Feeling Blue

I am sure most collectors are aware of the Topps Now program where you can buy a card featuring a so called notable event from the previous day.  Collectors can also buy wall art that looks like various cards or complete sets.  A new twist this year is the Topps Chrome Sapphire Set.  For the low price of $1500, you get 700 base cards along with 2 1/1s and a handful of other numbered cards.  Topps produced 250 sets, but it will be interesting to see how many of them are sold.  I am guessing quite a few will be left over and be part of a Black Friday sale.

Singles have been popping up on EBAY for a while now.  Last week I ran across a seller who listed all 21 Cardinal cards in the set with $3.50 flat rate shipping no matter how many auctions you won.  I sat at my computer Friday night and placed bids on some of the cheaper cards.  I won a total of 14 auctions. 

Leake and Garcia started out as 2/5 of the Cardinals starting rotation this year.  Garcia has been sent to the bullpen after a number of bad starts, while Leake is still hanging on.  If the Cardinals sneak into the playoff, it will be interesting to see if he would be the 4th starter or if Luke Weaver would get the nod.

Both Rosenthal and Wacha have returned from the DL in the last few weeks to hopefully provide more reliable bullpen arms.  That remains to be seen.

Lynn and Walden have missed the entire season with injures.  Lynn had Tommy John surgery, while Walden has not recovered from a mysterious should injury from 2015.  He is the last remaining piece of the Jason Heyward-Shelby Miller trade.  That one did not work out well for either team, although at least the Braves dumped Miller for a nice handful of prospects.

Yet 2 more pitchers from the lot.  Martinez has become the most effective starter this year, while Siegrist is good at times, but suffers from fatigue and dead arm at times.  Matheny needs to scale back his use of Siegrist if he plans to have him around for many years.

The Cardinals signed Tejada in lat spring training once Peralta was placed on the DL with a thumb injury.  He never did hit and was released before the All Star break.  Jhonny has since returned, but it a shell of his former self and has been moved to third base.

Adams and Pham both have lots of potential, but cannot seem to stay healthy.  Pham hurt his oblique during his first at bat of the season and never got regular at bats to get in a groove.  Adams hurt his shoulder and lost playing time when Brandon Moss when on a home run binge, but is starting to see more playing time.  I would love to see how well he does with 500 at bats in a season.

Finally 2 Matts that make up the core of the team.  Holliday is showing his age, but still had good power numbers until a Cubs pitcher broke a bone in his hand.  It would not break my heart to see some retaliation this weekend against someone like Rizzo who hangs over the plate.  Carpenter has should see another 20 home run season while batting lead off most of the season.  He has also spent some time on the DL.

11 of the cards I won for the $0.75 starting bid, while the Pham was $1.06 and Carpenter and Martinez were $1.56.  Total including shipping was $15.93.  I will try buy the last 7 cards to complete the team set, but with Molina, Picostty, and Wainwright left it will be more costly.  I will say the cards are beautiful in hand, but wish they were numbered.