From The Pedro Binder

2003 UD MVP

For a card as flashy as this one it, I actually really like it.

At first glance, the thing that pops out at me is the photo selection. Pedro’s not in his wind up. He’s not staring down a batter. It looks like he’s thanking one of his fielders for a nice play. While not exactly earth shattering, it’s something a little different. My favorite part about the picture, though, is that it covers part of the MVP logo. I generally hate it when the name of the card company is the largest and most important part of the card. But, I think an exception can be mad if the picture is actually allowed to obscure the logo. So, instead of calling attention to itself, it actually makes Pedro more prominent.

The other thing that makes Pedro pop is the background color. The background of the photo is blurred with a pinkish hue to it. Even the “jersey” texture that is applied to the top of the card, while unnecessary, helps make Pedro really stand out. It also helps to make the MVP logo look like it’s a patch on a uniform. While that design element is a bit wasted on this card, it’s a nice touch.

The rest of the card is exactly as needed. Pedro’s name and position are there, but tucked out of the way on the bottom. The card name, while appearing for a second time, is the one that is in unreadable foil.

That all adds up to a card worthy of being called “MVP.”

Happy Boxing Day!

I can’t think of a better day than one set aside to celebrate giving people things in boxes to discuss World Series DVD box sets.

As I’ve said before, one of the best (and most expensive) things about watching your team win the World Series is all the stuff you can buy to celebrate it. One of the more interesting ones is the set of DVDs showing each game of the World Series.

Honestly, I run a little hot and cold on these sets. While I love the idea of having a copy of every game for posterity, I’m not sure if I really need them all. I don’t have all the Matrix movies. If I feel like watching a Matrix-type film, I’m going to watch my favorite one. Why would I watch one of the others? Same goes with most movie franchises. I don’t need to own every one. If I’m in the mood to watch a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, why would I want all four to pick from? I’ll probably only ever watch my favorite one or two. I suppose the pitching match-ups could be different for Sox games. I might feel like watching Pedro instead of Curt, or Beckett instead of Dice-K. But, do I want to watch a loss? I’m not sure how strong my desire would be so see a poorly played game. Or a game that the Sox got bludgeoned in.

In earlier years, that wasn’t such a problem. In 2004, the Sox didn’t lose a World Series game. So, I didn’t have to worry about watching a loss. They did include all seven games against the Yankees in the set. So, there were three losses in there. But, the Yankee games are different. I actually like watching Game 3, just to feel all smug when everyone is counting the Sox out. In a weird way, I enjoy the losses…knowing what’s coming. A bit of dramatic irony.

In 2007, again all the World Series games were wins. Plus, the box set included the last three victories of the ALCS. So, you have seven victories to choose from.

But, this season, the Sox lost two World Series games. Those games are included in the set. So, if I’m sitting down to get my Red Sox fix, and can pick between game 6 of the World Series (or even game 6 of the ALCS, which is included) or game 3…why would I pick the loss? Sure, I might want to check out the obstruction play. Or even replay that entire inning. But, watching the whole game might be a bit much.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t want the set. What kind of Sox fan would I be if I didn’t want it? I just might not watch every disc.

Would you watch a World Series loss in its entirety? 

List of 36: Things I wouldn’t mind seeing under the tree Christmas morning

1. MLB 2013 World Series DVD

2. 2014 Red Sox calendar

3. Shane Victorino WS Jersey-T

4. 2013 World Champions Budweiser bottle

5. World Series Champions baseball

6. 1935 Goudy Wes/Rick Ferrell

7. 2103 WSC locker room T-shirt

8. 2013 WSC key chain

9. 1952 Topps Mel Parnell

10. Koji Uehara WS Jersey-T

11. Shane Victorino auto 2013 WS baseball

12. 2013 World Series hat

13. Cork from WS celebratory champagne

14. 1949 Bowman Johnny Pesky

15. 2013 World Series Champions coasters

16. Band of Bearded Brothers DVD

17. “We Own the Parade” T-shirt

18. 2013 Topps Red Sox team set

19. 2013 WS locker room champagne bottle

20. 2013 World Series program

21. 1911 T205 Bill Carrigan

22. Red Sox wine bottle

23. Koji Uehara ALCS Oyo minifigure

24. 2013 WSC locker room hat

25. “We Own the East” T-shirt

26. Jarrod Saltalamacchia Jersey-T

27. John Lackey auto 2013 WS baseball

28. Kevin Millar auto 2004 WS baseball

29. 1916 M101-4 Duffy Lewis

30. 2013 WS lanyard

31. Alan Embree auto 2004 WS baseball

32. Shane Victorino WS Oyo minifigure

33. 2013 World Series Box Set DVDs

34. Pokey Reese auto 2004 WS baseball

35. WS Game 6 Oyo minifigure team set

36. 1960 Topps Carl Yastrzemski

My Problem with Completing a Set

Or, “Why I’m only trying to build one set at the moment.”

I’m trying to complete the 1975 Topps set. Many people will think it’s an obvious choice. And, it probably is. Personally, there were many things that drew me to this set. It was old. No, it’s not 1956 old. But, old enough to be cool. It looks great. Those colorful borders just scream “build me!” It has a great mix of players. It has some cards of all-stars left over from the 60’s. It has cards of Hall-of-Famers from the 80’s. It has current managers as players. It has a card for a pinch runner. It has rookies of all-stars and Hall-of-Famers. Plus, it’s relatively inexpensive. These days, I’m not spending $100 on any of the cards. Especially since I’m pretty lax with my condition requirements. It’s just perfect.

My problem? I’m not done with the set, and I’ve already used up the coolness factors. I don’t know how close I am to actually completing it. I haven’t run the numbers. But, let’s say it’s 75% just to have numeric fun. That means I still have 100 or so cards to get. But, that means I already have lots of them. So, I have several hundred cards that are “old.” I have several hundred cards that are “colorful.” I have a stack of stars left over from the 60’s like Yaz and Aaron. I have some cards of future stars like Nolan Ryan. I have rookies of Hall-of-Famers like Jim Rice. I have future managers. I even have a pinch runner. So, the only things I have left are to get more cards of stuff I already have.

How do other people deal with this?

I hear people say they want to complete a set because they like the design. But, after you get 500 of them, don’t you have a pretty good collection of a great design? I even purposely haven’t gotten the Robin Yount card yet. I wanted to make that my last card. That way I wasn’t hunting around for some middle reliever from the Angels just to finish the set. I wanted my last card to be something I’d have the desire to actually chase down.

But, that doesn’t seem to be helping.

Sure, I’m still “building” the set. I just don’t have the oomph to do something about that goal. If the choice comes down to getting another old colorful card of some Tiger, or a Red Sox card from a set that I don’t have any of…I’m taking the latter.

Which might by why I haven’t completed a set since the junk wax era. For those sets, it was almost impossible not to complete it just by the amount of packs I was opening. Most of the time, it was done before the season even started. That set-less span is weird, because I’m a “set completer” in other areas of my life. I have every book written by Michael Crichton, because I needed to have them all. But, I suppose, each of those books were distinctly different. So, maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m not actually a set collector.

Or, maybe I just need a new strategy.

How do you find the motivation to complete a set?

Too Much Depth

I know what you’re thinking. The EEIdiots tell me that there’s no such thing as too much depth. As with most of the stuff they say, that’s absolute bunk.

You know why the Red Sox were never mentioned as a landing spot for Robinson Cano? Because they already have Dustin Pedroia. Nobody said they should sign Cano anyway, even though it would give the Red Sox incredible depth. That would have been too much.

Too much depth.

Of course every team and organization needs depth. If something happens to the top guy, it’s important to have someone to take their place. But, there’s a point where it becomes impracticable. Even though Pedroia takes terrible care of himself, having Cano waiting in case he got hurt would be a foolish waste of resources. The same goes for prospects on their way up. It does no good to have a case of prospects if they’ll never see an at-bat because they’re blocked by five other players.

Let’s take a look at the Red Sox prospects. Baseball America has come out with their list of the top ten Red Sox prospects for 2014. They represent the pinnacle of the Red Sox player development machine.

The top prospect is Xander Bogaerts. He’s almost more than a prospect. He should be the Red Sox Opening Day shortstop. Assuming everything goes even remotely as planned, he’ll be there for years to come. Jackie Bradley Jr comes in at number three. Again, he’s less of a prospect and more of the Sox Opening Day centerfielder. Then it gets more interesting.

Number five is Blake Swihart, a catcher. He’s young, so he’s a couple years away from Boston. That’s good, because the Sox have two catchers on the ML roster for this season. They also have a catcher, Christian Vazquez who is a bit ahead of Swihart in the system, but not quite the same prospect. How many catching prospects do you need?

Number six is Garin Cecchini. Again, he’s young…but he plays third base. If memory serves, the Red Sox already have a young third baseman. They need two?

Number seven is Mookie Betts, a second baseman. As we mentioned, the Sox are pretty well set at second for a while. Can’t move him over to short either…there’s that other guy there for quite a few years. His role will be, what exactly?

The rest of the top ten? All pitchers. Five of them. How many starters do the Sox currently have under contract? Six. Lester, Buchholz, and Doubront are here for a bit…probably. That leaves two spots for the rest of them. At what point does it get crazy?

Wouldn’t the Sox be better served by trading some of that excess for an improvement at another position? Maybe an outfielder from Miami?

I understand that cheap young talent allows the Sox to spend more to fill other holes. But, when you have twice as many young players as you do positions to plug them into, it’s getting counterproductive. It’s a waste of resources.

The other reason to have young talent is to trade it for older proven talent. It’s time for the Sox to start trimming that roster a bit.

Use those chips!