Monday, December 7, 2015

Vote For Lackey! Which Card Makes the CATRC?

Phew... I'm pretty sure that the hot stove damn near overheated and blew up this past Friday.  Some mid-level guys like Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez switched caps, the David Price deal was officially announced, Barry freakin' Bonds was named the Marlins hitting coach, Zack Greinke caught everyone off-guard and, most importantly, John Lackey became the newest member of the Cubs' starting rotation.

In the immortal words of Inspector Gadget, "wowzer!"

While a 2-year, $32 million deal for a 37 year old arm might seem like an overpay on the surface, I'm quite ok with it.  In a market where Jeff Samardzija can have $100 million on the table and the aforementioned Pelfrey gets $16 mill for basically still having a right arm... yea, it's a crazy market.  Plus, a staff of Arrieta, Lester, Lackey, Hendricks, Hammel sounds pretty solid to me.

So, now comes the time to decide what card will represent the Cub's newest signing in my CATRC binder, at least for now until he gets his first Chicago card in a few months.  When Theo & Co. traded for Dan Haren last summer, I left it up to a vote because I can be very indecisive.  Let's do it again and see what happens this time around:

Here are the contenders:



I always go back and forth on 2007 Topps; I love black bordered sets, they're just so sleek and classy.  However, I absolutely loathe the foil names (as most people seem to).  Overall, not a bad card though, although the posed spring training shot isn't particularly interesting.



2009 Upper Deck is a massive set and I have relatively little of it - I don;t even have most of the Cubs team set.  So, it's kind of amazing that I happened to have the Lackey from this checklist.  It's also proof that Topps isn't the only company guilty of zoomed in, pitching face photo selection.



And here we move to 2010, when Lackey himself moved from the Angels to the Red Sox.  I've always considered the Sawx my second favorite team, even after they've become just as much of an evil empire as the Yankees.  I used to consider this year of Topps to be disappointing; but, I've really come around on it recently.  Again I wouldn't mind it if they had skipped the foil, at least on the text for the name.



The only insert of the bunch. I used to have a "World Series Hero" insert from '15 Topps; however, I traded that away to Tom of Angels in Order... along with a few nice cards of Dan Haren right after that trade.  Oopsy.

I wonder if anyone has ever actually sit down and tried to play the game associated with these cards.  I have a thing for baseball/game card hybrids (MLB Showdown, Platinum Series, Milton Bradley, etc. etc.); so, even though I'll never play it, I'll never rid myself of it either.



Finally, we have a 2015 Archives Cards card.  This right here is ultra-zoomed pitching face and a Cardinals card... even though it's in the design of 1967 Topps, I sure wouldn't pick this one myself.  Although, part of me take a little bit of pleasure in stealing Lackey away from St. Louis and this card is a good reminder of that.

And since I started drafting this post on Friday evening, we've had Hisashi Iwakuma sign with the Dodgers and it looks like Aroldis Chapman will join him in LA by way of trade.  Plus, apparently the Cubs are in talks with Tampa about a trade for pitching, in which Javy Baez would move south.  

The hot stove has become a scalding stove!  It looks like I might have to do another one of these voting posts soon.

So, which one will it be that gets the honor of being enshrined in my CATRC binder (at least until his first Cubs card comes out in a few months)?  If you don't mind, cast your votes in the comments section - it's the American way.





6 comments:

  1. That was a good signing. Good pitcher on a short term commitment is always a benefit. Not a ton of risk for the Cubs.

    My vote would be Upper Deck....

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  2. Yeah good pickup for you guys, I vote '15 Heritage. You broke the Chapman news to me.

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    1. I also like the '15 Heritage. You're right, it is a nice reminder of stealing him from the Cardinals and defeating Lackey and the Cards in game 4 of the NLDS.

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  3. I'm not a fan of 2007 Topps, but I do like the old-timey pose on Lackey's card there. I'll go with that one.

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  4. 2011 Topps is a recent fave of mine, plus he's not a Cardinal in that one (gross).

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