went on an absolute tear like he was in my columns for a
29:12
good two months, and it was like slowly tracking his ownership percentages like tick
29:18
up like one percent by one percent, as this guy is just tearing to
29:22
cover off the ball. He was like at one point, I think in
29:26
June or July, like one of the top ten Fantasy hitters of the month
29:30
because he just was lashing a couple homers a week and it was supported by
29:37
every bat ball metric that was out there. He hit the absolute snot out
29:41
of the ball All summer long. Garver maxed out a new max EV of
29:48
one hundred and thirteen miles an hour. He had a hard hit percentage of
29:52
forty one percent, and Garver round that out with a twelve point six percent
29:56
barrel rate and was hitting in the middle of that. Really potent Rangers lineup
30:00
as a DH often, so not only all that you were getting like five
30:06
to six games out of your catcher every week, and he was just absolutely
30:10
obliterating the ball that I really wanted Garber to find a spot where you could
30:15
leverage him again because I think he was going to be a really great sleeper.
30:21
He's going to go into his age thirty three season. He's been nicked
30:26
up here and there, and people will see the body of work and not
30:29
kind of look at You can just see it on the individual seasons that you
30:34
can find where he's healthy and not healthy in the pockets. And when he's
30:37
healthy, he is an electric hitter. He really puts the barrel on the
30:42
ball and hits the snot out of it. So finding a DH roll was
30:48
perfect for him. But man in Seattle, where a park that just kills
30:52
home runs kills offense, and the offense around him is a little bit lackluster.
31:00
Well, I don't know if you could have found a much worse spot
31:03
for Garb if you had him as a fantasy asset. Yeah, I see
31:07
the ballpark argument, but I'm also gonna going to raise it. I feel
31:12
like that he could have land in a better spot to stay healthy having cal
31:17
Rally there as the catcher that's gonna, you know, catch the vast majority
31:22
of the games, one hundred and thirty games. Garver's then going to come
31:23
in and catch the other, you know, twenty thirty games. He's going
31:26
to keep these catchers eligibility and he's going to d h the rest of the
31:30
time. So he's probably going to be one of the catcher eligible players that
31:33
has the most games played. And don't forget cal Rally. He you know,
31:37
he I think hit twenty nine home runs. I'm going off the top
31:40
of my head last year. Maybe he actually broke thirty. I can't even
31:45
recall. Let me look a yeah it was. I think cal led all
31:51
catchers in home runs. And the reason I bring that up is if you
31:53
extrapolate Mitch Garver's last year, he would have led all catchers in home runs.
31:59
And so yeah, my ballpark might bring that down just a tick,
32:02
but he's going to get a full slate of playing time. He's gonna be
32:07
able to stay healthy, and you know that lineup's getting a little better.
32:12
So I actually really like this. The the interesting thing is his ADP.
32:16
Have you looked at his ADP? I have not what what number catcher going
32:22
off the board is Mitch Garver And I'm looking at the beginning December through now
32:27
drafts and so yeah, I didn't even have like a job, so he
32:31
was probably like the twenty second catcher maybe yeah, too far, he was
32:37
number seventeen. Okay, so he's he's going off the board right around like
32:40
Keibert Ruiz, Louis Campusano, Tyler, Stevensleias Diaz. And to me,
32:46
he like, I let's let's let's go up the list here. Would you
32:51
take garbar over Campus Campusano absolutely, Ruiz, yes, Jonah Him, Yes,
33:00
though Naylor maybe I think I might actually take Naylor there. Okay,
33:07
then you got a logan O hope uh Ohapy Moreno. I'm just names today.
33:14
That's but that's the tier that I think I like him in with o'happy
33:16
and Moreno. And I think especially like what I like about Ohapi Moreno and
33:22
Naylor is just the upside, like Yep. Garver I don't think has like
33:27
another tier to him that, like last year, is probably the best that
33:30
we'll see. And honestly, his Steamer line I think is probably about right
33:35
in terms of the actual counting stats. He's slated for twenty four home runs,
33:43
sixty four runs, seventy RBI. That that's probably about right for Garver.
33:45
But where you're going to pick up extra value on Garver if you're just
33:50
punching him straight into the auction system, I don't see him hitting two thirty
33:52
five. That no, when you're hitting ever. Yeah, obviously like his
33:58
Babib's not going to be three thirteen again because he's a catcher and a little
34:01
slow. But Garver when he's on, which like I said, if you
34:07
look, it's like an even more oddier thing on his line. And so
34:10
when he's going and playing healthy, he's got a to seventy three average in
34:15
two nineteen, to fifty six average in twenty twenty one, two seventy in
34:20
twenty twenty three. So I think you can pencil Garfer in for conservatively a
34:24
two fifty average and that's gonna significantly boost his value. Yeah, I think
34:30
you're right, And if you look at the catcher position itself, there's kind
34:34
of like a pretty clear like top five, yeah, and then after that
34:37
it drops off pretty pretty substantially, and you know your next probably ten catchers
34:45
are all going within thirty thirty five picks of each other. But I think
34:49
a great strategy at the catcher position is just to wait, Like, yeah,
34:52
if you want to get Ad Lee or Will Smith or or Diaz or
34:55
something like that, sure go. But if you are waiting and you're sitting
34:59
out there and they're like fourteenth round and you're like, oh, I don't
35:01
get Gabriel Moreno, Bo Naylor, Mitch Garver, Like, there's some really
35:07
really good options there that you didn't have to pay up for, and there's
35:13
some decent upside at that point in the draft, especially in a two catcher
35:16
league. If you can go right around that you know, ten to fifteen,
35:21
ten to twenty range and grab two of those guys, you can come
35:23
in a really really good spot. So I personally love this for Garver.
35:28
I know I get the ballpark argument, but I think the playing time and
35:31
the fact that he's not gonna have to be a full time catcher is a
35:35
really big win for him. Yeah. I think maybe what I was mostly
35:38
lamenting is that he was going to be under the radar no matter what where
35:42
he went. And like if he went somewhere, great, he still would
35:45
have been under the radar and we could have been penciling in in for that
35:47
two sixty two seventy average. And so like that's a little bit like the
35:52
letdown is like it kind of kills an avenue to one of the sleepers.
35:55
I think I was going to use I still sleeper for me. Okay,
36:00
so he's right underneath Sunny Gray on the on the Fan Club last year.
36:05
Oh wow, okay, we're gonna yeah big time Garverer guys here. Well,
36:09
Mitch Hadger had to come off. I had to find another Mitch.
36:12
So the uh and we got another sleeper here coming because I think, yeah,
36:19
we're just gonna be giving away all of our sleepers here as we get
36:21
through the fantasy season preview. And that is I kf Izaiah Kiner Fileffa signing
36:28
in Toronto. That a couple actually last week when we were talking about stolen
36:32
bases and just going over how we were sad that there weren't a lot of
36:38
like really cheap back end of the draft options that you know, you could
36:44
find a little bit of value out of other categories along with those stolen bases
36:49
and how they've dried up. I think this is a great landing spot for
36:52
i KF because he's gonna find a decent amount of playing time in Toronto between
36:57
third base is still occupied by Kevin Bigio, that roster resource and Fangrasts I
37:02
think has them well, has Kevin Bigio and Espinol splitting that third base position
37:08
in terms of a platoon. But it's really easy to see IKF filling in
37:12
there as well as you know, giving Bishet days off at shortstop and filling
37:17
in at second base if Davis Snyder Schneider, Davis Schneider, you know,
37:22
take a step back and the magic wears off. Or also playing in the
37:27
outfield and playing a platoon with Kevin Kiermeyer possibly, So he's going to get
37:31
a lot of sneaky playing time I think at Toronto, which could result in
37:36
some pretty decent steals numbers for IKF. That when we saw that a couple
37:40
of years ago in New York, he was able to get into the mid
37:44
twenties for stolen bases and so That's what I'd like here for IKF is that
37:49
not only is he going to give you probably twenty something stolen bases with the
37:53
playing time he could carve out, he's going to be free and he's going
37:57
to be super position available, like he should be able to qualify it all
38:02
over the diamond and filling in lots of different places, so he becomes a
38:06
really great Swiss Army knight for your bench brew. What do you think about
38:09
him landing in Toronto? Yeah, I think I mean it verifies that,
38:14
you know, wit Mayorfield's not going back to to Toronto, which is another
38:16
you know guy talking about late with later with some speed. But I think
38:22
it's a good landing spot. I think he's gonna get some good playing time.
38:24
He also feels like the kind of guy that like they want to plug
38:28
in the lineup and have around because he he does play very good defense and
38:32
I'm kind of there with you, like he's one of those late guys that,
38:36
again you have to know what you're getting into here, but like if
38:37
you're trying to plug your bench spots and you want a little positional flexibility and
38:43
you want some speed, he's gonna be pretty much free at drafts. His
38:46
ADP's like hundreds and hundreds. It starts with a seven last I looked.
38:52
But what really interests me is I was actually surprised. I was looking at
38:58
Kiner Falafa man. I am just butchering names tonight. Sorry, but I
39:04
did not have my coffee, so ikof what I was surprised by is that
39:12
he actually took a big step back in twenty twenty three in his speed.
39:16
If from just looking at the covers over his stadcast numbers. He has traditionally
39:22
been, you know, in the upper quartile of players, and you know,
39:28
being you know, towards the top of his position and whatnot. But
39:31
he dropped significantly from in twenty twenty two he was in the seventy ninth percentile
39:37
on sprint speed. He dropped to the fifty ninth percentile. He dropped twenty
39:43
points in there, which was the lowest of his career by far. However,
39:47
his rate of steals per game was almost what it has been in the
39:52
past. So that's what that's telling me. That is, you know,
39:57
let's just assume it's an aberration. He didn't just all this sudden at age
40:00
twenty eight, just like slow down significantly, you know, maybe a little
40:05
injury, maybe the style for the Yankees, whatever it may be. You
40:09
know, I would have to expect that he kind of gets back to what
40:13
he had been doing, and that means that he can run more. And
40:16
so yeah, the twenty steals that you're targeting might be thirty and getting that
40:22
late plug into your bench and you know, plug him with guys are on
40:27
off days and just pick up some cheap speed. I really like that,
40:30
so that I think IKF has a spot. I think he's going to be
40:35
on the waiver wire for a while, so I think I don't think you
40:37
have to draft him. But he's one of those says you're dropping guys the
40:42
end of the spring trainings they didn't get the jobs or something change, got
40:45
an injury. He's the good guy to kind of keep an eye on.
40:49
Yeah, I absolutely agree that. I think there's going to be quite a
40:52
few benches that I round out with Kiner Fleffa that he just he's also only
40:55
twenty eight. He's been around forever, but he's only twenty eight. So
41:00
there also might be another kind of level to what he could do. Although
41:05
I've seen him play a lot of baseball I'm not totally sure there is.
41:08
I'm not Let's just let's be clear here. We're saying he's a val because
41:13
he's going at seven hundred on the ADP and he's probably worth six hundred or
41:17
five hundred. Yeah, exactly. That's He's not going to be Fernando to
41:22
teach junior unless it was a body swaps. So all right, all right,
41:29
if he wasn't deep enough for you, this next transaction I got is
41:32
maybe like the deepest we've ever gone, just because I think it's actually intriguing,
41:37
and especially if you're in an ale only league, this is going to
41:42
be I think a big play. But these guys I think could work their
41:45
way into mixed league relevance as well. And that is the Guardians and the
41:51
Yankees lining up for a trade this past week where they swapped outfielder Estevan Floriol
41:57
from the Yankees to Cleveland for Cody Morris, a starter slash reliever. Has
42:01
been used kind of all over the place, and I would go in to
42:05
point this out because I think it's great for both players overall, who I've
42:09
kind of liked in the past as they've come through the minor leagues. And
42:13
had their prospect pedigrees kind of weane over time that Florial was really slated to
42:20
be a pretty decent speed and power threat combo. When he's coming through the
42:24
Yankee system and things just haven't materialized, he's kind of fallen flat on his
42:29
face every time he gets playing time in New York and can't seem to find
42:35
the ball with his bat. That he's traditionally been a pretty good source of
42:39
average throughout the minors, So it just kind of I think it's a good
42:43
change of pace for him that he should be in the mix for a starting
42:47
spot. I think in Cleveland that like the only guys standing in his way
42:52
are Loreano and Miles Straw. You know that's not like world beaters. He's
42:58
got to overcome and gives the left handed option in Cleveland. While Cody Morris
43:01
has been a picture, I've long been intrigued with that when he was coming
43:06
through the miners, and obviously anybody coming through the Cleveland system as a picture
43:12
is gonna kind of spark my interest. But I liked Cody Morris when he
43:15
was showing the strikeout rates that he was and showing the fastball velosity before kind
43:22
of like all the injuries sapped the past couple of years. But I like
43:27
him as like a Michael King replacement for the Yankees. If Cleveland's a good
43:30
place for like pictures to go, New York's maybe like one of two places
43:36
that are better, you know that, Like New York creates pictures like Cody
43:39
Morris and the Lab, and like I'm really interested to see what the Yankees
43:45
can do with Cody Morris. Again, both these guys are really kind of
43:47
deep late plays. But I would not be surprised if in late April May
43:54
I'm touting these guys pretty heavily in my Waiver Wire column. Yeah, I
44:00
have to say with Cody Morris, I just I don't have too much interest
44:01
there. He you know, has not shown enough when he's got up,
44:07
guys can control issues. I'm probably not as high on the Yankees development and
44:10
pitching. It seems like they developed some and then there's others they just completely
44:15
like Ruin And so maybe that's better than just have being average because you get
44:20
some stars out of that. But I think Florial is really the more interesting
44:24
player here, you know, He's his power has always been kind of in
44:29
question, wasn't there and from what I've seen, he appears to have really
44:37
shortened up a swing, made some actual adjustments in his plate approach in twenty
44:40
twenty three, and the numbers speak for themselves. You know, he he
44:44
was a twenty five to twenty five guy in in the minors for the Yankees.
44:49
Yeah, it didn't translates to the major leagues and the whole sixty one
44:52
at bats that he had. But to your point, if he's going to
44:54
get plain times he had an opportunity, Uh, the pressure of New York's
44:58
gone, like there's there's some interesting things there. So I think he's definitely
45:01
one of those guys to keep an eye on and if he like seems like
45:05
he's gonna get the job, definitely the guy to kind of pick up because
45:08
if you're you have to think if he's gonna get the job with the speed
45:13
that he has, he's actually pretty patient to plate, gets on base quite
45:17
quite a bit, you know. In twenty twenty three in Triple A he
45:22
had an OBP of three to eighty and so that's pretty respectful. So he
45:27
could if he makes the team, gets the starting role, he's gonna be
45:30
at the top of the lineup. He's gonna get a chance to run.
45:32
Like there's a lot of good that can come from that. So I think
45:36
he's a good guy to watch and keep an eye on. Again, you
45:39
don't have to invest here, he don't have to invest early. He's he's
45:43
gonna be a guy that's that's free and you can watch a little bit before
45:46
you decide what to do. Yeah, And I think he's great in really
45:51
late in deep leagues and in best ball because like, if there's any injury
45:57
to that outfield in Cleveland, he's in and he's going to get run and
46:00
that will open up the opportunity. It reminds me a little bit of like
46:05
Edward Oliveris from the Royals. Hopefully Floriall doesn't get sent up and down as
46:10
many times as Oliveris did, like he's out of options. He sees out
46:15
of options finally that all their or Florioal, you're talkinglorial Is, yes,
46:19
Okay, So he's not going to have to quite deal with what Oliverius like
46:22
that one season he was like shuttled back and forth from Triple A like twenty
46:27
times. But Floriall, Yeah, I think he's just a really good He's
46:31
still pretty young, too that like the prospect kind of fatigue is really set
46:37
in, and now that he's not in the Yankees, he's not quite shiny.
46:39
But yeah, any deep league I'm looking at, florioal is a really
46:44
late option that honestly reminds me a little bit too of maybe like TJ.
46:46
Friedel going into the draft season last year, where you just were looking for
46:52
some window of opportunity to be able to put this guy in and be able
46:57
to harvest any of those stolen bases he could give you, and everything else
47:00
is gravy. Yep, I agree, it's it's it's I like your pick.
47:06
I probably wouldn't have picked this one out myself. I have to get
47:07
a great job picked grabbing this one and brings the attention because I think that
47:12
there is some intrigue to be had there with Florial certainly. And yeah,
47:16
that wraps up the transactions that we've got going on. I want to remind
47:21
everybody again that we've got the merch up in the website that I've I can't
47:28
really list the website. It's kind of a weird. Sure, maybe eventually
47:30
buy a real URL, but not quite profitable enough yet to do that.
47:37
So it's in the show notes. We've got the merch down there. I've
47:40
added some new items as well. We've got a baby onesie going, so
47:45
I know that. We've got some friends that uh yeah. And I have
47:49
a new niece so like that. I've regretted not having a wenesie for her
47:53
during the holidays, but now I can have one for her birthday. And
47:58
I gave my dad one of the hats for Christmas and it was a ringing
48:00
endorsement. He said it's pretty comfortable. So I don't think you can get
48:05
a better Dad hat than that. That's endorsed by my dad. So that's
48:10
the only review we needed. Yeah, exactly. Get in there, get
48:14
some CNC merchandise, some cards and categories merchandise. And while you're doing that,
48:20
we will gather our thoughts and take a break to come back and discuss
48:23
the newest card release that's coming out in a couple of weeks. We've got
48:29
twenty twenty three Bowman's Best coming out. See you soon, all right,
48:50
welcome back from the break. We are going to discuss the cards portioned of
48:54
today's Cards and Categories Pod, and that is the release of twenty twenty three
48:59
Bowmen Best and yes, I just said twenty twenty three because as you might
49:05
have noticed, releases wrap around the calendar a little bit. For baseball cards
49:08
that we've still got a couple of releases come in, including my very beloved
49:13
Stadium Club. And really, I think Bowman's Best is kind of the indicator
49:17
that things are really finally wrapping up on the year of printing for tops Panini
49:23
fanatics, because it's really like the capstone product that Bowman's Best especially known for
49:30
when you flip over the cards. Instead of really gaudy statistics and information that
49:37
most baseball cards have, Bowman's Best does is actually gives you a story of
49:42
that player that it gives you what their best performance was, what their best
49:45
game was, something that really stood out. So it goes through all the
49:50
players in the set and the prospects, and you know, like I said,
49:53
you have a little bit statistical information, but it's really about getting that
49:57
one story that they picked for that player. So it puts the cap on
50:00
the whole year. And like I said, it's not going to be quite
50:06
the last release from twenty twenty three, but will be one of the last
50:08
ones here brew, How have you enjoyed Bowman's best over the years and anything
50:14
that's really standing out right off the bat for this set, Yeah, I
50:17
think Bonen's best. For me, it's always been, I don't say the
50:21
diet Bowman product if you if you can call it that, it's the much
50:25
more affordable version of Bowman, and so you can get some pretty cool looking
50:30
cards. It's a good way to kind of prospect. They clearly don't hold
50:36
the same value as they would as like a first or something like that,
50:38
but they do still especially for that first year of a car a player.
50:44
They're kind of rookie Bowman if you may. The first year the miners cards
50:47
can hold a little bit of value. So and they are usually some pretty
50:52
pretty good designs. This year's design looks like it's gonna, you know,
50:57
hold up pretty well as well. It actually almost makes me think of a
51:00
cross between Bowman and Cosmic to a degree, and so I think that's pretty
51:06
pretty unique. And the the other thing that I think already jumps out to
51:10
me about the set, I think this is pretty traditional for them, is
51:13
the base set is actually loaded. It is only a seventy card based set,
51:19
and so you are getting all the names like it there there's very few
51:24
names here where you kind of squint and go, what who is this?
51:28
Why are they in the set? Every name you should you should know as
51:31
you're opening this this product up. But where it gets interesting is that's not
51:37
true for the autographs. There is actually, I believe one hundred and three
51:43
base autographs within the sets. There are more base autograph cards then there are
51:47
base cards the set, and that's where it gets interesting because all of the
51:51
autographs are prospects and so whereas the base has you know, some some other
51:57
big names and things as well. So that's that's where it gets very very
52:00
interesting, is uh. Even though the set might feel loaded from the every
52:07
name of your opening, you're going through and you're sitting here just excited because
52:13
you pulled out uh Lin door and then you're Perez, and then Jeremy Pania
52:17
and Tristan Cassas, you get everybody, and then then you hit the autos
52:21
like who is this? So that's that's an interesting dynamic that you do have
52:25
with the set, which is face UH really targeting much more than the recently
52:30
drafted UH guy. So you have schemes in there. Hey, You're gonna
52:35
have a number of other guys like oh missing, you got Max Clark's in
52:42
there. Uh, you're also gonna have some of the the other ones that
52:45
are just coming up. You get uh yep, Langford, but you're also
52:49
have like the ad LEAs the bullpays those those kind of guys as well.
52:52
Uh, you know, from the kind of a rookie perspective, or have
52:54
autos. So, uh, it is a cool set. Have you looked
52:59
to see kind of what's what's the entry price here as we get into the
53:01
middle of January, I honestly haven't because we are, I think a little
53:07
bit different from when we've discussed other releases. Usually it's like day of or
53:13
right around it, so there's stuff on eBay and stuff being released that we
53:17
can see and put prices on. But for this one, it actually I
53:22
guess I should have also stated it doesn't come out till the seventeenth, so
53:24
it's still got a couple of weeks. And this product, a little bit
53:28
like Bowman Platinum, also just kind of hits the retail shelves at random times
53:34
that, like I find even though technically the release date's the seventeenth, maybe
53:38
some walmarts will have it early, or some shops will have it early because
53:45
the release date is a little softer, so I think that's you nailed it
53:50
though, when you started discussing Bowman's Best here and calling it a diet Bowman
53:54
that the trimmed upset, you know, you only got one hundred total base
53:59
cards between the seventy veterans and stars and rookies and then your thirty prospects,
54:05
so it's a pretty trim spelt set as well as like the inserts, there's
54:09
not a ton of inserts, so this becomes a pretty good product, I
54:14
think, especially for entry level collectors that you know, if you're wanting to
54:20
start get into card collecting here in twenty twenty four, this will get you
54:23
kind of I think prepped going into Series one, which will be coming out
54:28
next month. That when the twenty twenty four cards come out it can be
54:31
a little bit overwhelming with just these vastly huge sets and dozens and dozens of
54:37
inserts. Bowen's Best is pretty small, so you can start collecting it and
54:43
building sets, and especially for kids, it's a nice little set to build
54:46
with lots of stars and rookies, and as you alluded to, all the
54:52
new Draft's and prospects where Bowen Draft was so expensive to be able to get
54:55
a first card of Paul's Schemes or Wyatt length Ford or any of these kind
55:00
of really cool guys, you really had to pay out through the nose that
55:04
Bowman's Best gives more casual collectors an easier path to collecting one of the first
55:09
cards from some of those big names, and so I really like it from
55:14
all those aspects. I guess I was also explaining all this because I was
55:16
hoping you'd look up the price in the meantime, which basically got which I
55:22
did, which, And this is where we're gonna have to throw some cold
55:23
water on this. So oh no, again, this isn't from tops officially,
55:28
but this is from a lot of your your your resellers here or your
55:32
secondary markets. So you're still Steel City Collectibles, your Card World things like
55:37
that, and they're all coming in and ride about three hundred dollars for a
55:40
hobby box, okay, and again it's not the Bowman, which is what
55:45
you're talking like six hundred dollars now, But you have also remember how many
55:50
cards are in your Bowman. You are talking about a twelve pack product with
55:54
five cards a pack that is sixty cards do the math five dollars a card,
56:01
so that is pretty steep. You do get three autographs guaranteed in each
56:07
box and the big, big part of what it is, yeah, and
56:09
so I think that that does play into it. And then also I think
56:12
you get twelve refractors per box, a number of other inserts, and so
56:16
like it is loaded with a lot of uniqueness. Having that smaller base set,
56:22
you're you're gonna get a lot of other things like refractors and inserts and
56:25
even the autos. So I think it is a product that the price point
56:30
to me, feels like it should be more on than like one eighty to
56:32
two hundred points than the three hundred to really be where I'm really excited to
56:39
rip the product. I think it's gonna be hard to get the value out
56:43
of it unless you really hit one of the big big names because they're not
56:49
going to demand the premium. Even on the big names, the big name
56:52
autos aren't going to demand the premium of like one hundred dollars on auto.
56:57
It's just not going to be there. So this is a really great again
57:00
up more on the secondary market, picking things up, grabbing Singles actually one
57:04
of my probably my favorite sets to set build, because like I said,
57:07
it is a smaller set and the cards are very very well made. They're
57:12
always great looking cards, always that thicker chrome card stock. So I am
57:17
a little bit disappointed to see that the market showing them about three hundred dollars
57:22
price point. We never know. Tops might come in differently sometimes that plays,
57:27
but it's usually within like a ten percent or so of what those are.
57:31
So if they if Tops Lanes at like two sixty nine ninety five,
57:36
you know it's I wouldn't be shocked, But it seems like the market's pushing
57:39
that that three hundred. And you can only get these in hobby boxes.
57:45
There's not you know, blasters, there's nothing else. I think each hobby
57:50
box contains two miniboxes. So for me, if I'm getting in on Bowen's
57:54
Best, it's probably through breaks or something early on if I want to play
57:59
or wait for later. Yeah, And I guess maybe I was also cross
58:02
pollinating Bowman's Best and Bowman Platinum. In my mind that Bowman Platinum is certainly
58:07
much more of a retail product, but you see Bowman's Best kind of I
58:12
think part of it too, is like it's going to be a huge breaker
58:15
product at that price less literally is yes, especially just with those three autos
58:22
per box that I mean so in a case, you're looking at like almost
58:25
fifty autos per case if it's sixteen boxes, So that is going to be
58:31
pretty substantial. But the flip side of that is you're gonna be able to
58:37
find base cards of Bowman's Best pretty cheap, either at your local hobby shops
58:45
or at cards shows or on Evay and kind of big lots. So it
58:51
does kind of bring it back around that, like, you know, those
58:54
base cards should be pretty easy collectibles, and it makes the chase a little
59:00
bit more fun of like also giving you different avenues of seeing how the hobby
59:05
works as supposed to just kind of ripping them all yourself. So I think
59:08
I wanted to go through and I think what's really fascinating about this product this
59:14
year is the nineteen ninety two Bowman by Randy Johnson auto inserts that I think
59:22
this is a great mix of kind of all sorts of parties coming together for
59:25
a really cool card set. That what they're doing is using the design from
59:31
the nineteen ninety two Bowman Baseball kind of prospects set, and what they did
59:38
is they took really goofy, casual photos and they didn't date very like age
59:45
very well because everybody wore super nineties tastics outfits. The most famous of these
59:51
cards is the Mario Rivera Rokie card, so I'll link to that the show
59:54
notes that you can see that's a that's a classic. Yeah, that's what
59:59
they're back to. So all the prospects in this set, for the Randy
1:00:05
Johnson cards will have that design and then some of them will have autograph parallels
1:00:09
as well. So all the photos are taken by Yes, the picture of
1:00:14
Randy Johnson. So that's why I keep saying his name all the time that
1:00:17
as he's transitioned into being a photographer full time in his retirement, that they
1:00:22
gave him this cool set to work with. And so I think this will
1:00:25
make it be a really fun insert set to also collect as its own kind
1:00:32
of standalone if you're looking for something that mixes a lot of little different pieces
1:00:37
and bits and bobs and references to different portions of baseball history and baseball card
1:00:45
history. It's a really fun set to be able to look back and compare
1:00:49
to the ninety two Bowmen compared to the Mariano rivera rookie card, dive into
1:00:53
Randy Johnson's photography booklet and get to know some of these new players. Yeah,
1:01:00
I think you're right, and it is. It's one of those unique
1:01:02
like actually from like the back to the Randy Johnson is actually from the lens
1:01:08
of Randy Johnson. Like it's kind of this cool. I do think,
1:01:13
you know, for all the hard time we've given Tops fanatics over the last
1:01:17
year, even though maybe a little gimmicky, they have done a great job
1:01:22
of finding unique things to do in almost every product. It seems like now
1:01:27
some of them have gone off with a million hitches. Besides without a hitch,
1:01:31
but like doing little things like this which could give you something to go
1:01:36
after within a set that makes it more reachable, more attainable for the common
1:01:42
collector is a great move. So I think it's great. So, but
1:01:45
with that, I have to request, are you going to take us through
1:01:49
all of the parallels because that's part of one of my favorite things we do.
1:01:53
So are you going to take us through? Yes, that's what we
1:01:57
got. So in your base set, this is those veterans rookies, not
1:02:05
prospects. Well, also the prospects at this that's why I was getting to
1:02:07
the prospects had the same parallels, which is actually different from some of the
1:02:12
other Bowman products that we've discussed that usually the prospects have more parallels. So
1:02:16
here with Bowman's Best, you're getting the same I just want to verify,
1:02:22
like real quick before I misspeak on that the way I just did with the
1:02:27
retail that yeah, you are indeed getting the same parallels and the same odds.
1:02:36
It looks like too, So that's kind of interesting that, like they
1:02:40
all have the same sort of print run that you've got your base card.
1:02:45
Then you've got refractors, wave refractors which are unnumbered, which that'll be cool
1:02:52
to see, Like you don't see too many just wave refractors outside of stadium
1:02:55
club chromes. So yeah, it's almost more of a kind of a Pannini
1:03:00
thing if anything with a comes with the colors, you know, yep,
1:03:05
exactly, So you got that right off the bat, which would be kind
1:03:08
of cool to see. Then you've got mini diamond refractors, purple refractors,
1:03:14
aqua lava refractors, blue refractors, green refractors, green, mini diamond refractors.
1:03:21
All of these have been their kind of normal numbers, which is two
1:03:24
ninety nine for the mini diamond, two fifty for purple, one ninety nine
1:03:30
for aqua lava, one fifty for blue, of ninety nine for those greens.
1:03:36
Then you get a of seventy five gold lava refractor, of fifty gold
1:03:42
refractor, of twenty five orange refractor, of ten red refractor, of five
1:03:47
red lava refractor, and then you're one of one super fractors. So a
1:03:52
much more limited refractor lists here too. So again another set where like we
1:03:59
were saying, a diet bowman, where the refractor list here is pretty limited.
1:04:04
So if you're looking for an easier rainbow to chase in a little bit
1:04:10
more of like a nicer product, this is probably the nicest point that I've
1:04:15
seen for that in quite a while. Yeah, and we haven't seen,
1:04:19
you know, the all the parallels. We can have photos out there from
1:04:24
the you know, just the checklist the advertisement on it. But as I
1:04:28
read that list or to listen to what you're walking through there, it seems
1:04:31
like they might be taking some of the best of the best type of designs
1:04:35
because those many diamond parallels have always been great, the waves have been great,
1:04:41
the lava refractors have really stood out, and so it's like they're taking
1:04:45
some of the best of the best. And again it's a really good card
1:04:47
design this year from just looking at the base that as well. So I
1:04:51
think that there's a lot to be said for Best is just really the quality
1:05:00
of what it's doing. I guess I probably understated that I call it the
1:05:03
diet Bowman product. You know, it's maybe the diet is the Platinum.
1:05:09
I'm not sure what that makes best. It's somewhere somewhere in the in between,
1:05:13
so zero product. It's the Bowman zero nice. I was gonna try
1:05:19
to make some like joke about like house brand soda somewhere. But so even
1:05:27
the diet still works because like it's not it's not like a knockoff the way
1:05:32
like maybe when you're thinking of like a cheap set like big League or honestly
1:05:38
even Bowman Platinum of like where it just like it is a cheaper card stock
1:05:44
and it's chintzy and you can feel it and like you just kind of know
1:05:47
right off the back. Okay, so we can leave Best at the diet
1:05:49
and we're gonna we're gonna put that and platinum at the right aid zero.
1:05:55
Yes, there you go. Sorry for those of you listening that don't have
1:05:59
a right Aid near you. That was not a compliment for their soda.
1:06:04
All right. I think we also got to get to the million dollar question
1:06:08
here. It's another Bowman product. How long until we get a super fractor
1:06:13
controversy. Well, we're gonna make the least a week as well as I'm
1:06:17
gonna say, uh, unless the breakers get there early. I think we're
1:06:21
gonna make it at least one week before a super fractor uh controversy. I'm
1:06:29
I'm trying to predict what it's gonna be this time. I'm gonna go with
1:06:33
missing super fractors. There's not gonna be any They're gonna they're gonna mess it
1:06:39
up, or they're gonna print them without the numbering. It's gonna there's just
1:06:42
gonna be super fractors with no one of the ones on there. There's gonna
1:06:44
be something opposite. We've had so too many duplicates, triple kits, uh,
1:06:49
you know, test versions of super fractors. They got so scared they
1:06:53
didn't print any. I think I think I like your idea of the not
1:06:59
being numbered right because the first one would take forever to figure out that there
1:07:02
were no super fractors inserted. It takes us a couple of months, but
1:07:06
I think people would figure it out. Yeah, I'm trying to think of
1:07:11
I'm gonna go with like they printed them with the wrong backs. We've been
1:07:16
seeing that a lot more too on Twitter and Reddit, where you're seeing I've
1:07:21
been seeing cards on both sites where you know you'll have a player on the
1:07:28
front and then like a football card on the back that we're not too far
1:07:32
off from that happening that you know, we're running out of controversies. Didn't
1:07:38
they have like tops cards with like Panniti on the back or something like that.
1:07:41
It was like, like who messed that one up? Like you couldn't
1:07:45
even get the right brand And I didn't think they were that integrated at Fanatics
1:07:49
yet. But maybe maybe there's more to the story that we know. Yeah,
1:07:53
exactly, so we will keep our eyes peeled for that when the product
1:07:57
comes out again on one seventeen were seventeenth, So you can take back what
1:08:01
I sang earlier about the retail dates being a little Smashy because that's not gonna
1:08:06
happen that you'll have to get it from your hobby stores through a breaker,
1:08:10
through some other source online because Walmart and other places like that will not have
1:08:15
it. But we do have an updated schedule for a few more releases that
1:08:20
have either been dropped kind of out of nowhere or are really showing what's coming
1:08:27
down the pike. So Brew, can you let us know what the release
1:08:30
schedules looking at like for the next couple of months. Yep. So we
1:08:34
just had Bowman Drafts Sapphire come out. We didn't really talk about that one.
1:08:41
That was the right early January here. Then about a week after Best,
1:08:46
we're gonna have Padini Flawless. For those of you haven't seen Flawless,
1:08:50
it's another kind of high end Padini product, kind of like National Treasures or
1:08:55
something like that. It is a very premium product. Also looks at it
1:08:59
looks the part, you know. Then we still have our Bowman dates out
1:09:04
there in May for next year, and then we are expecting mid February sometime
1:09:11
in there, maybe mid to late February, We're not sure the date yet,
1:09:14
but Tops Series one flagship is coming out, and so there will be
1:09:17
a lot of attention from us on that product. Is the kickoff to the
1:09:23
to the twenty twenty four a baseball card season, if you may. That's
1:09:27
where all the big, the big names, the big rookies are coming out.
1:09:30
So it'll be interesting to see who all is in that rookie class.
1:09:33
I know there's a few few key names that were held back from from Tops
1:09:38
that are going to be making an appearance in that one. Yeah, exactly,
1:09:42
it's gonna and that's going to really kick off spring training as well.
1:09:45
That it's the start of the baseball season for me, is when Top Series
1:09:48
one releases, So it's a it's a great kickoff and I'm looking forward to
1:09:54
it. So hopefully we get a solid date set here over the next week
1:09:59
or two. That it's usually a little soft, but like it also blows
1:10:03
my mind considering how huge of a released Series one is and they just like
1:10:08
don't fully know the date that it's going to be released because it's probably like
1:10:14
the most printed set of the year, I would imagine it is. I
1:10:17
think that's been one of the struggles they've had, you know, because it's
1:10:20
one of the sets that I've I've typically uh, spent some time in ripping,
1:10:24
and what I've noticed with them is that even though you might have the
1:10:27
release date with Series one, that release date applies to like the first release
1:10:32
of cards from that, but does not mean every part of that series is
1:10:35
released. And what I mean is, yeah, your blasters, your your
1:10:41
hangars, your your fat packs. Like generally you're seeing like the hobby boxes,
1:10:45
jump of boxes coming out that release date and generally the blasters, but
1:10:49
sometimes those hangars, those fat packs and other things like that tend to not
1:10:53
actually be released at the same time. Those will trail a few weeks,
1:10:57
and so if you're really wanting to get get Series one might have to do
1:11:00
a pre order, make sure you're checking what's you're ordering there, because they
1:11:03
might not be coming all at the same time. Yeah, exactly. And
1:11:08
we actually haven't even gotten like a design released too, so when that comes
1:11:13
out over the next couple of weeks, we will cover that as well.
1:11:15
So Figer's crossed, Yeah exactly. I'm it just kind of like does build
1:11:20
the anticipation that. Yeah, I think twenty twenty four caught tops off guard
1:11:25
the way it certainly did me too. The other question I had is you
1:11:30
list off that schedule. Obviously, Stadium Club's still floating around. But do
1:11:35
you think it's coming out before or after Series one? Yeah? I have
1:11:40
to think that. You know, I have not seen the date. I
1:11:42
have to think it's coming out before Series one. It only makes sense.
1:11:45
But I know there's been a few sets I think in like the Top Platinum
1:11:50
Anniversary that seems to come out like a year after it's supposed to come out.
1:11:56
Yeah, I have to think that they're going to get it out.
1:11:59
I kind of steak then, but I think it's gonna be one of those
1:12:00
that just kind of shows up on us, like announced one week out.
1:12:06
The next type of thing is kind of what I'm expecting for Stadium Club.
1:12:11
So if I if I was betting, i'd say we're probably gonna see Stadium
1:12:15
Club here in late January early February is what I'm what I'm banking on.
1:12:19
All right, Well, I'm penciling that into my schedule on your authority,
1:12:23
So, uh, I appreciate that. But my as any great baseball writer
1:12:30
would say, per my sources that don't exist, just my general opinion,
1:12:34
Uh, where we're looking at late January, we'll mark it down Okay,
1:12:39
that sounds great. So yeah, that covers Bowman's best coming out here in
1:12:43
a couple of weeks in the schedule for other cards coming up. Brew let's
1:12:47
wrap this thing up. Can you tell the people where they can find you?
1:12:51
Yep, they can find me over on Twitter slash exa Jay Brewer one
1:12:56
seven. Also rasball. We will be kicking off We didn't get a chance
1:13:00
to talk about this on the top, but we will be kicking off off
1:13:03
season coverage for fantasy baseball for the twenty twenty four season here in just about
1:13:09
two weeks, So you'll find me there doing hitter profiles and the top one
1:13:14
hundred hitters over on the weekends over on ras ball. So tune in,
1:13:18
like I said, about two weeks out and you'll start seeing us pumping out
1:13:21
the fantasy baseball content for twenty twenty four. Yeah, and you can also
1:13:27
find me on Twitter slash x and blue sky at in Cool seven and you
1:13:32
will be able to find me at rasball. Waiver wires won't start until like
1:13:39
the first week of the season, so I've still got a couple months hanging
1:13:43
out just doing the pod. But if you do like the pod, make
1:13:45
sure to rate review comment, like rate reviews cycle. Yeah, whatever you
1:13:55
can do on whatever platform you listen to the pod on, go ahead and
1:13:59
do that really helps us boost our audience and get this pod into New Years.
1:14:03
And if you've got any questions or comments or any pieces of news that
1:14:08
you want to send us, you can reach the pod at cards categories at
1:14:13
gmail dot com. It's also cards categories on Twitter, slash x and I
1:14:17
also, along with the release of twenty twenty four content coming here on rasball,
1:14:23
want to just give a shout out that the new subscriptions will be coming
1:14:26
up on ras ball. You can get all the great daily information in terms
1:14:30
of streams and picture matchups and all sorts of different projections that I've used the
1:14:38
tools a lot for just making daily decisions in terms of lineups, but you
1:14:42
could use it for dfs or any sorts of other long term projections or look
1:14:45
back analysis. Great tools, great website. Obviously we work for it,
1:14:50
so we love it. So if you are looking for somewhere to get a
1:14:55
little bit of an edge on your fantasy season and get a little different info
1:14:58
that Rudy's got a lot of great stuff coming up in the subscription. This
1:15:01
year that I would definitely check it out. So yeah, we will wrap
1:15:05
up this pod for the this week and we will be back next week again
1:15:10
at the same place, same time. We'll see you there. You're kind
1:15:32
of the results that he that he has had in the past. Nope,
1:15:43
Ei there, Yes, can you hear me? You're passing it over to
1:15:48
me. Sorry, I passed it over and he didn't pick it up.
1:15:51
That's okay, that's okay, delete this out. Wait, actually, I'll
1:15:58
stop the recording now. They'll think it easier