That name was Matt Moore. Now granted he had just come off a memorable post season and was primed to be the next guy up in the long list of Tampa Bay Rays future aces. Below Moore on the list were a few guys named Mike Trout and Bryce Harper.
Harper has been a bit of a disappointment excluding that one Ruthian season in 2015 when he had a WAR over 10 for the season. Consequently that one season matches his other 6 years in WAR over his career.
Andrew McCutchen and the Phillies will face off against Jon Lester, who has quietly put together a Hall of Fame caliber career. He will certainly get to 200 wins before he retires and if he can hold on and pitch for another 4 more seasons he should be able to become just the 4th left handed pitcher to amass 3,000 strikeouts.
Lester was a 2nd round pick in the 2002 draft, but never made any top 100 prospects lists until just before the 2006 season when he was ranked 22nd overall. During the 2006 season, Lester would go on to exceed rookie status. He is a 5 time All-Star and 3 time World Series Champion. He has finished in the top 10 of the Cy Young voting FOUR times in fourteen years.
Other guys from the top 5 prospects heading into the 2006 season include: Delmon Young, Brandon Wood, Jeremy Hermida, and Stephen Drew. To say those four turned in great careers would be a lie as the four of them equal what number two prospect, Justin Upton has compiled over his career.
This is my only Jon Lester autograph. It is from an uncirculated 2005 Just Minors black printing plate that pairs him up with Andrew McCutchen. Just Minors cards are great for getting dual (and even triple) autos of players you normally wouldn't expect to be paired up on a card together.
That being said I do have nearly 400 base cards of Lolo Sanchez that I got for about $50. I am hoping to get a bunch of them signed this minor league season.
So to put it all in perspective, don't get caught up in all those prospect ratings. Most fail to live up to the hype and some fail to get hype, but go on to have great careers.
I am still shaking my head that a Wander Franco autograph sold for over $20,000. Some others have sold for over $10,000 recently on eBay.
The kid is only 18 years old and hasn't played an inning above A ball yet. I don't want to jinx the Franco kid or anything, but Gregg Jefferies put up much better numbers in the minors at that age.
Old prospect lists are awesome. There is one that Yankees fans often show that looks like this:
ReplyDelete1. Mike Trout
2. Bryce Harper
3. Jesus Montero
I'm always amazed at how much money some of these prospector's lose, and yet they keep coming back for more, which seems much more like an addiction than a hobby. And with the way things are currently going, I suspect that there are going to be some "collectors" who will be losing some very large sums within the next couple of years.
ReplyDeleteI really do hope Lester makes the Hall of Fame. He's built a solid career, and his postseason track record should put him over the top.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how good Franco has to be for that Bowman Chrome Red autograph to end up holding its value. Let's say he has a career similar to Francisco Lindor... is that card still worth $22,900 in five years? If I had to guess, I'd say anything short of Jeter or Ripken and that card goes nowhere but down in value.
ReplyDelete