Cards from John and rant about spin rate

 Today I got a pwe from John of Johnny’s Trading Spot in the mail. I won one of his week-daily giveaways recently, and the envelope contained a smattering of shiny Rays. 

The ‘07 Bowman Sterling refractor of Delmon Young would’ve been a hot card back in 2007. While it might be found in a dollar box now, I am happy to have it and would’ve probably paid more for it. The Brendan McKay card is one of those Mojo Box refractors. I have like 4 or 5 of those from that set, all Rays and Tigers. McKay is currently on the DL and will probably be out until next year as far as pitching, which is a shame because the Rays could use him. I just don’t understand why they can’t use him as a DH and try to get some value out of him. Perhaps the injury is more complicated than I think it is. Here’s to hoping McKay can put it together in 2024. The Charlie Morton is a 2020 Optic parallel. Not quite sure without looking at TCDB, but it kind of looks like snakeskin and is numbered to 88. Another McKay and then a 2021 Chrome Sapphire Chris Archer. Next is one of the guys swiped from the Pirates in the Archer trade and another numbered parallel with a 2022 Topps Chrome Sonic purple parallel of Tyler Glasnow. Those are cool enough that if the prices are similar, I might have to buy a blaster or a box of it. I feel like I have a number of variations of Vidal Brujan’s 2022 Topps card, with the base, Opening Day, team set, Chrome, Holiday, and now Holiday snowflake parallel card. Of course, there are probably still the Ben Baller, Chrome Sapphire, Chrome Sonic, and all of the 200 parallels per set. Next is a guy I collect, Paul DeJong, on a 2019 Leaf Limited insert blue parallel numbered to 99. Lastly is a ‘22 Archives SP of Randy Arozarena that I will put in my highlights binder since I have another copy in my Rays box. A great envelope of cards. Thanks so much, John!

Right now, I just want to take a moment and whine about these stat nerds and all of the crap that they are doing to baseball to hurt it. The pitch clock is bad enough, but I’m really pissed about a little stat they like to call ‘spin rate’. It basically tells you how many revolutions per minute a breaking ball spins. The more it spins, the harder it is to hit. While I enjoy a good curveball as much as the next guy, there were guys I’ve watched dominate like Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Trevor Hoffman who never worried about spin rates because they located their fastball and used a dominating changeup. While the pitch clock does play a small part in some of these pitcher injuries with pitchers having to snap off a pitch when they aren’t ready if the clock is winding down, the real problem is the damn spin rate that is being pushed by every pitching coach. The Rays have been big spin rate guys ever since it became popular, and are probably the most bullish on the stat. With that being said, they have also had a rotation and a half worth of good starting pitchers who have lost seasons to injury. I believe it is due to their marriage to the spin rate. Tyler Glasnow, Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen, Shane Baz, Nick Anderson, Brendan McKay, Brent Honeywell. Those are just the ones I could name off the top of my head. Every time I see. Rays headline, I cringe because I wonder which pitcher is going down next. It’s going to be tough to get through 2023 even with the record start if they only have 2-3 starting pitchers and 2 crappy bullpen games where the opposition is going to bat around in at least one inning of the game. I hope for Rasmussen’s injury to be low grade. I hope Glasnow stays healthy for the rest of this season. I hope that Baz can be ahead of schedule with his rehab and slide in as a #4 starter at the seasons end. That would give us McClanahan, Glasnow, Rasmussen, Baz, and Eflin as a solid rotation come playoff time, no bullpen games!!!, and the option to put Chirinos, Taj Bradley, Josh Fleming, and Pete Fairbanks as bullpen options. They can help solidify the bullpen and the Rays might have a decent shot at winning their first championship. Just give the spin rate a rest, throw changeups and regular curveballs, and give the arms a chance to stay healthy!

Tomorrow I am off and I am planning on working on my Topps checklists, with the Red and White Sox being the next 2 teams.  I can probably get at least one of them done and possibly both. We’ll see. The end is starting to be in sight. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post. 

-Jeremy