Category Archives: Autographs - Page 2

2019 Mets Draft Class Autographs

Posted by on 30 December 2019 Comments Off on 2019 Mets Draft Class Autographs

Superior selections supported by seven sequential senior signings

Full list of 2019 Mets draft picks

Anticipation was running high for this year’s draft, the first with Brodie Van Wagenen as GM. Day 1 was business as usual, a couple of picks that went a few slots ahead of where they were projected because the Mets probably already had deals worked out so they could save some money (or so we thought). Brett Baty and Josh Wolf have the usual Leaf autographs and such, as do all highly-ranked high schoolers these days. Day 2 though went way off script and saw the Mets taking Matthew Allan, considered to be a first-round talent, in the third round after he fell due to reportedly asking for way too much money. Then they spent the rest of the night picking college seniors, who can be signed for a Burger King coupon book and a six-pack of Red Bull (collectively, not one for each). While it looks strange on paper, the Mets have an awful track record when it comes to later early round picks (see: 2014, et. al.), so effectively punting rounds 4-10 on a bunch of scratch tickets is functionally indistinguishable from their usual draft strategy. And if it gave the Mets the $3 million it was estimated to take to sign Allan (down from the $4 he told everyone so they wouldn’t pick him), then it would all be worth it.

So of course the Mets ended up with $2.5 million they could use for Allan after saving less than expected on Baty and going over slot on Wolf. Lets’s recap: Allan floats a $4 million asking price so teams won’t pick him, allowing him to fall to the Mets in the 3rd round. Then the media reports that the $4 million figure was never his real number, which was instead $3 million. And then the Mets worked out their signings to give them $2.5 million to work with, which reports later said would be enough to sign Allan. And which was probably a number that several other teams would have been willing to pay. Look, I’m all for the Mets loading up on young talent, but this is sketchy as hell and seems like something that MLB will want to take action on before it gets out of hand. By instituting a hard slotting system, MLB has made it profitable for teams and players to concoct elaborate schemes to beat the system, largely because of the impact of not signing a high pick, which makes teams extremely risk averse.

Seven other picks also have autographs, all but one from either 2014 or 2018 Leaf Perfect Game products. Of those seven, only Kennie Taylor, Hunter Parsons, and Ryan Shinn signed.

1 Brett Baty 2 Josh Wolf 3 Matthew Allan 4 Jake Mangum
9 Joe Genord 14 Kennie Taylor 19 Hunter Parsons 24 Hunter Barco (DNS)
25 Joseph Charles (DNS) 34 Ryan Shinn 35 Daniel Maldonado (DNS) 36 Tucker Flint (DNS)

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2019 Mets Debut Autographs

Posted by on 22 September 2019 Comments Off on 2019 Mets Debut Autographs

Hope for Fall Springs Eternal

As the Mets’ roller coaster season entered the final stretch, there was a glimmer of hope mixed in with the most brutal of losses. Once rosters expanded, the Mets got a surge of reinforcements from the Injured List. Brandon Nimmo finally made it back after missing most of the season with a neck injury and Robinson Cano was back way sooner than expected. On top of that, some guy named Jed Lowrie finally showed up and made his Mets debut. Sam Haggerty, acquired in the Kevin Plawecki trade, was the lone prospect September call-up. It would be all hands on deck for one final push for the second wild card spot. Well, except for Yoenis Cespedes, who has been forgotten since he stepped in a hole earlier in the year. Chances are slim, but it’s looking like this one will go down to the wire.

Pete Alonso* Robinson Cano Wilson Ramos Keon Broxton
28 March 2019 28 March 2019 28 March 2019 28 March 2019
 
Edwin Diaz J.D. Davis Justin Wilson Luis Avilan
28 March 2019 30 March 2019 30 March 2019 31 March 2019
     
Ryan O’Rourke Adeiny Hechavarria Wilmer Font Rajai Davis
1 May 2019 4 May 2019 8 May 2019 22 May 2019
 
Aaron Altherr Hector Santiago Brooks Pounders Stephen Nogosek*
24 May 2019 24 May 2019 16 June 2019 19 June 2019
 
Walker Lockett Chris Mazza* Marcus Stroman Donnie Hart
29 June 2019 29 June 2019 3 August 2019 4 August 2019
 
Joe Panik Brad Brach Sam Haggerty* Jed Lowrie
9 August 2019 11 August 2019 4 September 2019 7 September 2019

*MLB Debut

 

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2019 Mets Card Spring Preview

Posted by on 11 March 2019 Comments Off on 2019 Mets Card Spring Preview

Where do we go from here?

So, yeah, not much going on here these days. After a monster 2017, I took a step back in 2018 and have continued that in 2019. Keeping up with the current releases just isn’t as much of a priority for me because there’s just too damn much out there and most of it isn’t particularly interesting. After seeing what Topps did with 2019 Series 1 Jumbo, I’m not hopeful for a whole lot of value in their products this year. And with rising overhead costs on the secondary market, it’s getting harder to track down hidden gems on the low end. On the plus side, I’ve got tons of great stuff that has yet to be scanned, so I’m buried in work if I ever come up with something to put together. Not much of a plus side, but there it is.

2019 is a transition year for the Mets as the Captain has left the field and the front office had significant turnover. That translated into a flurry of offseason moves, but whether that turns into success has yet to be determined. Last year had to have been rock bottom (just look at how many cast-offs were on the roster), but there were still a few glimmers of hope (Cy deGrom) tinged with despair (deGrom’s extension talks). Basically, same old Mets.
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2018 Mets Draft Class Autographs

Posted by on 31 December 2018 Comments Off on 2018 Mets Draft Class Autographs

Kelenic? We hardly Cano him

Full list of 2018 Mets draft picks

The good news amid the utter disaster that has been the Mets lately is that they’re getting to pick early in the draft. Not too exciting, but we’ll take what we can get. With the 6th pick this year, the Mets took Jarred Kelenic, widely regarded as the top high school bat in the draft. He has one of the widest assortments of amateur autographs you could hope for – Leaf Perfect Game, Panini USA Baseball, etc. Five more Mets picks already had autographs at the time of the draft: Carlos Cortes (picked by the Mets in 2016 but didn’t sign), Ryley Gilliam, Nick Meyer, Saul Gonzalez, and Ian Mejia. All but Mejia signed. So far so good…

Panini Contenders brought one last crop of amateur autographs before the flood of year-end draft pick autograph products turned them pro. That added Simeon Woods-Richardson and Adam Hill into the mix and signalled that Panini could have, at a minimum, the Mets’ top four picks in Elite Extra Edition. With amateur autographs from all of the top six picks in the last 18 months, it seemed clear that Jarred Kelenic wouldn’t have to carry the Mets checklist on his own. Which is a good thing, because his first Mets autographs would be his last…

As with last year, Bowman Draft featured autographs from the top three Mets picks. Panini also featured the top three in EEE, snubbing Adam Hill (and subbing in former Mets prospect Jhoan Urena for some reason) while Leaf went with just Kelenic and Woods-Richardson (plus Peter Alonso and Ronny Mauricio). Jarred Kelenic was everywhere in December.

Everywhere except with the Mets, that is. With Kelenic dealt to Seattle at the start of the month (along with 2016‘s top pick Justin Dunn), this is as close as we would get to seeing him in a Mets uniform. Instead, the Mets will have Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano in Queens in 2019 alongside all of the other big acquisitions they’re sure to make any day now. Any day now…

1 Jarred Kelenic 2 Simeon Woods-Richardson 3 Carlos Cortes 4 Adam Hill
5 Ryley Gilliam 6 Nick Meyer 7 Kevin Smith 23 Saul Gonzalez

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2018 Mets Debut Autographs

Posted by on 30 June 2018 Comments Off on 2018 Mets Debut Autographs

Well, that happened

The 2018 Mets included Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Bautista, and Austin Jackson. Someone really needs to tell Fred and Jeff that it’s not 2011 anymore. No wonder Jose Reyes started 48 games… Maybe half of the 2018 newcomers will be back in 2019, so is it even worth going over who did what to whom? A good number of them will probably never get a Rookie Card, much less an autograph card, so they’re largely irrelevant anyway. The back half was just Jeff McNeil and a bunch of random guys, so let’s just leave it at that. Sadly, that might also describe Mets Rookie Card offerings for the first half of 2019…

Adrian Gonzalez Todd Frazier Anthony Swarzak Jose Lobaton
29 March 2018 29 March 2018 29 March 2018 13 April 2018
Gerson Bautista* Corey Oswalt* P.J. Conlon* Devin Mesoraco
17 April 2018 25 April 2018 7 May 2018 8 May 2018
Luis Guillorme* Buddy Baumann Jose Bautista Tim Peterson*
11 May 2018 16 May 2018 22 May 2018 30 May 2018
Scott Copeland Chris Beck Drew Smith* Kevin Kaczmarski*
31 May 2018 15 June 2018 23 June 2018 24 June 2018
Tyler Bashlor* Drew Gagnon* Jeff McNeil* Austin Jackson
25 June 2018 10 July 2018 24 July 2018 27 July 2018
Bobby Wahl Jack Reinheimer Daniel Zamora* Eric Hanhold*
2 August 2018 15 August 2018 17 August 2018 4 September 2018

*MLB Debut

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Product Spotlight: 2017 Topps Clearly Authentic

Posted by on 17 October 2017 Comments Off on Product Spotlight: 2017 Topps Clearly Authentic

A clear winner?

After being threatened with multiple iterations of Topps Archives Signature Series in 2017, it was a surprise to see the first $50/card autograph product turn out to be Clearly Authentic. Topps borrowed the Archives Signature Series format for what amounts to a Tek-style acetate autograph parallel of base 2017 Topps with reprint autographs like those previously seen in Tier One released under a name used in 2015 and 2016 for authenticated memorabilia cards in Strata. It’s a mishmash of elements from other products, but the end result is surprisingly coherent and straightforward. But is it enough to carry an entire product?

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