Is it possible?

After being out of the loop for quite a few months due to school and work, I've come back to blogging. The hatred of Beckett seems to be dwindling (at least to me). However, the lingering fact that Beckett's Saving Grace, their "price guide" still is used by so many collectors.

After multiple conversations with my dad about my cards and how much they are worth (according to Beckett) I've realized he was one of the many who got caught up in the late 80's early 90's collecting craze. Granted for his sake, he had collected since he was a young child, and his collection will forever surpass mine, regardless of how many 1/1's or multiple relic auto's I pull. To see mint rookies of Kareem, Pete Rose, Joe Namath, it's humbling. He's got Yogi's, Mantles, Spahns...you basically name it.

A few nights ago, him and I were talking about Beckett and how it really isn't the true go to for pricing. I explained the whole Ebay versus Beckett and he understood and laughed at how him and I would save all rookies from anything. I'm sure my college education that I've been receiving will easily be paid off with those Tim Bogar rookie cards. And if Tim isn't a great money grabber, we still have plenty of mint Steve Finley's.

But the main point I want to ask all of you is this:

Is it possible to create our own Price Guide and update it via ending bids by Ebay? Sure you can remember all of the final auctions of a card you want, but I'm talking whole sets. For instance, when Allen and Ginter drops later this year, within a week or two, there could easily be an online Blogger made price guide and people would then be able to use that. Here's the kicker, they'd have a REAL expectation of what their card is worth. I'm currently testing this with my favorite cards, MLB Showdown. It's easy for me to test this on cards such as Showdown since the game and cards haven't been produced since 2005. The tricky part about this idea is that a set like Ginter would take quite a few dedicated people to help put together a price guide for fellow collectors/bloggers.

Do you think this would work or would it just be a waste of time?

Wedgie Watch™

(Thanks to Waiting For Next Year for the photo).


The clock is ticking here in Cleveland. The late honey-moon of last season is over after the wonderful playoff parade in 2007 happened. This was going to be year the Tribe were really the sleepers, again. Well sitting in last place with our heads in our faces doesn't seem very promising. Derosa trade done and dusted. White flag up and our doors are wide open for the 29 other GM's to come and speculate who is available to deal.

Let the rumors begin. And thanks to ESPN the ball is rolling. Start up the rumor of Victor to Boston, again. Cliff Lee, have fun pitching somewhere else. I don't think either of these will happen, but I'm sure ESPN will love to dream up these rumors.

What needs to happen:
Garko gone.
Francisco gone.

Wedge....probably gone.

7 years, 1 playoff appearance. Wedge has done plenty of good things for the club, mostly fostering young talent and helping in the community. But only one of those helps the on field progression of the club. Even in 2003 when he was appointed he had trouble managing his pitchers. I gave it about 2 years before he'd catch on. It's 2009, and he still makes baffling choices. Granted, this year more than ever he's not really had many great choices to choose from.

Could I manage our pitchers better than Eric? Probably not, no. But there has got to be a learning curve? As said before, there hasn't been much talent in the 'pen for Wedge to go to. Wood hasn't been what we envisioned. The majority of the rest of the staff has underperformed or just performed to their average, however you want to look at it.

Taking that into consideration, the Tribe's Pythagorean Wins and Loss Record is 36-41. 5 Games under .500. Good for about 7 games out of first place. A lofty, yet reachable goal; especially in this division. That's quite a bit of dumb luck to have not gone our way. If we continue to play the way we've played in the second half of the last two years, there is a slim chance the Tribe could make a push. It'd be awesome if it happens to get the fans excited about the team and getting more people at the empty park.

Now Shapiro believes that this is just a stutter in his Master Plan™. And to be honest to him and his resume with the Tribe so far, I believe it. His worst deal so far has been Brandon Phillips to Cincy. Lately he's dropped the ball with some of his Free Agent signings...Dellucci, Kobayashi, Wood (to an extent). And I don't think I've ever been excited about his high round draft picks. Except Sowers, but I'm biased on him. So I'll give Mark a pass, he's earned it.

Or has he? What about that contract that looms on our heads in the form of Travis Hafner? What is the deal with those injuries over the last few seasons? That huge power surge from 05-07 and then silence for awhile. Rumors swirled that it could have been attributed to steroids, I'm on the fence about it. He's always been a big dude, but that sharp decline, at least to me, sets off a red-flag. What do we do with a guy who is going to be owed nearly 10+ million a year until 2013! For the lack of his playing time lately and the fact that the guy is useless in the field, we are paying a shitload of cash for a DH. We are not New York(s), Boston, or LAA. We are a mid-level market team. While I wouldn't mind seeing Hafner being dealt, I don't know what we'd get. Also, even though he doesn't play often, the runs he'd produce would not be able to come from somewhere else in the lineup. At least not this year.

The only thing I know is that 2009 has not been kind to the Tribe. So with that said, what now for the Tribe? Does Eric Wedge really deserve to be fired?

Where are they now....

Over a year ago I was all about Topps Finest. The first box I pulled contained the coveted Jay Bruce Redemption. Over the course of time I pulled plenty of other nice stuff. A lot of the autographs were of minor league dudes. So since a year has passed, I'm going to see what they are doing.

Sam Fuld.

Drafted by the Cubbies.

Last year at this time: Playing in AAA hitting .222.310/.317/.627.
Currently: Still at AAA (Iowa) and hitting .286/.358/.399/.758 in 283 AB's. 16 XBH with 0 homers. For some reason I love guys who do not hit homers. He's walked 10 more times than he's K'd (32/22 split) and has 20 SB's only being caught 5 times.

Outlook:
He's currently on the Cubbies 40-Man, so a September call-up is most likely in the future. Although he'll really have to impress Lou come September due to him being 28. The rest of Iowa's OF is really awesome. Brad Snyder, So Taguchi, Jason Dubois, and a guy named John-Ford Griffin. Not really sure where Fuld ranks in terms of prospects for the Cubs, but I'd imagine that it's not very high and he'd end up being a bench guy.

Jonathan Meloan.


Last Year: Meloan was starting for the Dodgers AAA club. His numbers were 50 IP with a 4.14 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP (47K/27BB). He was later dealt to Cleveland in the Casey Blake deal.
Currently: I haven't even looked at his stats in Columbus until right now. I was going to write about how his numbers were much closer to his 2007 numbers (2.03 ERA, 91K's in 66.2 IP), but no. I wish he was putting up something to that stat line. Instead he has a bulky 5.65 ERA in 43 IP. In this time he's gotten 35 K's. Glad to know that the Tribe isn't the only team with bullpen woes. Our AAA club is bad too. Wonderful.

Outlook:
Meloan will probably make it up here sooner or later. I'd assume if things keep going the way they are going, Meloan will get a chance to shine at least by September, especially since the Indians are trying to do anything necessary to keep our heads above water. Who knows maybe Meloan will baffle hitters up here with the Tribe and we'll have a solid cog in the bullpen to round out the rest of this frustrating year.

The National. One month away. Unlike the past year's I cannot gurantee that I'll be able to go to it, which sucks. Looking over the list of autographs it's pretty solid, except for Eric Crouch. Why is he going to be here? What does he even do anymore? I guess Cleveland is the ideal market for Eric to come sign at, whatever.

Organizing more cards, I found my redemptions from 2008 Finest, which I think I still have a few days to redeem, I gotta get on that. I know Jay Bruce is one of the cards I'm owed, but I doubt I'll be able to get that card redeemed after the hype of Bruce. Although he is only hitting around the mid .200's.

I was in Chicago over the weekend to see the Tribe. Friday and Sunday games. This team is turning into the Browns in that they can cleverly find ways to blow games. Usually it ends up with the bullpen. Last night I watched Cliff Lee pitch for the second time in a week and if I were him I'd be so frustrated with the bullpen. I wonder how these guys don't rip each other's heads off after losses. Team is turning into the late 80's early 90's Indians, it's getting ugly. 14 games under. Yikes.

So over the last month my computer has slowly been going downhill. Last week it finally gave into a huge virus/trojan and is currently being looked at by the Geek Squad. So any posts I've been wanting to make haven't happened due to this.

So in the last week I've done this:

Opened a box of 2002 MLB Pennant Run that I've had in my posession for over 2 years. Got a bunch of nice cards I've already had that I'll throw on Ebay. Got a few others that I really needed to finish building the set.

Went to Chicago to see the Tribe play against the Cubbies. Love going to Wrigley. Don't like seeing the Indians being the worst team in baseball, literally. The Nationals are not this bad. Records may indicate otherwise, but I don't buy it.

Found two auto'd baseballs my dad has upstairs. One being Ron Guidry. The other is Hank Aaron. Unreal. He's got so much old stuff it's insane and I plan on going through and cataloging it eventually this year to help see if I can finish sets for him.

Otherwise, I'm still not buying any cards. I'd love to bust a box of stuff but with the spending on $300+ on my PC fix, I cannot do that. I do plan on hitting up the National this year and have a fun competition with my friend on who can find the best garbage relic/auto card.

161 Million Euros

That's $232 Million Dollars. A hefty sum especially in the current economic climate. If you were given that amount, what would you do with it?

How about spend it in a matter of a few days on two soccer players? No, well then you wouldn't fit in at Real Madrid. This lot just dropped that cash on pure world class players Kaka (Brazilian formerly with AC Milan) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugese formerly with Manchester United). While these two are easily in the best Top 5 in the world right now, it's just absurd how much money was spent.

The best part, Madrid are still trying to get other players. Galacticos Round Two.

FIFA 2010 is going to be unplayable online this year, everyone will be Real while I'm still playing with Spurs.

First post in nearly 3 months. What's good in the card world, if anything at all?