Carl Crawford the TEN MILLION DOLLAR man!

Earlier this week the Rays picked up the $10 million dollar option for the 2010 season of Carl Crawfords contract. You can read all about it here. I happen to agree with the author of the article by the way. This is a very good thing for Rays fans! I do not think that Carl will finish the 2010 season as a Ray, and I will be really upset when he is traded, but the fact is he will be traded. Carl will be a FREE AGENT in 2011. If there is no extension signed in the off season, or before the end of Spring Training, I just do not see anyway CC puts on the number 13 for the Rays to start the 2011 season.

The Rays simply will not be able to afford to pay Carl what he will be worth on the free agent marked in 2011. If you look at the 2009 salaries of the top ten paid outfielders in the MLB you will see that even at $10 million Carl is under paid. Numbers do not lie, they don't always tell the whole story, but they do not lie. Carl will make more then the Rays can afford. The Rays also have a number of young prospects in the farm system that could fill the gap in the outfield if Carl was traded. Desmond Jennings, Frenando Perez, Justin Ruggiano and lets not forget Matt Joyce.

Here are what the 2009 salaries of the top ten outfielders in baseball made in 2009. When I look at this list I do not see 10 players better then Carl Crawford.

Manny Ramirez $23 million
Carlos Beltran $19 million
Carlos Lee $19 million
Magglio Ordonez $18.9 million
Torii Hunter $18 million
Ichiro $18 million
Alfonso Soriano $17 million
Vlad Guerrero $15 million
J.D. Drew $14 million
Matt Holliday $13.5 million

The Rays are not going to be able to spend that kind of money for a left fielder. Hopefully the front office will put together the kind of deal they did for Delmon Young and not the kind of deal they did for Edwin Jackson. Carl will have a good year next year for the Rays until about the mid point of the season and then I look for the Rays to unload him to a contender, who hopefully will not be in the AL East, for picks and prospects. I will curse them and be upset, but that is what happens when you root for a small market team. You get high draft picks, develop them into All Stars, and then ship them off to New York, Boston, or LA. Durham is our farm system, the Rays are the big money teams farm hands.....and that is what is wrong with the current system we have in Major League Baseball. Go Rays, and Carl, I will root for you where ever you go unless it is to the Yankees, or Red Sox.

The Card Addict

Night Owl Trade!!!

So a couple of weeks ago, Greg at NIGHT OWL CARDS posted a picture of a Goodwin Champions Anderson Silva card. Being a huge MMA fan I requested the card after it was apparent Greg did not collect "THE SPIDER". His response was, positive. I told the nocturnal bird of prey I also collect Rays and Rickey Henderson. So Greg put together a great little package and shipped it to me here in the sunshine state all the way from NY. I could not be any more excited about what was in the package after I cracked it open. Here are the little gems from the man behind NIGHT OWL CARDS.

First up a trio of BJ UPTON cards.

I love all three of these cards. The Upper Deck Timeline card is especially nice. What a great chrome embossed logo, and very typical BJ pose, running what looks like half speed.

The Owl also scraped up a few Rays pitchers to throw in the mix.


The Niemann is a great card, and I also really like the Ginter Garza, but for this blogger, the David Price Goudey card made me as happy as a Dodger fan when Holliday miss played that fly ball! What a great card!!! The baby blue background is PERFECT!

Next I noticed some shiny!!!!!

Diamonds may be a girls best friend, but chrome cards are mine. PENA, SONNANSTINE, and NIEMANN! oh my!

Night Owl also sent me a few former Rays.....

We missed Hinske and his very profession at bats this year. I also am still pulling for Kaz even though he is pitching out west now, I hope he does well against the Yanks. Then there is Rocco, what is a fan to do when you own a Jersey of a guy who is not only not on your team anymore, but is playing for an arch enemy like the Red Sox? Any suggestions?

Random sweetness!!!!!

So according Zistle.com, I have over 300 Carl Crawford cards. I did not have this 2000 Topps though!!!!!! The Garza is also a very cool card!

Last but not least, the cards that got the ball rolling: ANDERSON SILVA

This guy is one bad mamma jamma. If you are not a fan of MMA I totally understand if you do not know who Anderson Silva is, but if you do follow mixed martial arts I am sure you will agree this is one of the toughest men on the planet..... Thank you so much Night Owl for the cards. I will get your package in the mail shortly! What a great package to come home to!

The Card Addict

I highly suggest you Trade with The Troll!!!

Today was a very good mail day for the Closet. I recently sent a package of Rays autographs to Marck at THE COLLECTIVE TROLL. He and I collect a lot of the same cards, but I think we pulled off a very good trade. As you can see the Troll packed his return envelope with goodness. It all started with this on card Aki Iwamura auto. VERY SWEET!



Below you can see some more of the cardboard treasures that made their way to my mailbox:



I love the bazooka Comic card. I had no idea that Carl Crawford was the first player since Willie Mays to lead his league in both triples and stolen bases. I needed all three of these for my CC collection.



More Crawfords that I needed and did not even realize I needed. What a big suprise to find out this was my first 2009 Topps regular issue Crawford!!!!



I love this Henderson card! I saw Rickey at the Trop when he was with the Mariners and the Rays were awful. The Goudey Crawford is also very nice. Thanks to the Troll for a great trade. If you do not currently follow his blog I suggest you click here and start following. He has some great posts on A&G, negro league autos, and all things Tampa Bay Rays. I hope we can pull another trade in the future.

As for me, thanks for reading my blog. If you have any Crawford or Henderson cards you no longer want, shoot me a list of what you collect. Maybe we can work a trade. jmeloy1218@gmail.com

The Card Addict

2006 Topps Blue border CRAWFORD 7/10

With Carl Crawford sitting out another game due to a stiff back, I needed a CC fix so I dug through my cards and came across this gem. It is a 2006 Topps blue border card that I purchased some time ago. It has a light blue border, and I seem to remember the ebay listing saying something about a convention or special show. Does anyone else have any of these cards? Are they listed in Beckett anywhere? As you can see, on the back the card is numbered 7/10. Any info would be appreciated.

2007 Topps Copper Carl Crawford

Do you have one of these pieces of junk cluttering up your collection? I hear there are 56 of them floating around. Would you like to get rid of yours? If so, I would be willing to take one or two of them off your hands. Email me and let me know who you are interested in, maybe we can work a trade. jmeloy1218@gmail.com

AUCTION WIN!!! How to bid stress free on EBAY

I was trolling the EBAY today and came across an auction that I felt compelled to bid on. Two Carl Crawford bowman rookies, one regular, one chrome. Starting bid .99 and $1.34 shipping. Well as an avid Carl Crawford collector I just could not let this auction go without any bids. So I threw my hat in the ring and bid a whopping .99 cents. Well a little more then an hour later I get the email confirmation, I AM A WINNER!!!!

I didn't snipe, I was not sitting by my computer waiting to see if someone out bid me, and I did not stress out wondering if I would win. That is exactly how I like to use EBAY, stress free. Please take my advice when it comes to the EBAY. Place one bid that is as high as you are willing to pay for an item. Then walk away. It will add years to your life.

Picture yourself in a card shop looking at a must have treasure. See your self asking the clerk, "how much for that card?" Then pretend negotiate the price you would be willing to pay. Use this price as your bid, remember it is what you are willing to pay. If you win it was meant to be. If you are outbid then someone thought the item was worth more than you did.

It took me a long time to stop getting caught up in EBAYMANIA. Bidding slightly higher, being outbid, bidding slightly higher, being out bid....... but ever since I stopped watching my auctions, I feel much better win or lose. When I receive the new Bowman Carl Crawford Rookie cards I will scan them and post some images.

Do you know that the tattoo on Carls neck is his Zodiac sign? Leo

Always Use Protection

What kind of protection do you use for your cards? Do you place them in 9 pocket pages and binders, top loaders, penny sleeves? Do you go ahead and leave them unprotected, stashed in a cardboard box? My preferred method of storage is placing the card in a penny sleeve and then dropping them into a top loader. When I see a stack of my precious cards sitting around without this dual layer of protection I tend to worry a little. Call me neurotic, tell me a have a slight touch of OCD, or just call me crazy, but unprotected cards cause me to shudder every time I see them. Some of my paranoia may be due to my daughter, who will be turning 15 months old tomorrow, and her uncanny ability to pick out the only thing in a room she should not have and make it the object of her obsession. She loves to get her hands on Daddys Stuff!!!!

Well, now that you know I get the shakes when I see unprotected cards, you may be interested to know that I have gone more then a month without top loaders. They simply were not in the budget. Relief came in the mail today however!!!!!! I found a site online: www.xtremesportscards.com that was selling a case of top loaders delivered for $68.00 I have paid more before so I thought I would give them a try. They arrived today, and the quality is very good! I am impressed and will buy from them again. I have needed top loaders for so long that I am extremely excited about this mail day!!! Finally I will be able to protect a few of the cards I have pulled recently.

I put a link to the site on my blog..... If you need supplies I would give them a look. The also carry something called the Xpack, it looks to me like it is repackaged cards. I may give them a shot it the future. You can order an Xpack of your favorite team, and they promise at least on card will be worth the cost of the pack...... I'll believe it when I see it.

Here are a few of the cards that received PROTECTION today. Nothing special, but I feel better knowing they are safe.







A few numbered Carl Crawford cards for my personal collection. Man do I need a scanner! Does anyone have a good recommendation for a cheap scanner. I would love to be able to scan these instead of fighting the flash on my Nikon D40.

The Card Addict