Getting Giancarlo to Anaheim

I would love to see the 23-year old slugger in the Angels outfield next year with Mike Trout and maybe Peter Bourjos/Josh Hamilton or Kole Calhoun - getting it done however maybe pure fantasy rumbling in my silly head, as the end of a long season for my favorite team comes to an end in a couple of weeks.

The Angels farm system is just about the worst in baseball and a trade probably destroys what little value the barren organization has - with no obvious fit, maybe a finding a third team to trade with along with the Marlins might be the best solution.

Supposedly the Angels have been looking for offers on second baseman Howard Kendrick, so the third team will probably need a second baseman with so pop and can do a little bit of everything - the Florida Marlins would receive 'young talent,' maybe a combination of Bourjos, R.J. Alvarez, Mike Morin and/or Mark Sappington.

Featured autograph - Mike Stanton

I got this card by Florida Marlins outfielder Mike Stanton when the Marlins came and played the San Diego Padres in San Diego - this is one of the three cards I got signed [two by Marlins backup catcher Brett Hayes] during batting practice before security on the field told me not to throw my clipboard over the dugout.

The trading card set of choice for me to get autographed are cards from the 2006-present Topps Allen and Ginter's sets - sometimes, I do like getting retro cards like Topps Heritage signed, though it is on a 'card-by-card' basis instead of an 'all-out' effort.

I didn't have time to throw a Sharpie to Stanton - so he signed my card with the blue ballpoint pen he had signed a couple of baseballs with.

My purchase - a 2010 Bowman Draft set

I picked up a hand-collated set [around $25 shipped] of 2010 Bowman Draft and while there are Mike Stanton, Stephen Strasburg, Jason Heyward and Buster Posey cards in the set - Topps has already rolled the presses on releasing various basic, non-autograph MLBPA rookie cards of these guys and the basic cards from the set are only worth a couple of bucks each.

Maybe the most redeeming if not exactly noteworthy feature to the set - is Topps decided to include non-auto base cards of the guys who do have Bowman Draft Chrome autographs in the set, like Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles, Zach Lee of the Los Angeles Dodgers or Zack Cox of the St. Louis Cardinals.

For an in-person or through the mail autograph collector, Topps almost gets a thumbs up - except for the foil stamped facsimile signatures [not like Peter Tago's card, which doesn't have the facsimile signature] on the cards .

A signed 2010 Bowman Draft card with a foil stamped fascimile signature is probably not going to look as good autographed in-person / through the mail - particularly when the facsimile is stamped across the card.

I realize Bowman Draft is a prospector's product where gripes about aesthetics aren't always valued as long as there is a good crop of signed Bowman Draft Chrome cards and corresponding parallels - however some of the Photoshop work is off in trying to show the draft picks wearing Major League uniforms, particularly the doctored 'in-action' shots of particular players in high school or college.