Oakland A's fans and schadenfreude

Oakland A's fans are still up in arms over the Yoenis Cespedes trade costing their team the American League West title - perhaps making their aspirations at a playoff run a little dimmer.

Reading bits and pieces on this Web site, I chuckle at the self-assured nature of A's fans who claim the team's second half swoon had nothing to do with the team trading Cespedes - maybe getting an ace pitcher like Jon Lester back is better than a so-so slugger, but losing offense was what killed the A's in the second half.

To understate Cespedes' value, even as a flawed hitter is silly talk - Cespedes was a looming threat in that A's lineup.

He might have had a sub .300 on-base percentage this year and his slugging percentage may not seem all that great - but the guy was a proven slugger in the middle of the lineup that had the ability to 'go off' at any time.

As is, the A's still have a chance to get into the playoffs through the Wild Card playoff game and can match up with the the Angels with a much deeper starting staff - substandard offense aside, it might be a new season come the American League Division Series.

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter's complete set

After trying to put together a partial set through quarter boxes in 2012 - I broke down to pick up a full set with short prints [1-350] for about the price of two blaster boxes.

Even though I'm now stuck with a bunch of doubles - having the full base set in-hand gives me peace of mind as far as cards to try and get inked up.

Realistically, I might get something like 100/350 cards signed in the first couple of years - then the progress dwindles; for some players I've seemingly had an entire run of Ginter [2006-2012] cards without getting a lone one signed and I haven't really even paid attention much to the 'other' subjects.

I guess my rule of thumb for getting autograph sets isn't to aim for completion but to get as many of the cards signed - so I have one main set to focus on instead of random cards, and then have a 'snapshot' of signed cards so I have some feeling of accomplishment.

At times I wish I could take a set of unsigned cards and put them in a binder for display purposes - however, these cards are going through my 'chop shop' where I separate the revelant cards [active baseball subjects] from the cards I don't particularly need or can't use during a particular MLB season [non-sport or other sport subjects, any retired baseball players who are deceased or any retired living baseball players charge at least $50 or more to sign].

2012 Topps Series II 72-card Walmart recap

This was one of two Christmas gifts from my brother - the other was a 2012 Topps Opening Day blaster box.

#488 Nick Swisher
#398 Buster Posey
#415 Rafael Furcal
#519 Gio Gonzalez
#476 Ramon Hernandez
#557 Zack Cozart
#452 Robert Andino
#624 Gerardo Parra
#588 Mark Ellis
#413 Frank Francisco
#396 Yoenis Cespedes
#616 Tyler Pastornicky
#657 Dave Sappelt
#423 Colby Rasmus
#427 Rafael Dolis
Topps Pennant Florida Marlins info card
#561 Freddy Sanchez
#377 Brandon Inge
#454 Michael Cuddyer
#498 Joey Votto
#524 Martin Prado
#381 David DeJesus
#493 Ryan Madson
#428 Jordan Schafer
#438 Juan Uribe
#572 Hiroki Kuroda
#394 Bryan LaHair
#516 Charlie Morton
#591 Aubrey Huff
#347 Craig Gentry
#397 Hector Noesi
#656 Carlos Santana
#546 Matt Thornton
#625 Tommy Hunter
#515 Willie Bloomquist
#373 Carlos Gonzalez
#425 Carlos Zambrano
#349 Tim Lincecum
#417 Carlos Pena
#509 Travis Snider
#348 Alfonso Soriano
#405 Nathan Eovaldi
#353 John Mayberry
#660 Yu Darvish
#379 Sergio Romo
#391 Rod Barajas
#584 Daric Barton
#445 Ramon Santiago
#646 Francisco Cervelli
#459 Eric Surkamp
#602 Alejandro De Aza - Golden Moments parallel
#ACA-14 Willie Mays - A Cut Above insert
#GM-19 Craig Kimbrel - Golden Moments insert
#CD-24 Troy Tulowitzki - Career Day insert
#TM-59 Cliff Lee - 1987 Topps Mini insert
#GGC-19 Derek Jeter - Golden Giveaway code card; unlocked a random coin and another free code, which unlocked another useless coin.
#511 Ervin Santana
#483 Alex Gordon
#339 Clayton Richard
#617 Jimmy Rollins
#633 Chris Narverson
#526 Casper Wells
#632 Joe Nathan
#593 Marco Scutaro
#520 Ryan Adams
#430 Felix Hernandez
#410 Jeff Locke

#460 Thomas Field
#390 Taylor Green
#338 Jose Constanza
#604 Juan Abreu
#396 Yoenis Cespedes - blue parallel
#657 Dave Sappelt - blue parallel

Featured autograph - Yoenis Cespedes

I feel like I've lost my way with this blogging thing, but here is an autograph I got in-person of Oakland A's star rookie Yoenis Cespedes - I thought he was good about signing autographs when there was opportunity for him to do so when the A's visited the Angels this past season, though he shortened his autograph from the beginning of the year.

Obviously Cespedes is starring in the American League Division Series right now - looking to help the A's even things up with the Detroit Tigers.