Boom or Bust ? Prospect style

[All The Hype]

Fun thread, great to hear the stories.

Biggest successes:
- Rick Porcello
- Justin Verlander
- Nolan Arenado
- Wil Myers
- Matt Moore
- Mike Stanton
- JD Martinez

Biggest Misses:
- Jarrod Parker - Good player but I held his cards for roughly three years before selling for basically what I paid for them
- Jason Heyward - Got tired of waiting and sold a small stash too early...whoops
- Graham Hicks - Who? Not a big stash but this "sleeper" never woke up
- Ryan Strieby - Still hoping he debuts and hits a homerun quickly. Unless that happens, he will be my biggest failure and my first real prospecting loss, as many of the other "misses" were very small investments
- Rick Porcello - Sold my initial stash for a massive profit and then bought some more stuff when prices dropped way down. Still waiting for him to show that he's better than an average 4/5 starter.

 

[csmtampa]

Randal Grichuk --- bahhh

 

[SINFULONE]

Doug Million was a first round draft pick of the Rockies in 1994, drafted seventh overall. He had been the Gatorade High School Player of the Year that year.

In 1997, he died from an asthma attack while still in the minors.

Sorry to hear that.Did not know that.I guess he has MLB cards in Bowman then?

 

[AmishDave]

Sorry to hear that.Did not know that.I guess he has MLB cards in Bowman then?

Yes, he has a '95 Bowman's Best for sure. Maybe the '95 Bowman as well. Can't recall, as I haven't looked at my collection of his in AGES.

 

[SINFULONE]

I bombed with wladimir balentin. Also Taylor Jacobs a wr with the redskins in the mid 2000's. The reason I bought into Jacobs ( stupid stupid) was my boys and I played madden on the play station and I did really well with him on the game ! Lol what a dumb ass I am!

I have a couple Balentien cards too I wish I would have dumped years ago, though don't have much into them.Really thought he was going to hit for power.Heh, I've never heard of someone buying cards of someone because they played well on Madden.Did any Florida WR ever produce much in the NFL?I remember several WR's there that went in the 1st round in the draft and did very little.

 

[SINFULONE]

Took a bath on Matt Antonelli stuff. Bought some blues, tons of bgs stuff. Did pretty well on some josh geer stuff.

When did Geer ever sell well?I found a black refractor of him.

 

[SINFULONE]

Eric Almonte and Greg "toe" Nash blah!!!!

Heh, I remember picking up Almonte in fantasy baseball one year when Jeter got hurt.Did Nash ever make the majors?

 

[Seiya]

When did Geer ever sell well?I found a black refractor of him.

Hmm, it was toward the end of the season, sold all my color stuff to a guy in Canada.

 

[SINFULONE]

Hmm, it was toward the end of the season, sold all my color stuff to a guy in Canada.

Where is he now?Guess I'm stuck with his stuff forever now, never thought he ever sold well.

 

[rbadger]

Add me to the Antonelli bust...also didn't sell Maybin soon enough either. Made around $3K though in Chris Davis RC's back in 2007 amidst his long minor league hitting streak then call-up. I had about 250 chromes that I paid < $1 for that I sold at the peak for around $10/ as well as several blue/gold/orange and a red ref. Here was part of that stash.

Also lost a LOT on Aaron Poreda and James Simmons....

 

[All The Hype]

Randal Grichuk --- bahhh

Grichuk had a great year statistically. I wouldn't give up on him yet.

 

[prospectorgems]

Grichuk had a great year statistically. I wouldn't give up on him yet.

Was just going to say something about that as well. Keep holding.

 

[prospectorgems]

I tend to prospect players under the radar. Even though the cards are cheap, it can add up when you amass large quantities.

Success
Brad Mills - Stuff was dirt cheap when putting up great numbers in the minors. Did very well selling just before his call up.
Wilkin Ramirez - Another player where his cards were dirt cheap. Came out in the black big time with this one.
Tyler Thornburg - Sold before his catastrophic start for which I believe he gave up 3 home runs in a row.

Mid-Success
Brad Hand - Had over 100 of his autographs including the superfractor auto. Broke them down into lots and came just a bit ahead.
Nick Ramirez - Met with Nick and his girlfriend and sold off a huge lot including three 1/1's. Came out just a little ahead and was able to hang onto a few cards. Nick likes to swing for the fences or strike out trying.

Failure
Michael Buschmann - Took a chance on the cheap while putting up decent numbers. Will be a 29 year old minor leaguer come this February
Alex Torres - Held onto for way too long, thought he would be a superior pitcher upon his call up. His stuff tanked.

 

[Austin]

Did Toe Nash ever make the majors?

Hah! He played only one season (47 games) in the Rookie League (pre-A ball).
Then he was arrested for statutory rape and got in trouble for multiple other reasons, before the Rays released him.
The Reds signed him, then released him before he played another minor league game.

Nash was all hype, a high school dropout who was abandoned by his mother at 12.
He was discovered playing in a sugar cane field semi-pro league.

Nash's entire baseball card value was built on his tremendous raw skills and unbelievable story.

He could have been a legend if he wasn't such a troublemaker.
He's probably in jail right now.

 

[TopOffLikeWALLACE]

Hits- Jurickson Profar (still holding:benson

Misses- Cheslor Cuthbert (still holding:benson

 

[sbib]

I did well with Chris Shelton when he went berzerk for the first 6 weeks of 2005 and cleaned house with Ryan Braun
I have failed on numerous others - too many to list, but to name a few - Brandon Hynick (still hoping) and Brandon Berger - hit 40 HRs in Royals system in 2001

It has always been fun either way

 

[cards01fan]

I have a couple Balentien cards too I wish I would have dumped years ago, though don't have much into them.Really thought he was going to hit for power.Heh, I've never heard of someone buying cards of someone because they played well on Madden.Did any Florida WR ever produce much in the NFL?I remember several WR's there that went in the 1st round in the draft and did very little.

Lol now you no why I said stupid! I wasn't really into football cards then do I had no clue what I was doing.

 

[AmishDave]

Jeremy Hermida was another I bought into quite a bit. Still have a bunch and pick up patches every once & again, because they're so cheap.

 

[Halonut]

Mainly stick to Angels for the PC. I did very well with Trout, Trumbo, Adenhart, Kendrick and Brandon Wood. Was able to get in on the bottom floor and flip some dupes at the right time in order to cover my buy in and then some. Got my ass handed to me on Casey Kotchman, Jeff Mathis and Trevor Reckling.

 

[CatdaddysCards]

Hit bigtime by gobbling up Goldachmidt Platinum autos for $10-$15 and selling for $30-$40 after September of the 2011 season.

Also made a killing on Hosmer this Sprint training, although it was selling off PC out of necessity.

Lost my butt on Chris Nelson.