Life since the Cy Young
Life since the Cy Young has been bleak. By life I mean eBay and by bleak I mean rising prices for Lincecum’s cards. It’s great for a collector who buys low and sells high, but I am not one of those types and I just hold on to his cards just because I am a fan of his work. Yes I call it work because pitching is an art form. Anyway, right before the award was announced last Tuesday, I managed to pick up my last three cards of his for great bargain deals (of course they were purchased on Sundays). The most expensive one was the Topps Finest for $9 and the cheapest one was the Tristar Elegance for a few cents under $4. Overall, it was a nice trifecta. I’ve been looking for the Topps Finest for a while now at a good price and I finally got it. It’s probably one of my favorite cards just based on appearance and when I got it in hand today, everything was pristine and sharp. As of now, the collection stands at 61 cards and it will probably remain stagnant for a while.
In other news, the Giants signed their first player from the free agency pool today. Jeremy Affeldt is a relief pitcher from the Reds and signed for a supposed 2-year, $8 million deal. A nice addition to the bullpen and it should help bridge the gap between the starters and setup and closer for us. Personally, I don’t like to see relief pitching getting as much money as they do for pitching one inning, but they are pretty important nowadays as starters go less deep into games and the caution managers take with pitch counts. Rumor has it that the Giants are strongly pursuing Rafael Furcal and also Joe Beimel. I’m very iffy about a Furcal signing just because I am nervous about giving a player coming off surgery a 4-year deal at $10-12 million each. We’ll see how things shape up in the coming weeks, but a great start.
I also sent some packages out last week to a number of bloggers so let me know if you receive your packages.
thenennthinning.wordpress.com 
November 17, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Funny how the Giants are interested in the Dodgers. They’d be wise to get Furcal. Surgery or no, he’s a keeper. I’m hoping L.A. shells out the money for him and not Manny. Beimel’s good if he can stay out of the bars.
November 17, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I know, I guess it’s payback form Colletti signing all those former Giants, except we can thank him for signing Schmidt. What’s Beimel’s story and bars?
November 17, 2008 at 7:54 pm
A couple of years ago, he cut his hand before a playoff game and made up some story about it. Turns out he smashed a glass while in a bar and cut his hand on the glass. Regardless of the story, he wasn’t available to pitch in the playoff game.
November 18, 2008 at 7:20 am
Yes, sometimes being a player collector gets to be really tough after they win an award or do something on a big stage. Right after Morneau won the HR Derby this year, his cards spiked big time and I ended up missing out on a few that I wanted. Just give it time and it’ll all come back to a realistic level. Of course, patience is not really a virtue held by many of us in this hobby….me included.