A Trade That Leaves Me Feeling "Chapped"

The reports of a potential deal started making their way across the Twitter-verse yesterday evening and it appears as though the final deal is now official - today, the Chicago Cubs have acquired a player by the name of Chapman with a questionable legal history:

No, no - wrong Chapman!

That's the one.  A little levity for a morally-conflicting situation.

As far as baseball goes - this is a fairly sensible deal and emblematic of the kind of blockbuster trades that go down near the trading deadline.  The Cubs gave up a good amount of minor league talent for a proven talent that makes their team better in the immediate future.  Sure, several years down the road it may look like the Cubs gave up too much; however, prospects are prospects and, no matter how highly touted, can still bust and "he of 105mph fastballs" is arguably the best closer not named Mariano Rivera in recent history.

Here's what the Cubs gave up:  Gleyber Torres, Adam Warren, Billy McKinney and MAYBE a PTBNL

Gleyber Torres is a bonafide blue chip prospect and, there's no way around this, losing him hurts. The Cubs top prospect has done nothing but produce since he came over from Venezuela in 2014.  That said, you have to give up quality to get quality and Torres is still at least three years away; we can't keep all of the prospects.  Not to mention, the Cubs middle infield is potentially set for many years to come with both Addison Russell and Javier Baez likely around for the long haul.

As for Warren and McKinney, I'm not too broken up about losing them.  Warren has not been helpful coming out of the pen this year and is a replaceable asset.  Meanwhile, McKinney has yet to unlock his power potential and has not been great this year.  Add in the fact that the outfield is already a logjam and he's Rule 5 eligible this off-season and it makes sense to dangle him as trade bait.

Of course, the Cubs would trade Billy the day after I picked up this 2013 Leaf Memories single as a "just in case he makes it" card for my CATRC.  My first card from the rebooted Leaf brand and it features Wrigley as a backdrop, which he'll only ever see again as a visitor.  I jinxed him.

Anyway, from a purely baseball standpoint, I can understand the move.  However, losing Gleyber for a rental player stings, you have to give up quality to get quality.  Where this deal truly starts to get conflicting for me is when we consider Aroldis' character issues.

On a more minor scale, Chapman has a poor history with some current members of the Cubs clubhouse (especially Anthony Rizzo), owing to a head-hunting incident in Cincinnati that occurred a couple of years ago: 

Hopefully, everybody can be professional and put the past behind them.  These kinds of things happen in baseball and sports in general.  After all, Dennis Rodman became a Bull after years of being a bully in Detroit and things worked out okay there.

That's not the real issue though.  Of course, what truly gives me pause about this major acquisition is the murky circumstances surrounding the off-season incident where he was accused of beating his girlfriend and firing several shots into the wall of his garage.  Ultimately, he was not charged of any legal wrong doing; nevertheless, he earned himself a lengthy suspension to open the 2016 season.

I guess we'll never know for sure what happened that fateful night, but after having to deal with Rey McDonald (briefly) as a Bear and Patrick Kane's tangled web over the past few years, I was really hoping my favorite franchise would keep their hands clean.  This team really doesn't need another Milton Bradley.

His domestic violence rap is absolutely horrific

In the end, I guess he's "served his time" for the incident and all we can do is pray that it was an isolated incident.  Furthermore, should any other issues of similar nature crop up, I hope that Theo and Co. drop him faster than a hot potato, a la the Bears and the aforementioned McDonald.

I won't be buying a Chapman jersey anytime soon; but, I suppose I can cheer for the jersey that he's wearing when he pitches this summer.

Anyway, facts are facts and Aroldis is now a Chicago Cub, meaning he must be represented in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  After digging through my stack of Reds, I have several contenders for that spot:

The non-refractor (or whatever Panini calls it) version of the Prizm you saw at the top of the post and another logo-less Panini offering under the Donruss banner.

Here we have his 2011 Topps Rookie Card, which features an excellent framed snap shot of Chapman in the middle of his windup.  I truly like how the name-banner and the pitching mound both arch at nearly the same degree.

Some more Topps Flagship offerings that spotlight Chapman's selection and appearance in the 2013 All-Star game and close up, zoomed in ugly pitcher's face.  You can see right up his flared nostrils on that 2014 single.

Finally, I also came across his card from last year's edition of Archives.  Here, a questionably framed shot ruins an otherwise perfectly acceptable spring training shot - why did we not zoom out a couple of ticks and not crop out half of the ball?

In the end, I think I' going to stick with the refractor-y Prizm card as Chapman's representation; what can I say, I'm a sucker for shiny cards.  It doesn't really matter anyway - you know that Topps isn't going to let this big of a blockbuster go unrepresented in the Update series, so he'll have a card as a Cub soon enough.

And so, that's my long-winded, meandering post about Aroldis Chapman becoming a Chicagoan.  In summation, the Cubs gave up a lot to get a lot and fair prices are pretty much never payed at the trading deadline.  But, I still don't particularly care for the guy as a human being, so I'm feeling pretty conflicted about the deal.  I just wish I could truly be excited about this kind of velocity coming out of my team's pen:

  

Hopefully He's Both Good and Reliable

He's certainly old.

As has been widely expected for the past several weeks, the Cubs made things official today when they called Joe Nathan up from AAA Iowa.  Nathan, of course, had been rehabbing in the Cubs system from the Tommy John surgery that he underwent last season, after having signed a MLB deal with Chicago back in May.  Even after shaking things up with the Mike Montgomery addition, Theo and Co. aren't going to sit back on their heels - bullpens are volatile, after all.

The 41-year old Nathan provides a long track record of success as an upper echelon closer; that said, his age was starting to show before he went under the knife for a second time.  His most recent action came with the Detroit Tigers:

Here is an "artist's" rendering of the pitcher arriving to the ballpark this afternoon.  Hopefully, the guys isn't only attempting this comeback for some doll.

Hopefully, good old reliable Nathan formerly of Detroit can hold back father time for a little while longer and help solidify a bullpen that's been rather piecemeal this summer.  He definitely won't be unseating Hector Rondon from the closer's role; but, it would be nice to have another trustworthy arm available for late-inning, high-leverage situations to go along with Pedro Strop.

After this season, he can go back to worrying about running the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York... or whatever he does with his free time.

And now, the moment I know you've all been waiting for - which card will I use to represent the newest Chicago Cub?

Well, unless Nathan sticks around, performs well and earns a spot in Topps' update checklist as a Northsider (fingers crossed), I'll be content to allow this 2005 Donruss single represent Joe in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  First of all, despite my love of puns and clever wordplay, when I hear Nathan's name, I associate him more with Minnesota than I do Detroit (or San Francisco or Texas).  Furthermore, I quite enjoy this posed spring training shot, what with the perfect blue sky and green grass background being unencumbered by an appropriately simple design.

That's baseball.

Nathan during his rehab stint with AA Tennessee, image courtesy of  The Star Tribune

Even with these last two relief pitching-centered roster moves, the Cubs will likely continue tinkering.  Former Oriole Brian Matusz has been pitching well in the minors since signing with Chicago a little more than a month ago and will likely get a chance to earn his Big League keep again in the near future.  Meanwhile, the non-waiver trading deadline is coming up in a little more than a week and you just never know what's going to happen before then.

Will the Cubs still be targeting Yankees arms Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman, as has been rumored incessantly?  We shall see.

In the meantime, here's hoping Nathan (Formerly of) Detroit seizes this opportunity and proves that he still has meaningful inning left in his surgically repaired arm.  That development would go a long way towards fixing the only glaring weak spot on this roster.  That way, we can tell New York to go ahead and take a hike with their unreasonable, Kyle Schwarber-centered demands.

Go Joe!

Going Off to Summer Camp

We're in the thick of baseball season - the All-Star break is over, the Hall of Fame induction ceremony is coming up this weekend and trade rumors are flying around in such a constant stream that they are almost palpable.  In short, baseball is pretty much the only game in town when it comes to sports fans right now.

That said, the NFL has something to say about that.

The off-season is almost officially over for our gridiron heroes, with many team training camps set to officially kick off in the next week or so; for my Chicago Bears, that official date is July 27th.  Honestly, my football fandom is no where near as fervent as my love for baseball and this development kind of snuck up on me.  It wasn't until I saw this tweet come across my feed, courtesy of the Bears Twitter account:

Locked & loaded. #BEARbonnaisBound pic.twitter.com/ByJeLuxpBR

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) July 22, 2016

Now, during the Cubs' lean years of a few seasons ago, I might have actually been aware - not so much when they're the best team in baseball.

At any rate, this sudden realization seems like as good of an excuse as any to show off the latest additions that I've made to my Chicago Bears All-Time Roster Collection.  Remember, I'm so crazy that trying to collect one card of everyone who's played for the Cubs over the last 130+ years isn't enough to occupy my time - I'm chasing the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls and NASCAR too.  I'll definitely never get bored with my collection!

It's appropriate that these two singles from Topps 50th anniversary set in 2005 feature pre-season shots, seeing as we are just about to begin that pre-season again 11 years later.  Of course, we shan't be seeing anymore Topps football sets, which is a major bummer.  Curse you exclusive licensing deals!!

Both of the players above were pretty disappointing draft picks.  Mark Bradley was a member of the best Bears team of my lifetime - the 2005 squad which made the Superbowl; however, Due to a season-ending injury he only started 8 games. From there, he couldn't stay healthy and bounced around the league.  Meanwhile, Airese Currie spent nearly all of his two season career in the NFL on injured reserve, getting into only a single game during the 2006 campaign before his release.

Here's a 2009 Upper Deck card that I won on Listia without emptying all of my store credit because Jarron Gilbert is another long-forgotten and barely there Chicago Bear.  The inflation on Listia is crazy lately, am I right?

Gilbert was drafted by the Monsters of the Midway in third round of the 2009 draft out of San Jose State.  Despite gaining widespread internet notoriety for a YouTube video showing him jumping out of a swimming pool, his entire Chicago football career amounted to four games played, with no starts and a singular tackle.  After a couple more seasons of waiver claims and practice squads, Gilbert was completely "drained" of chances.

Unfortunately, great athletic ability doesn't always translate.

I guess if internet famous made you a great football player, the NFL would currently include such megastars as Rebecca Black, the Fine Brothers and, my personal favorite, Llamas With Hats roaming the backfield.

Alright, here we go; we've got some actual star power here in Mike Richardson, a cornerback on the only Superbowl champion squad to come from the Windy City.  I'm actually fairly embarrassed to say that there was a Superbowl Shuffler left unrepresented in my Bears collection for so long - any longer and I might have had to turn in my Chicago sports fan card.  this one came out of a quarter box at my LCS.

Of course, this square, over-sized oddball didn't come from Topps or Upper Deck.  As you can see from the Golden Arches in the upper left, these were distributed through local McDonald's "restaurants" after that storied season.  They originally came with colored tabs on the bottom, as you can see by the perforation, which featured special offer coupons.  I hope someone got themselves a free Big Mac out of "L.A. Mike" back in 1986.

No - not that Big Mac!  Jeeze.

Speaking of the 1985 Bears, here's another guy who had previously eluded my grasp.  Well, only partially, seeing as I had a card of him during his time with the Washington Redskins lying around. However, it almost felt disrespectful not to have a card of Wilber Marshall in a Bears uniform. Thankfully, a dollar store repack, of all things, corrected that issue.

I mean, it was the only useful card out of all of these, but c'est la vie

1986 Topps is easily in my top five favorite football sets of all-time.  I love the simulated gridiron as a background and, in general, one doesn't see many green bordered sets in the trading card world, regardless of sport.  Major creativity points on this one.

Also, again, RIP Topps football  :(

These next two cards also came out of that same quarter box as the Richardson.  They might not feature Chicago Bears uniforms, but both of these players did eventually blow into the Windy City, trust me.  Neither one lasted very long, so there aren't any cards that depict them wearing the orange and blue; so, these will have to do.

As you can see, Archuleta was a 2001 draft pick out of Arizona State as a safety.  After a few productive seasons in St. Louis, he was signed to the largest contract for a safety in the NFL history by the Redskins - six years for $30 million.  After some attitude problems, his bloated contract was traded to Chicago in 2007 where he promptly failed to live up to it - 15 games with only ten starts and one interception.

Meanwhile, while Archuleta was simply a disappointment on the field, Byron Morris was a disappointment in life.  "Bam" played in the NFL from 1994-99, including one season with the Bears ('98), but was much more known for his legal issues than hit football prowess.  After being caught in possession of marijuana and cocaine on multiple occasions during his career, Morris pleaded guilty in August 2000 to two counts of federal drug trafficking and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Say no to drugs, kiddies.

On that note, we've reached the end of my recent additions to the Bears All-Time Roster Collection.   It was only a few cards, but progress is progress and every little bit helps.

I'm slowly chipping away

In the meantime, while NFL camp might be gearing up, don't think for a second that my focus will be shifting.  Baseball is still (far and away) my first love and the Cubs are the class of the league.  Not to mention, with my roster-based baseball card collection and the impending MLB trade deadline being just around the corner (August 1st), I'll have to be as vigilant as ever.  Heck, the Cubs have even made one trade already.

Sorry Bears, you'll just have to wait until after October to catch my interest :)

Oh No-gelbach!

Someone check on P-Town Tom and make sure  he's okay - the Chicago Cubs have just traded the Dan "the Vogelmonster" Vogelbach to the Seattle Mariners for lefty reliever Mike Montgomery.

The Cubs bullpen has had some pretty some rough spots over the last month or so and has been in need of reinforcement.  Additionally, the struggling Clayton Richard has been unable to hold down the lefty-specialist spot; plus, Joel Peralta and Gerardo Concepcion have already come and gone, having failed their auditions.  In short, the Cubs going out and getting a southpaw with upside is hardly a surprise.

As far as LOOGYs go, Montgomery is a pretty good get.  The former first-round selection by the Royals in 2008 has posted a .164 batting average against lefties in 67 at bats.

Scan swiped from COMC

What is mildly-jarring is the inclusion of the man, the myth, the Vogelbach.  The young masher has long been blocked in the Cubs system, being defensively limited to first base (Anthony Rizzo ain't goin' anywhere) and is in the midst of a breakout season at AAA.  'Bach has cracked 16 homers and posted a .318/.425/.548 slash at Iowa, proving definitively that he's ready for a go at the Bigs.

It's long been accepted that he'd be dealt, likely to an American League team who could stick him at DH and let him focus on crushing baseballs.  However, it was also hoped that he might be part of a package for a larger addition, owing to his top prospect status.

On the flip-side of the coin, everyone who matters knows that Vogelbach was blocked with Chicago and, thus, their leverage was severely limited.  Not to mention the fact that, despite all of his promise, Dan is still defensively-limited and unproven - we baseball fans have a tendency to overvalue our prospects.

We're always glomming onto the latest shiny, new prospect.

(Symbolism with Bowman, brought to you by WRJ)

Nevertheless, it's kind of hard for us Cubs fans like P-Town and I not to feel mildly disappointed.  After all, we all secretly hoped he find a way to sneak onto the Major League roster and show off his stuff in the Windy City, maybe as a September call-up or as a temporary DH for an AL road trip, a la Kyle Schwarber last year.  I know that I'm a bit bummed that Vogelbach will not earn a spot in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.

Anyway, welcome to Chicago Mr. Montgomery, here's hoping you provide some stability to a shaky, at times, bullpen.  A left-hander who gets outs has been a rare bird on this side of town for a while now.  Also, as you might have noticed, I had to borrow a scan of a Montgomery card from COMC; does anyone have an extra card of the guy they'd be willing to send my way for my CATRC binder?  I'll definitely make it worth your while!

First Rock Shoulders is released and now Dan Vogelbach is traded... seriously, is anyone close to Peoria?

Hey - supposedly these guys are getting back together!

**********************************UPDATE***********************************

Some more information trickling in now - turns out there are a few more pieces changing hands in the deal.  That said, the names are rather minor and don't change the complexion of the deal in any meaningful way.

The Cubs will be be sending farmhand Paul Blackburn to the Emerald City, along with Vogelbach.  The talented starter is chock full o'potential and, like Montogmery, was also a first round draft pick in 2012.  Unfortunately, he just can't stay healthy and has missed time in nearly all of his minor league campaigns.  Also, Paul is set to become Rule V eligible once the season ends, so they needed to do something with him.

Coming to Chicago is another AAA pitcher, this one by the name of Jordan Pries.  Jordan has been making a slow and steady climb up the minor league ladder since being taken in the 30th round in that same 2012 draft.  He doesn't appear to be seen as much of a prospect and will likely serve as minor league depth.

Two more cards that I don't have - in fact, Pries has never been included in a mainstream set.

Nothing Major

I've decided to start up a new collection; please allow me to explain it in a rather long-winded fashion.

For many moons, I've been fascinated with baseball cards featuring Major League players during their minor league years; it's an interest that's probably bubbled just under the surface since I started collecting way back when.  I think it has something about seeing well-known players in unfamiliar uniforms, at least partially.  

For instance:

Casey McGehee, seen as not much more than minor league depth, may have broken out as a Brewer, but he started out in the Cubs system and even received a September call-up at the end of the 2008 season.  In contrast, Corey Patterson was about as highly-touted as a prospect possibly can be... and we all know how that turned out.  That said, how can anyone not love a team named the Lansing Lugnuts?

I just picked up this Chris Valaika, who made a brief stopover in Chicago in 2014, from my LCS from a quarter box.  Truthfully, it was mostly to round my purchase up to a full dollar; but, again, what's not to love about a team known as the Dayton Dragons?

Neal Cotts never could consistently hold down a spot in the Cubs bullpen, riding the shuttle between AAA and the Majors for a couple of seasons after winning a World Series ring with our neighbors to the south.  

In the ensuing years, along with minor league Cubs, I've also set aside cards that show these athletes during their days in college and high school, as well  For a while now, I've had a binder going where I stash these curiosities:

That Scott Maine is a slightly over-sized oddball single from a set made to honor the University of Miami nine in 2005; I'm fairly certain it was team-issued, but I can't find any manufacturing information on or about it.  If anyone knows anything more about that Hurricanes issue, please let me know!

Meanwhile, we all know about Jeff  "the Shark" Samardzija's much-ballyhooed girdiron career for the Fightin' Irish; it's easy to forget that he played baseball for them too.  Additionally, I picked up this Bob Howry autograph dating from his days with McNeese State for fifty cents - can you believe that?

As far as high school goes, there aren't a lot in my collection; but, a few have found their way into my clutches:

Classic Four Sport was always good for a few varsity baseball cards, seeing as the sets were based pretty much entirely around prospects in several of the major sports. Here you can see future Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee taking a hack on a chain-link circled diamond near El Camino Fundamental High School in California.

On the other hand, while you see Serra HS graduate Dan Serafini holding a bat on this "limited," serial numbered, shiny offering from Classic, he eventually made it to the Majors as a pitcher, including 42 games for the 1999 Cubs.

All these cards you see above have long been set aside in a special place; I've even referred to the stack on this blog as my "Baby Bear" collection.  However, I've always felt that I could do more with this accumulation - I just didn't know what.

At the same time, I've also made a habit of hanging onto cards that feature future/former Cubs players participating in leagues from outside of the traditional Major/Minor system:

I've got Senior Leagues (which come from my original collection, as a gift from my late grandfather)...

...Negro Leagues....

....international leagues...

...independent leagues...

...hell, I've even got Little Leagues.  Again, these all catch my attention because they depict familiar faces in unfamiliar settings and digs.

Although, after showing off all of these slightly-jarring keepsakes, my absolute favorites in this loosely-connected family are cards that feature stars on the diamond competing in sports that are NOT America's pastime.

Cards like these: 

Like I mentioned earlier, much has been made about "Shark's" football exploits; but, did you know that this similarly difficult to spell name played collegiate football?  In fact "Super Szczur" required a hefty signing bonus to keep the wide receiver from entering the NFL draft when he was drafted out of Villanova in 2010.

Coincidentally, Delino DeShields was another future Cub, multi-sport star; he almost attended Villanova too, to play point guard on the basketball squad.  No doubt, Foot Locker and the NBA were aware of this when they invited the hyped youngster to compete in their celebrity slam dunk tournament in 1991, which also included names like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Bo Jackson. Thank goodness a card set was produced by the shoe hawkers to commemorate this cross-sport overlap.

These are the only two like this, but there are a bevy more out there - Kenny Lofton and Tim Stoddard on the hardwood, Ernie Banks on the back nine, etc.

See? I'm not (entirely) crazy

Anywho, if you've made it through all of this rambling, congratulations - I'm finally about to get to my point.  I've come to the conclusion that the best way to show off, store and continue to build these half-baked accumulations is to merge them all together under one banner:  my "Nothing Major" collection.  The idea being that the collection is made up of cards of Cubs playing in the minors, prep, international and even other sports, but "Nothing Major" League Baseball.

I love a good pun.

So, if you have any cards of this vein lying around in your dupe/trade stacks, please drop me a line; I'm more than willing to talk trade!

Lord knows I don't already have enough projects...