2015 Archives Stack

Someone's playing catch-up. Posting about last year's Archives well after I posted about this year's set. In general bloggers seem to like 2016 Archives better than previous years.

A closeup of Julio. Glad the Braves decided to hold onto this guy. Some of the text on his card is hard to read because of the Braves uniform. Same thing on the Freeman and Chipper. Nice cards otherwise. Hoping Freeman sees some better pitches to hit now that Matt Kemp is in town.

A trio of Orioles. Eddie Murray is my favorite in this row. Fancy sideburns. Gausman is turning in a pretty solid season for the Orioles, who are right in the playoff race despite a pretty poor rotation overall.

Love this card of Hahn, a former Virginia Tech Hokie pitcher. He's been in AAA Nashville for a good portion of this season, but recently had a strong start for the A's. Hopefully he gets another opportunity for some consistent starts before the end of the season. He's proven he can be a reliable starting option over the last few seasons.

I was sad to see Alex Wood traded as part of the deal to acquire Hector Olivera from the Dodgers. We saw how that played out for Atlanta. Looks like Alex Wood might be back from injury in September and used in a reliever role.

This Kershaw is probably the best card in this post. He sure has some great cards over the last few years, doesn't he?

I would like the Braves from this row if the top part of the border was red rather than purple. The Machado looks great! Both of the Braves are of course with other teams. Shelby Miller has not fared too well since leaving the Braves, making his trade look even more lopsided as of now.

I agree with the verdict that 2016 beats the 2015 version of Archives, as nice as a few of these 2015 cards look.

Onwards and Heywards

The opinions I've read are mixed on the recent trade sending Heyward to the Cardinals for Shelby Miller. I'm conflicted with how I feel about it, too. They say you can never have enough good starting pitching, so I'm down with adding another young starter to the rotation. But wasn't a failure to score runs a big part in the struggle in the 2nd half for the Braves? Heyward was one of the few guys getting on base with regularity.

I admit in my recent return to the baseball card hobby that Heyward wasn't a guy I targeted for my collection (I only have two cards of his). It isn't because I don't like him as a player. He plays great defense, he hits, and seems to be a likable guy. On my list of Braves, I'd pick his cards up before Justin Upton and others. I guess my focus has been on a few guys, and mainly Freeman from the current group, because of times like this. Player movement is just so frequent that you become invested, and then they're gone. I picked up my first card of Tommy La Stella a couple weeks back, and a few days later he's traded to the Cubs.

So from a hobby perspective the Heyward trade doesn't bother me, but as a fan of the Braves, you hate to lose guys like this. I feel like a breakout is coming for Heyward on the Cardinals, and even if he doesn't sign with them long-term, that will hurt as a Braves fan. 

What's your take on the Heyward trade, and to the Cardinals fans out there, how are you feeling?