John_Havok

Not true at all. They just wont see the post Cup increase in value prior to retirement.

Definitely. Its difficult to say there's a perfectly right answer when any changes that happen, the next starter could just have a bad game and suddenly "yup, obviously they made the wrong choice and should've done X or Y instead"

Lauer I think is getting to the same place with fatigue. Last season between the KBO and minors he was 110 IP, he just crossed 112 IP this season now between AAA and the Jays. He could also benefit from an extra day off here and there perhaps

They arent going to DFA anyone for Bieber, they still have 1 space on the 40 man. As far as sending someone down... yeah, Fluharty doesnt deserve to be sent down... but neither do Varland, Little, or Fisher...the only other reliever with options. If Fluharty going down means Lauer goes to the pen to be the 2nd lefty instead and you don't have to lose anyone off the roster... why wouldn't you do that instead of losing Nance for nothing?

I know what you mean on the part where you said "are the cards really that scarce?" That depends on how you look at it. Like...base cards are about at worthless at it gets from a pure monetary perspective, and there's way more of those than people really want from a collectors perspective. But, there are far fewer cards printed every year overall than there was way back in the late 80s early 90s. Upper Deck has exclusive rights for the NHL, so all cards with NHL licensed players and logos are made by UD. Sure, UD puts out other branded sets like O-Pee-Chee, but at the end of the day its still UD manufactured. They're the "low end" cards. I can almost appreciate UDs upper end lines like Black Diamond or the Cup, where there are essentially no base cards because even those are serial numbered and every single card per pack are low serial numbered, patched, autographed etc and the quality they put into those cards is really high. For baseball...Bowman is the king. NBA? Panini has had the exlcusive rights since 2009, until next year when Topps takes over. NFL? Same as the NBA. Panini had the rights and just lost them to Topps. NBA cards were really weird over the past years with Panini having the exclusive rights to NBA branded cards...but Topps had exclusive deals with certain players (LeBron being one, and more) which meant you could find LeBron cards in Panini, but you'd never find one with his autograph, they were all made by Topps....but no Topps card could use the NBA logo, or any NBA team logos on their cards. Don't even get me started on sticker autographs vs on-card autographs...

One thing I will tell you... a lot of those high end sports cards, antiques, art etc....that go up for auction and go for millions... a lot of the time its just rich criminals money laundering. Like, is there a reason for the same Wayne Gretzky rookie card to have been sold multiple times over the past 15 years going from a value of under 100k, to over 3.75 million.

No problem. If you're looking at market prices... you can pick up Beckett's price guide for literally any sport and there's a new issue every month, or they have it online as well for a subscription cost. Or, for quick hits, search Ebay for the exact cards and look at recent confirmed sales. People ask for crazy amounts all the time and they never sell.

Not really taking your pick when Lukes doesn't play the IF at all the OF spots and DH spot is taken by your projected lineup. Again, not saying it's wrong..

Call me crazy but I dont think the Jays are at their full 40 man roster capacity right now. And if they were... Nina would get punted before Nance I think. Sandlin could even be shifted to the 60 day IL as another option too.

The other way to go... Is buy every rookie you can feasably find thats within your criteria, auto, patch, /25, rookie that hasn't done squat yet, but you feel they're about to explode. etc. Why? Example from my own experience from NHL cards, I bought up all the Tage Thompson rookies I could find in 2017 because a) they were cheap and I thought there was real upside. Spent like ... 25$ to get a bunch of his rookies. He does absolutely nothing for the first 3 or 4 years of his career, then explodes for 40 goals in 2021-22. Those cards will drastically jump in value from bordering on worthless to a few hundred each depending on sport and player. In my case, i put in 25, got back close to $1000 in 4 years. Did I miss on several other guys i did the same thing with? absolutely. The hit on Thompson more than made up for it though. That's a lot more speculative and gambley though, especially with baseball.

Kurtz would be a decent buy, just not on cards like this, the guy wants 26,500 USD for it. Good for him if he gets it, but that's not a card ya buy on speculation

You're putting Lukes on a full-time bench role then with a 110 wRC+ ? Not saying that's wrong, just making sure you considered that

Most cards' values dont really increase all that much. Like... say the book value on a Vlad rookie card from 2019 with an autograph and a patch is.. $500. Hypothetically, just a made up number I pulled from the sky. By now, the value of that card has pretty much reached its peak since it's 6 years later and the sport has seen what Vlad most likely is. If he keeps up his current level of play, yes, the card would likely increase a modest amount by the time Vlad retires. ... UNLESS Vlad goes on a monster tear for the next 5+ years and people start taking about being a sure-fire 1st ballot HOF, in which case it would see a larger increase for sure as collectors would try to snatch them up, with preference of course for cards that have been graded, and graded high from either PSA or Beckett. There's a few other grading services out there but PSA and Beckett are easily the most highly regarded. For me to estimate a modest bs large increase though.... 20% to maybe 50%? Highly unlikely any card from his 2019 doubles in value from this point going forward. But, the lower the serial number, ya never really know. They don't even generally put values on cards with a printed run of 10 or less because there's so little movement on them it's just a "get what you can get" for it. It's kinda hard to predict what the market might be in 20 years though... for all we know physical trading cards won't even be a thing by then and nobody will care.

Feels like that makes the most sense. We know Gausman, Bassitt and Berrios are good for innings, even if they aren't going to be top-of-the-rotation type innings (Gausman's recent starts have been fantastic though). We know Lauer can go, but... perhaps running into a bit of fatigue? Scherzer's last few starts have been excellent, but age and injury status will always be in the backs of everyone's minds. With the 2 off days though in the next 13 days, there might some real rust on some guys with a true 6-man rotation where guys might get 6 days off between starts.

And if you land Tucker, that means Springer or Santander has to go via trade or the DH spot gets jammed up. Not the worst of problems, but ... it is one.

I considered that, but... that leaves RF for Barger and DH stuffed with both Springer and Santander. Bit of a logjam in that case. It's probably gonna be a similar thing to this season where Barger, Clement, Schneider, Gimenez and 1 more guy get cycled through the 3 IF positions and RF depending on matchups. That seems to be the preferred method at the moment .. barring unforeseen trades of course.

There's a ton of variance in sports cards in a players first few years. Also depends on the sport... baseball has by the far the most variance just due to the sheer number of players that ultimately end up useless. Rookie cards, serial #'d variations of rookie cards, jersey patch cards and autographed cards are basically the only ones that will ever hold or increase their value over time, but only the massive superstars are truly worth "investing" in. It's a real crapshoot getting any of those cards in breaks, buying boxes or even cases.

More likely they shift Gimenez to short most days and try to fill 2b hole with either an internal platoon, or a trade/signing.

No.... but yes

Watching yesterday was a real treat. First hitter, RHB, he set him up perfectly for that backdoor sinker that he almost never throws .... froze him solid. 2nd hitter, also RHB, seeing that sinker now he can't just give up on pitches on the outer edge thinking they're 4 seamers or sliders... now since he has to protect against that sinker he just saw.... does nothing but try to swat flies over a couple of nasty sliders. 3rd guy - he was just overmatched. Hoffman was pretty much pinpoint up and in, then low and away with another fastball, to set up the splitter for the whiff... perfect. I know we won't get that perfection every night but seeing how it's supposed to work is near boner-inducing.

100th percentile chase rate, 92nd percentile whiff rate Thats crazy

Agreed. Him pinch hitting for anyone is practically pointless. Pure defense and pinch runner

Hahaha they gave Kirk 2nd base to take home

Hoffman just straight-up boned the Cubs and Rangers with no lube. Filth

Maybe, but may as well bunt with him everytime up..hes absolute trash with the stick. Chances are it was a one off play to try and catch someone napping ... then he just stares at a meatball for strike 2. Just a really bad hitter