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The Essentials: 2013 Mets Autographs

Posted by on 31 December 2013 Comments Off on The Essentials: 2013 Mets Autographs

Return of the Prospects

A lot of baseball cards have been released in 2013.  Between Topps (MLB and MLBPA licenses), Panini (MLBPA license), Leaf (no licenses), and Upper Deck (MLBPA license but strict MLB oversight), more than 40 baseball products have been released this year.  So which cards stand out from the rest?  To answer that question, we’ll break down the key Mets cards from 2013 in The Essentials.

2013 was filled with new Mets autographs from the first days of the year all the way to the last.  Add in a few current stars (well, as much as the current team has stars) and loads of former favorites and you’ve got a pretty decent bunch of cards for one year.  Best of all, 2012’s prospect drought didn’t carry over to 2013.  Instead, we were treated to a bountiful prospect crop, so let’s start there.

Prospects

Aside from a few 2011 draft picks in Elite Extra Edition and a couple of 2012 draft picks in Bowman Draft, the prospect autographs in 2012 were limited to, well, Chris Schwinden.  And maybe some Reese Havens, if he and/or SP Signature count.  Things started off much the same in 2013 with the first Panini-branded Elite Extra Edition.

EEE gave us the first autographs from 2012 draft picks Branden Kaupe, Logan Taylor, Matt Koch, and Matt Reynolds (Reynolds was supposed to have his first autographs in 2012 Bowman Sterling, but redemptions were issued instead and the cards were released in 2013 Bowman Chrome).  Gavin Cecchini also made an appearance with Kevin Plawecki showing up as redemptions (that have yet to be fulfilled as of the end of 2013).

Coming into 2013, two dozen Mets prospects had been featured on Bowman Chrome autographs in Bowman, Bowman Chrome, and Bowman Draft, from Bob Keppel in 2001 to Kevin Plawecki in 2012.  2013 Bowman had just Jeurys Familia RC autographs, but Bowman Chrome picked up the slack with Luis Mateo, Matt Reynolds (now signing with just his first initial instead of the full name) and Rafael Montero.  Bowman Draft added 2013 draft picks Dominic Smith and Andrew Church.  Mateo, Reynolds, and Smith had their first autographs in other products (2013 Bowman Platinum, 2012 Panini EEE, and 2013 Panini Perennial Draft Picks, respectively), but Bowman Chrome is king of the prospect autographs.

Not that Panini is going down without a fight.  They may not have a license from MLB Properties, but they’re still making a big push to get a piece of the baseball card market.  Traditionally, Panini wouldn’t put out autographs from draft picks until January’s EEE.  This year, Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Picks was positioned to challenge the prospect aspects of Bowman Chrome and Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects (hence the overly alliterative name).  Not only did Panini get top pick Dominic Smith, but they also landed autographs from third round pick Ivan Wilson and past picks Jayce Boyd and Cory Vaughn.  Rainy Lara and Amed Rosario were included as redemptions, but there’s no word on when those will be fulfilled (Panini’s got a lot of signing to do…).

Without licenses from either MLB Properties or the MLBPA, Leaf didn’t have much to work with except retired players and prospects.  They did an impressive job with that limitation, getting Dominic Smith and Rafael Montero to sign for them in multiple products alongside their one exclusive signer, Domingo Tapia.  All three had autographs in Leaf Metal, Leaf Memories, and Leaf Trinity, the latter of which featured thick plastic slabs, memorabilia, or inscriptions on all of its cards.  Though limited in its scope, Leaf’s offering in 2013 was quite noteworthy.  Hopefully the MLBPA is paying attention, too bad MLB Properties has hitched itself to Topps for the foreseeable future.

Not that Topps has been all that bad lately.  In addition to the players with Bowman Chrome autos, Topps also managed to get signatures from 2012 7th round pick Corey Oswalt (winner of the “Most random prospect to have an autograph card in 2013” award that doesn’t exist) and 2013 4th round pick L.J. Mazzilli, son of former Met Lee Mazzilli.  On top of that, they also produced the first Mets autographs of top prospects Travis d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard.  That leaves most of the Mets’ top 20 or so prospects with autograph cards of some soft except for Jacob deGrom and Gabriel Ynoa.

Rookie Cards

When it comes to Rookie Card autographs in 2013, the big name was Jeurys Familia.  Seriously, he was in just about everything for the first 8 months of the year, at which point Zack Wheeler took over and finished off the year’s RC auto appearances.  The pair accounted for all of the Mets RC autos released by Topps in 2013.

But not all of the Mets RC autos in 2013.  Panini Pinnacle was perfectly positioned to provide the premier penmanship piece from recently departed Mets pitcher Collin McHugh.  Familia was in there too because, well, just because.

2012 Rookies

Last year’s default rookie signers Jordany Valdespin and Kirk Nieuwenhuis were back again in 2013, though JV1’s first autograph this year will probably also be his last as a Met.  Things aren’t looking too good for Nieuwenhuis, who wasn’t even called up in September.  He still had a bunch of autographs in Gypsy Queen, Tier One, and Triple Threads.

2013 All-Stars

Both of the Mets All-Stars from 2013 had autographs released in 2013, though all of Matt Harvey’s were dated either 2012 (all of his Panini autos) or 2011 (Bowman Platinum redemptions that finally made it out two years late).  Hopefully you got your fill of Harvey autos early because prices spiked in April and haven’t cooled off all that much since then.

New Old Mets

A few new faces we’ve already forgotten also managed to get some autographs out in 2013.  Collin Cowgill and Shaun Marcum were featured in Topps Series 2, then Cowgill came back in Topps Update to commemorate the one thing of significance he did in his very brief Mets career.  Marcum also had a few autographs in Topps Tier One alongside Kirk Nieuwenhuis and (of course) Jeurys Familia.

Dickey

R.A. Dickey continued to have Mets autographs into 2013, including these three on-card beauties.  The Gypsy Queen and Tribute Dickey autos were released as redemption cards and were sent out shortly after the Museum Collection card was released (Museum Collection also included several cards with Dickey sticker autos).

Fan Favorites

This year had another good haul of Mets autographs in Topps Archives.  Gregg Jefferies, Howard Johnson, Jesse Orosco, Kevin McReynolds, Keith Miller, Mookie Wilson, Ron Darling, and Sid Fernandez were all featured in the Fan Favorites Autographs set, though several of these were in card styles that were used in previous Fan Favorites Autographs sets.  This is Keith Miller’s first autograph card because, well, he’s Keith Miller.

Hometown Heroes

Panini’s attempt at an Archives clone didn’t come out all that well but still managed to include autographs from several Mets favorites including Darryl Strawberry, Lee Mazzilli, Lenny Dykstra, Ron Darling, Mookie Wilson, Dave Kingman, and Tom Seaver.  Pat Tabler, not shown as a Met, has his first certified autographs here.

Memories

Leaf’s Archives clone on the other hand is starting to come into its own in its second year.  In addition to the previously mentioned prospects, Leaf Memories was loaded with buyback autographs from retired favorites like Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Sid Fernandez, Kevin Mitchell, Dave Magadan, Kevin Elster (his first certified autographs), and Barry Lyons.  Many others Mets were shown in other uniforms, including Rick Aguilera with his first certified autographs.  Unfortunately, many of the buybacks were issued as redemption cards, some of which couldn’t be entered into the online redemption system and had to be redeemed through Leaf customer service.  As of the end of 2013, only the Elster autos are known to have been fulfilled.

Chasing History

As usual, Topps threw a few sticker autographs from retired Mets in its main base autograph insert, Chasing History.  Gary Carter, Dwight Gooden, and Howard Johnson are featured here in autographs from Series 1 (Carter and Gooden) and Update (Johnson).  Carter autographs are getting harder to find and his Chasing History Autograph insert was available at surprisingly low prices.

Heritage

After having only one Mets autograph last year, 2013 Heritage was loaded with Mets.  Al Moran, Amado Samuel, Jay Hook, Mike Joyce (never actually played for the Mets), Pumpsie Green, and Tim Harkness represented the biggest Mets contingent in Heritage history (though at this point the Mets have only existed for three years).  Ken MacKenzie has his first certified autographs in 2013 Heritage as a Giant.

New Ink Colors

In 2013, Topps expanded its use of various colored markers into more products than ever before.  While the use of different colors has been common in Tier One and Museum Collection Framed Autographs from their start, Topps Chrome and Topps Triple Threads have added metallic marker variants for the first time.  Tier One itself added a new color, copper rose, to replace the white that was easily confused with silver in the past.

And that will do it for this year’s installment of The Essentials.  The remainder of 2013’s wrap-up posts will go up later this week.  Happy New Year!

2 June 2013 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Posted by on 3 June 2013 Comments Off on 2 June 2013 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Pesky Puello steals the show (and second base)

It was Law Enforcement Appreciation Day at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium on a hot and sunny June afternoon.  The day started off with a Pesky Pole bobblehead giveaway, police dog demonstrations, a pipeband, and police motorcycles circling the field.  When the police left the field, the theft began.  Cesar Puello stole second base in the first inning and the B-Mets stole the game on a five-run 5th inning to take the series with a 7-2 win.  Their reward was a 7-hour bus ride back to Binghamton with a 2-game lead in their division.

Box score

The first three innings followed a pretty standard script for both teams.  Somebody strikes out, somebody gets on base, and the runner usually advances to second somehow.  Back and forth we went until the bottom of the 4th, when the Fisher Cats started things off with their first extra base hit of the game, a double by Clint Robinson.  A bunt moved Robinson to third and a fly ball that Darrell Ceciliani couldn’t get to drove him in to give the Fisher Cats the lead.  Jacob deGrom shut down the Fisher Cats offense from there with an infield fly and a strikeout.  His 92mph fastball didn’t miss many bats, but deGrom still managed 6 strikeouts, mostly with what appeared to be a trick pitch that set the ball on an invisible 4-inch tee on the plate.  Or maybe that’s just a camera trick.

Darrell Ceciliani turning an intentional walk into a run

The B-Mets answered back in the 5th with the type of offensive explosion typically reserved for Deck McGuire starts.  Alonzo Harris, in his second game back from a finger injury, finally got his bunting dialed in and set down his second hard bunt of the day, dropping it right down the first base line, drawing the first baseman in to field it, and getting to the bag before anyone could cover first.  Harris advanced to second on a single and was forced out at third when Wilfredo Tovar’s bunt attempt didn’t quite go as planned.  Daniel Muno singled and Cesar Puello doubled to give the B-Mets the lead and put runners on second and third with two outs for Cory Vaughn, who had struck out twice already and would finish the day with 4 Ks.  Vaughn was intentionally walked to load the bases for Darrell Ceciliani.  Ceciliani took advantage of the extra baserunner with a fly ball that got past a diving Brian Van Kirk for a triple, putting the B-Mets up 5-1.

Neither team did much of anything over the next inning.  Cesar Puello caught another fly ball, deGrom got two more strikeouts, and Harris abandoned the nothing-but-bunts plan and struck out.  DeGrom’s luck finally ran out in the bottom of the 6th when Clint Robinson sent one over the 400ft wall in center for a solo home run.  When the next batter resulted in deGrom’s third walk of the game, Adam Kolarek was called in to take over.  Kolarek retired all five batters he faced, Jack Leathersich pitched another perfect 8th inning (only one strikeout this time though), and Jeff Walters came in to finish the game.  More on that later.

Ceciliani drove Puello in with a triple, then Puello did it himself with a home run

Cesar Puello added a solo home run in the 7th to leave him a triple shy of the cycle.  He wouldn’t get it, though teammates Ceciliani and Richard Lucas would both triple in the game, Ceciliani earlier in the 5th inning and Lucas in the 8th.  Lucas would go on to score on a wild pitch that bounced out in front of the catcher, putting the B-Mets up 7-2.  Puello would pop out with the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 9th and the B-Mets would strand all three runners, leaving it up to Walters to wrap things up.

Cesar Puello, with the glove, in right field

Actually, the game was in Cesar Puello’s hands in the bottom of the 9th, quite literally.  Puello was all over this game like any number of offensive stereotypes of people who are all over things.  Already 3 for 5 with a double, home run, stolen base, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored, you would think that he would be satisfied.  You obviously don’t know Puello.  He made the first out by beating out Muno and Lucas to a fly ball next to the Fisher Cats bullpen and then just missed getting to a line drive in time to make the third out.  That put runners on first and second for Walters, but Puello bailed him out by grabbing a routine fly ball to end the game.  Puello caught five outs to go with his exploits at the plate and on the basepaths, ranging from the foul line to center and making everyone else get out of his way.  It was a solid game all around following an 0-4, 3K night on Friday and a night off on Saturday.  It looks like there just might be some decent outfield prospects in the Mets system after all, though Puello still has a ways to go before he’s ready for the majors.

1 June 2013 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Posted by on 2 June 2013 Comments Off on 1 June 2013 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

While the big league Mets fall to the fish, the B-Mets blank the Fisher Cats

Rafael Montero made his second start following a spot start at AAA and did not disappoint, pitching 7 scoreless innings in a 6-0 B-Mets win.  One day after an 8-7 loss where minor mistakes made all the difference, the B-Mets defense was in fine form.  Aggressive baserunning kept the runs coming, Cesar Puello got the night off after striking out three times the night before, and Alonzo Harris was back in the lineup after a nasty finger injury.

Box score

Rafael Montero was the star of the night, and for good reason.  His time at AA is clearly coming to an end, with Zack Wheeler’s major league callup likely a major factor.  His fastball was holding steady at 92-93 over all 7 innings, with the occasional 94 in the early innings.  On top of that, he executed a quick pickoff move for any runners who managed to reach base and was remarkably fast to get in place to back up at third if any runners headed for second.  Even with only four strikeouts on the night, his instincts and focus were top notch and kept the Fisher Cats from scoring.  They came closest in the 5th, when a pair of singles and a balk put two runners in scoring position with two outs.  Montero struck out Kevin Pillar to end the threat.  Those would be the last New Hampshire runners in scoring position for the night and that would also end the night for Pillar and Fisher Cats manager Gary Allenson, who were ejected for arguing the strikeout.

You need some offense to win a game though, so it was good that the Mets got all the runs they would need in the first inning on a Cory Vaughn double.  They would go on to add at least one run in half of the remaining innings while holding the Fisher Cats scoreless.

Alonzo Harris was back in action after getting the stitches out of his finger, which he shared in full detail on Twitter.  Harris was clearly eager to get back out on the field, jumping into a bunt in his first at bat but failing to beat the throw.  He would go 0-5 on the night, reaching base only once when a bad throw to first broke up what should have been a double play.  Harris was later stranded at second, ending his baserunning for the night.  Despite the poor results, his enthusiasm was nice to see.

Richard Lucas and Alonzo Harris pose for photos before the game

Gathering at the dugout railing to watch, um, water bottle stacking?

18 April 2013, Mets at Fisher Cats

Posted by on 20 April 2013 Comments Off on 18 April 2013, Mets at Fisher Cats

Solid contact and a few breaks put the B-Mets over the Fisher Cats 4-3

Yeah, it was that kind of night for Wilfredo Tovar

Box Score

Some games are blowouts, some games are pitchers’ duels, and some games are tight back-and-forth affairs between two tough teams.  This was not one of those games.  With a chilly breeze blowing on fleece blanket night and Air National Guard KC-135 tankers flying overhead on their way into Manchester Boston Regional Airport, the action on the field was less than stellar.  Deep fly balls that only Matt den Dekker would have gotten to, baserunning blunders, and fielding faux pas were the order of the day for both teams, but the Mets prevailed with more of everything, good and bad.

Starting pitcher Tyler Pill signed autographs before the game as the 2013 B-Mets made themselves much more available for autos than the 2012 crew ever did.  Cory Mazzoni was among the notable pregame signers, though he didn’t have any injury updates (clearly the arm is still attached and functional though).  After a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, the game was underway with a quick and uneventful first inning.

Pill vs. Pillar, Round One: Pill by a mile. Well, a good foot and a half at least.

Call Me Maybe made its debut as Cory Vaughn came to bat in the second and got the first hit of the night.  A strikeout, double, and walk loaded the bases for Wilfredo Tovar, who grounded into a force out at second to end the inning.

The Fisher Cats went down in order again in the second inning, but Ricardo Nanita opened the bottom of the third with a deep fly ball that Alonzo Harris got a glove on but couldn’t get under control, sending Nanita to second.  Nanita advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a single, putting New Hampshire on the board.  Kenny Wilson then dropped a bunt down the third base line that Josh Rodriguez chased down, except his foot got to the ball before his glove.  Rodriguez then chased the ball behind the plate in a scene that was so comical that I forgot to take a picture.  That put runners at second and third for Kevin Pillar, who singled in another run.  A walk loaded the bases, but Pill worked a pair of strikeouts to limit the damage to two runs.

Binghamton answered back in the 4th with Cesar Puello one-upping Nanita with a triple to center and scoring on a Daniel Muno single.  That would be all for the Mets, now trailing 2-1.

Ricardo Nanita would not be outdone, hitting a solo home run to extend New Hampshire’s lead to 3-1.  Tyler Pill settled in from that point on, only allowing a single before exiting the game after the 6th inning.

The Mets on the other hand were just getting started.  Darrell Ceciliani singled in the 5th, advanced to second on a single, and stole third to get within 90 feet of making it a one-run game.  Actually, he got a bit closer than that, too close to get back to third in time after Rhyne Hughes lined one straight back to the pitcher and into a double play to end the Mets’ rally.

The 6th started off with Kenny Wilson chasing another deep fly ball that dropped in on the warning track giving Cory Vaughn a double.  Cesar Puello missed his chance to top Nanita’s solo home run when he was pinch hit for by Allan Dykstra, who took a pitch to the ankle to join Vaughn on the basepaths.  Francisco Pena advanced the runners on a sac bunt and, after a pitching change, Daniel Muno doubled in two runs to even the score at three.

Muno advanced to third on a groundout by Tovar and then Alonzo Harris made Kenny Wilson run the other way on a shallow fly ball that made it past the tumbling New Hampshire center fielder.  Muno scored and Harris had Binghamton’s third double of the inning, giving the Mets a 4-3 lead that they would not relinquish.

Hughes may have been out, but he refused to vacate third base until the field was empty, for whatever that’s worth

Pill wrapped up his night with three quick outs in the bottom of the 6th.  Rhyne Hughes continued the doubles parade in the top of the 7th but misjudged a Vaughn fly ball and was tagged out at third to end the Mets’ offense for the night.  Call Me Maybe did not turn out to be lucky for Cory Vaughn the second time around.

Will someone get these guys a bullpen phone?

John Church and Chase Hutchingson each pitched a scoreless inning for the Mets and Jeff Walters was called in for the save as the Harlem Shake took over the stadium.  New Hampshire had a chance to start something with one out in the bottom of the 9th when Ricardo Nanita (of course) dropped a shallow pop fly just inside the line in left for a single.

Nobody’s got it. Well, except for Daniel Muno when you try for second.

Unfortunately for Nanita, he thought he had a double and did not count on Wilfredo Tovar making the throw to second in time.  Tovar sent the next ball hit his way over to first base for the final out and the B-Mets won their first game in New Hampshire this year 4-3.

The official scorer was being generous, it sure looked like a lot more than one error out there…