My latest eBay pickup is a 2010 Upper Deck Biography card of Alex Rodriguez. I paid a total of 6 cents shipped for the card. That’s pretty good for an ARod card. This was one of those penny auctions that I placed a bid on without any expectation of winning. For some reason, there were no competing bidders. To make this an even better deal, I paid using eBay Bucks. By the way, if you still have any eBay Bucks remaining, they will expire this coming week.
My latest eBay purchase is a 2006 Fleer Tradition Rookie Card of Josh Willingham. The card cost me all of 5 cents. I love buying cards for less than the price of postage. You might notice that Willingham is shown in his catcher’s gear, even though his is listed as an outfielder. He is still an outfielder. He actually just signed a 3 year $21 million contract with the Twins. Not bad for a .262 career hitter.
So here is the remainder of my draft haul from Cardboard Heaven. It’s interesting to see the different strategies used by different people in the draft. I often found myself saying “Why take that card with that pick?” I sure everybody said that about me a few times. After the game-used and autographs were gone, I basically stuck to rookie cards and shiny cards. The best rookie card is the 1983 Donruss Tony Gwynn. It’s not in perfect condition, but it’s still a nice card. I also think the 2003 Topps Chrome Utley Rookie was a steal. The shiny cards consist of Chrome, Refractors, and XFractors. Overall, I think I did pretty good. The draft was a lot of fun. I can’t wait for the next one. 
I have received my draft proceeds from Cardboard Heaven. Thank you Cameron. Overall, I think I was a very good general manager. I wound up with 7 autograph cards and a game used jersey card. My first pick of the draft was the Adam Lind auto. That was the card that I was really after. I only sought out autographs to begin the draft. I picked up the lone game used card mid-draft. It’s a no name player, but nobody else took it and it was getting kind of late into the draft. The remaining autographs are Cliff Pennington, Lance Broadway, Dennis Sarfate, Carlos Villanueva, Trevor Crowe, and Ian Snell. I picked up a bunch of other cards in the draft which I will detail in a future post. 
According to MLB.com, the Rays may be interested in signing Jorge Posada as a backup catcher to Jose Molina. This would be ironic as Molina was once a backup on the Yankees to Posada. It would be sad to see Posada finish his career in another uniform, but there is about a zero chance that the Yankees will sign him. Realistically, Posada has declined significantly in recent years. He is no longer able to start at any position every day. He would probably be best served to simply retire. If the Rays don’t sign him, it’s rumored that the Orioles or Phillies might be interested. I love Posada, but I think he is done.
It seems like every off-season the Royals make a few interesting moves that make a few experts believe that they may contend for a playoff spot. By May, those hopes are usually dashed. One of these past signings was Gil Meche. The Royals overpaid for Meche who eventually retired due to injury. The Royals’ latest signing is Jonathan Broxton. Broxton will be the setup man for Joakim Soria. That is a pretty strong 1-2 punch out of the bullpen. Does this make the Royals a contending team? No. But I like this acquisition. The Royals usually make one or two free agent signings and stock the rest of the roster with former Atlanta Braves. I’ll put the Royals down for 75 wins next year.
The neatest card may be the expired redemption card. A little research reveals that a timely submission would result in a Pablo Sandoval Red Hot Rookies card. Time makes fools of us all though. I ended up with a pretty good haul. Thanks for the trade.
My latest eBay purchase is one more 2011 Topps Update Silk card. This one features J.J. Hardy who is currently an Oriole but perhaps best remembered as a Brewer. Hardy actually had a decent year for the Orioles. I really don’t hear his name too much, but that’s probably a function of where he plays. The neat thing about this card is that it is numbered 50/50. I know that is meaningless, but I like that. I only paid $1.99 shipped for this card. These Silk cards are getting cheaper and cheaper. It’s almost the same trend that we saw with game-used jersey cards. 
I received this 2007 Fleer card of Alfonso Soriano recently. Best of all, it was free. I signed up for Swagbucks and had enough points for this card in about a day with little effort. You earn points by taking surveys and doing web searches and such. I was shocked that baseball cards were available as an award. That’s kind of why I signed up. I like the 2007 Fleer cards because they weren’t too expensive and didn’t have a glossy front. They’re great for autographs. Sure he is wearing a Nationals uniform on a Cubs card but it doesn’t matter. Soriano has been a bit of a nomad since he left the Yankees. He is not the player that he was several years ago. He is now 35 believe it or not. He hit 26 home runs this year, but at the expense of his batting average which was only .244. However, he did make $19 million this year. That’s pricey.
