Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Broke the duck

I did it. Finally caved in. I purchased my first pack of 2009. A Bowman Jumbo pack. 32 glorious cards.

My "hits" were Daniel Murphy of the Mets. It was a Blue Parallel /500. James (other blogger who never blogs) said he is similar to Ryan Garko. I don't really know how he gets these comparisons. After he said that I decided to read the back of the card, something I rarely do.

Here's what it said:

Resume: Member of 2008 Eastern League All-Star squad, swatting .308 for Binghampton..Called up to Mets in August and ripped 11 hits in 1st 21 AB's.

Skills: Looks like he'll be a .300 hitter for a long time...Great balance of patience and aggressiveness...Hits to situations...Shows an instinct for the RBI.

Evolution: Not even going to bother.


This is really the crap they put on cards now? His resume sounds nice. Although he had 11 hits in his first 21 AB's, he's currently hitting .241/.310/.353 in 77 games for the Mets.

And where exactly does the writers of these cards find the player's "skills"? I mean, I know most of it is made up, but still, are they on some Bill James abstract non-sense to figure out he'll hit .300 for a long time? And what exactly is a long time? 10 years or 3 weeks? Also, most guys who are coached are told to hit to situations, that's just a stupid sentence.

The kicker, "shows instinct for RBI". Incredible. What if nobody is on-base, how do you get your RBI? Hitting a homer? In 355 MLB AB's he has 7 homers. 7 more than I'll ever have, but still, 7 homers.

At least the card was enjoyable. Other than that I got crap like Aaron Rowand (who I don't like at all). Got a David Price Rookie, which is nice. Then a bunch of WBC guys whose name I cannot pronounce.

Pulled an Esmil Rogers /599 Refractor. Guy is touted as the #7 Prospect in the Rockies System. Currently posting an 8-2 record 2.48 ERA and 83K's to 19BB's in 94.1 IP. Not bad.

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