Quick - name that flick!
The Jeffrey that life (or rather Ebay) slipped me yesterday afternoon was of the Beliveau variety.
A Cubs relief-prospect who was on the shuttle between Des Moines and Chicago throughout 2012, thus keeping him from finding his niche (4.58 ERA in 17.2 frames) and burning up his options prematurely. This lead to his unecessary DFA that offseason.
That development proved to be unfortunate, as Jeffrey emerged as a strong component of the Tampa Bay bullpen last season, posting a 2.63 ERA in 30 games.
But we snapped Joe Maddon up from under their noses and the bullpen has actually been one of the strongest and most well-stocked aspects of this team lately - so, we win!
He's ours Tampa!
This mugshot of a baseball card comes from Jeffrey's minor league days, 2011 to be specific. You'll notice that the 18th rd. draft choice from 2008 is listed as a member of the High-A Daytona Cubs, but the uniform he is sporting clearly does not match up. He's actually wearing a Tennessee Smokies uni, AA affiliate of the Cubs.
I find this somewhat goofy, seeing as he never tossed another pitch in Daytona after his call up to the Volunteer State mid-way through 2011. That said, I can see why Daytona would have wanted to document his time spent there in their team-issued set of cards - 0.52 ERA in 17 innings with 2 saves. His performance continued right on up to AA, were he posted a 1.89 ERA in 57 innings. You can see why he became a prospect, despite his draft status.
You win some, you lose some
Courtesy of Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images North America
So, even though it wasn't for Chicago, it's nice to see that Jeff may have finally solidified his spot in the Major Leagues. What's not nice is my record keeping.
You see, I thought I still needed a Jeffrey card to place into my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection. So, when I saw this card listed for about $1 with shipping included on Ebay, I pounced, seeing as minor league singles are generally tough to come by at a decent price.
Well, it turns out that I was wrong. In fact, not only did I have a card representing Beliveau in my CATRC, I had one that was graciously bestowed upon me by P-Town Tom of Waiting 'til Next Year fame.
This one even looks more like a baseball card than a mugshot. Doh!
C'iest la vie. There much, much, much bigger problems in the world that I could be having to deal with right now. So, I'll just add this to my greater Cubs card collection and smile.
Unlike Jeffrey - he looks like he's been too busy stroking furry walls to smile.
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