Oriole #980 Andrew Miller, and #981 Cord Phelps

Well, what happened there? After posting pretty regularly for most of the year, this is my first post in nearly a month. And honestly, I don't expect things to get much less busy in my life as my wife and I are expecting our first child, a baby boy, in just under a month. So I will post when I can, but they will be few and far between.
It's kind of funny timing for me to slow down posting considering the Orioles have been playing so well. Most of the years I've been writing posts about the O's in August/September, the team was so out of contention it wasn't even funny. Now that they are in firm control of the AL East, I'm nearly non-existent. But, at least for now, I have been able to continue to watch most of their games, and it's certainly been a fun season to this point!

Also, strangely enough, I've actually been spending more time working with my cards lately as I continue to attempt to organize and pare down my collection in preparation for our little guy. But I'm sure that will come to a screeching halt soon enough too!

Anyway, today's post is highlighting the two players who have made their Orioles debuts since my last post.

First up is lefty relief pitcher Andrew Miller, who the O's acquired at the trade deadline from the Red Sox in exchange for pitching prospect Eduardo Rodriguez. Miller was widely regarded as the top left-handed reliever available and the Birds did what they needed to do to make the deal happen.

I just pulled the trigger on a certified copy of his autograph on COMC, and it should arrive any day.

Since Miller was a former first-round pick by the Tigers, I was surprised the be able to pick up an autographed swatch card of his numbered of just 99 of his for a few dollars. His career as a starter never really took off but he has certainly found his niche as a reliever. He will likely only be an Oriole through the end of this season, and I've heard talk about his possibly sliding into the closer role for a team in 2015.

Not too surprisingly if you know him, my dad had this Old Man Card made the day after Miller's Orioles debut on August 1st and was trying to get it signed for me the very next day. I always really appreciate his help, and I hope to get this card signed soon enough, if I can find the time!

The next Orioles debut occurred on August 16th as Cord Phelps became the 881st player to appear in a game for the team. Luckily, Cord was with the team in Spring Training and I was ready for his debut! I briefly wrote about him in this post following my Florida trip, saying at the time that I had "an inkling that Cord Phelps might be the 2014 version of Russ Canzler, knocking on the big league door but never quite cracking the club." Looks like I wasn't right on that one!

Cord has previously played in some games for the Indians between 2011-13 so he isn't completely new to the big league scene. It seems like he is in a pinch-hitting defensive replacement role for the Birds and has only appeared in two games so far, but he is officially an Oriole!

I have a few extra of Cord's autograph, all obtained in-person, if anyone needs one for their collection. I actually just got his 2014 Tides card signed on my trip to Norfolk, not long before he was called up to Baltimore.

Adios L.J.

One of Kalina's favorite Orioles was traded today, as L.J. Hoes, minor league lefty Josh Hader, and a 2014 competitive balance draft pick were sent to the Houston Astros for starting pitcher Bud Norris. The Hoes for Bud jokes on Twitter right now are rampant.

L.J. only played in two games for the Orioles, but we saw him play many times in the minor leagues at both Frederick and Bowie, and it kind of felt like he had been around for a long time. Both Hoes and Hader are local guys who the Orioles drafted and developed and that makes it a little harder to see them go, but if it makes the team better this year, I'm all for it.

L.J. always seemed like a nice guy, which was the main reason that Kalina liked him, so good luck in Houston, L.J.!

Trade With O No, Another Orioles Blog

A few weeks back I swung a trade with Ryan, who is behind the great "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog, when he posted a bunch of cards that he wanted to trade. A few of them caught my eye, and we were able to work out a deal.

He is a much more consistent poster than I, and he showed off his end of the trade a week and a half ago. For those of you that care, I apologize for my sporadic posting as of late, but sometimes life gets in the way of the fun stuff.

Anyway, here is my haul from the trade, three great cards that each have their own spot in my collections.

The O's signed Daniel McCuthchen to a minor league deal, so I now have his autograph if he makes it up to the big leagues with the team. Markakis is one of my favorite current Orioles and I will gladly add his game used patch cards to my O's collection, even if I don't particularly collect him. And Kalina is a fan of Kila's after she and I had a prolonged discussion about how to pronounce his name at a minor league game a few years back, so that one is all her. And for the record, the name and conversation still comes up on rare occasion.

Thanks for the awesome trade Ryan!

O's Acquire Valencia, Mahoney Designated

Today, in a bit of a head-scratching move, the Orioles acquired third baseman Danny Valencia from the Red Sox in a cash transaction. To make room for Valencia on the 40-man roster, the Orioles had to designate first baseman, Joe Mahoney for assignment.

Now, I'm not particularly a believer that Mahoney was going to be an everyday Major League starter at first base, but with the impending decision on the future of Mark Reynolds with the O's also coming this week (and it's sounding like the two sides might not work out a deal), it's possible that the team won't have a legitimate first baseman on their team by the weekend. I know that Chris Davis, Wilson Betemit, and (it sounds like) Valencia can all play first base, but at least in regards to Davis & Betemit, I can say with some certainty that the team would prefer to not have them play there.

So with the impending possibility that the O's are cutting ties with their 2012 starting first baseman, they have released the only other true 1B on the roster, and added another guy who can man the hot corner. Is anyone else confused by the move?

Ultimately though, I know the team probably has feelers out on corresponding moves, or maybe they do intend to bring back Mark Reynolds, which would really limit this to a discussion about possible bench players for the 2013 campaign. After last season, it's hard to not trust what's going on with the team right now.

Cards From the Netherlands

I recently completed a trade with Jeroen who writes The Dutch Card Guy blog from across the pond.

He contacted me and told me that he had a bunch of cards from my set needs list so I went looking for some cards that he might like. I think we both walked away happy with the swap.

I once again failed to take pictures of any of the cards I needed for my sets before filing them away, but I did snap a picture of the three awesome Vlad cards he included.

I particularly like the fluorescent card on the left, but you can't really see what it looks like from my picture. Just trust me that it's flashy and gaudy and amazing.

Thanks again for the trade Jeroen!

Thanks Kirk!

I recently swung a trade with Kirk, who writes the Orioles autograph-centric Eutaw Street Cardboard blog, and added a few new orange uniform autographs to my collection.

Ahh, the glory of the orange uniform!

Thanks for the trade Kirk.

Let's Trade! (Recent Topps & Topps Heritage)

I've been working a lot on my set needs list lately and I would love to knock some of these sets completely off of the list. I have many doubles (and triples and some quadruples, if that's a word) of various cards in the listed sets, so if you are trying to finish them up too, chances are that we can help each other out.

If the link above isn't working, you can also access my list on the left hand sidebar. It mostly consists of Topps & Topps Heritage sets from 2005 to the present, as well as a few random insert sets that I determined to collect for various reasons.

This 2005 Topps card of former Orioles pitcher Jorge Julio (Oriole #687, if you like knowing that sort of thing) is actually one of the cards I need for my '05 set. My general feeling about cards is the a signed card > an unsigned card and that is almost universally true for me. I will gladly break up a set for a chance to get a card signed, which makes my want list a constantly changing thing. Any time the Orioles sign a new player, I check to see if they have cards in the sets I've collected, so that way I don't have to purchase any additional cards for a chance at an autograph for my O's autograph collection, which is priority one for me. So sometimes, I re-need a card. But I digress.

Is there anyone out there who still has needs to fill for these sets? I have some other random cards for trade from various recent releases that I haven't tried to complete, so let's work something out!

Thank You for the Trades

I just wanted to say thank you to all of the fellow bloggers and collectors that I've completed trades with over the past month. Since many of the cards sent my way were from my set needs list, I pretty much filed them away before thinking to scan them, so I don't have any pictures to show today. But I want to make sure that all of you know that I appreciate all the great Orioles cards and set needs that have been sent my way.

Off the top of my head, thanks to Greg at Night Owl Cards, Ryan at '"O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog, Zach at Autographed Cards, Paul at Paul's Random Baseball Stuff,  Chris at Nachos Grande,  Ted at Crinkly Wrappers, and Jason at http://thewritersjourney.wordpress.com/. Sorry if I'm forgetting anyone, but thanks again for all the trades!

Random Oddball Sets for Trade

Continuing my push to clear out some items that I no longer collect, here are a bunch of oddball type sets I would love to trade. If anyone collects these sets, I'm happy to send some of the whole sets to you, or if no one is interested in that, I can go through them by player or team. Let me know!

Does Anyone Collect Juan-Gone?

Because many, many years ago, I did, but no longer have any interest in his cards. And I have a bunch of them...

Most of them are just base cards but there are some inserts as well. I don't have a list of what I have, but if anyone is interested in anything specific, let me know and I'll see if I have it.

Here are some closer shots of what I have.

I know there are some Rangers collectors out there who might appreciate these, but I figured I would check to see if anyone is specifically interested in these cards.

Some More Inserts For Trade

So, pretty much the same deal as the last time, if you see something you're interested in, let me know and we can work out a trade or you can cover the shipping. If you've already requested a team in my last few trade posts, chances are that I've already pulled your requested teams/players from among these inserts.

This batch is mostly from 2011 Topps, but there are also a few Opening Day inserts.

Adios Jeremy

One of the first things that I read online this morning was about how Jeremy Guthrie had been traded to the Rockies for two pitchers, starter/swingman Jason Hammel and reliever Matt Lindstrom. At this point, I honestly don't know what to think about the deal. Guthrie's stats were frequently not pretty and he led the American League with 17 losses in 2011 and 2009, but he was a consistent bet to pitch around 200 innings, and has been the only reliable starter for the Orioles over the past three years. 

Being the O's #1 starter for the past few seasons, he was subjected to some tough match-ups against other team's stronger aces, and was often a victim of poor run support, at least in part to the O's hitters difficulties against some of baseball's best pitchers. As the seasons went along, and he wasn't always facing other top pitchers, I can't explain the continued lack of run support for Jeremy, but it was a consistent problem for him in Baltimore. I hope that he doesn't have similar problems in Colorado.

I'm not surprised that Guthrie was traded, as he was set to become a free agent after the 2012 season, and it  has been a frequent topic of discussion around Baltimore over the past season and a half, but I am surprised the trade went down when it did. I didn't expect any trades to happen this close to Spring Training, but all I can do is hope that Dan Duquette has a good plan of action in mind. While it would have been nice to receive some prospects in return for Guthrie, it sounds like that just wasn't an option. 

From an autograph standpoint, Guthrie at times was very personable and open, while other times he seemed to go out of his way to avoid signing for fans. He did sign for me a handful of times over his five years in Baltimore and I'm grateful for each of his signatures in my collection. Good luck in Colorado Jeremy!