Archive for the ‘custom card’ Tag
Mike Moustakas is the pivot point for the 2012 Kansas City Royals I believe. The success of the team this years i largely resting on his shoulders. The expectations are too high on a player like Eric Hosmer for the team’s success to depend on him, he is expected to have a good year. Mike Moustakas however had terrible struggles early last year before showing glimpses of the star Kansas City fans think he can become. If he can be a presence at the plate in 2012 it greatly increases the chances of the Royals being able to compete. Even if Moustakas struggles this year, just remember, last year’s opening day starting third baseman was Mike Aviles, and 2010 was Willie Bloomquist before that.
Salvador Perez was injured yesterday and will require surgery. With Manuel Pina already injured that leaves on Brayan Pena on the Royals 40 man roster as a catcher. Both Pina and Perez will not be on the opening day roster now. The Royals will have to break camp with two catchers. Pena is sure to be one but the second catcher could be interesting. The Royals started camp with six catchers: Perez, Pina, Pena, Cody Clark, Max Ramirez and Julio Rodriguez. The last three being non-roster invitees. Max Ramirez has drawn some attention with his offense so far in spring training but I don’t think any of these players are a viable option for the opening day roster. Then, of course, there is always a veteran catcher in the Royals dugout who I believe hasn’t officially retired in Jason Kendall. Stranger things have happened.
The Royals traded for Matt Treanor last year just days before opening day. Look for them to do the same thing again. They could even trade for Treanor again! I think the Dodgers will want the verteran catcher to be on their roster however so I doubt it will be him. I think the Royals “backup” catcher on opening day plays for a different team right now. Manuel Pina would have been a brilliant option if he hadn’t gotten hurt in the first couple days of camp. Ivan Rodriguez is available as a good offensive option but I think the Royals would like to have a more pitcher friendly catcher and a cheaper one. It will be interesting to see what the team does.
I digress… Here is Sal’s spring training card.
So Here is the first card from my 2012 Topps Royals spring training set. I chose Alex Gordon because he had a home run today and I had to start somewhere. Not being able to make it to Arizona to see spring training, I get ready for the season with this set. Since I’m not in Arizona I take spring training photos from various sources (they are difficult to come by) to make these cards. Among these are Around The Horn KC, KC Star and of course AP photos. Without these sources these cards wouldn’t be possible so I am very grateful for them.
Stay tuned, many more of these to come…
So its been a long while with activity on this website. I’d planned on keeping up my torrid pace by posting football cards during the baseball off-season but I quickly found that my love for football pales in comparison for my love of baseball. I lost interest quickly. February brings a couple things baseball back; pitcher and catchers report to spring training to officially get things started and Topps releases their new line of baseball cards.
With 2012 Topps the Royals got 11 base set players included so it was a little fodder to get me pumped up for the season. The design gets low grades from me. It isn’t horrible but I don’t have a lot to say about it that is good. It is bare-bones Topps. A lot of room for picture is always nice but it is straight out boring other than that. Topps cards almost always grow on me so in July I may rave about the 2012 set, I don’t know yet. Since Joakim Soria was once again not included in the series 1 set it gave me an opportunity to make my card first again, like last year.
I’m hoping this will ignite my fire for custom baseball cards again. It will happen… it is just a matter of time. It has been a crazy and traumatic off-season for me personally so I’m ready to start to concentrate on something I love again. There have not been many great days for me since the Royals last played a game so I’m very much looking forward to watching them again. So here is the 2012 Topps custom card of Joakim Soria. May this the beginning of a great season…
The Melky Cabrera trade was a good deal for the Royals. They had Lorenzo Cain ready and no place to put him and a desperate need for starting pitching. They got their pitcher but I am going to focus on how it will effect the Royals lineup. It is interesting how well this worked out for the Royals. I think Melky Cabrera had a career year last year. I’m not going to say it won’t happen again but I feel it is unlikely. Lorenzo Cain will replace Melky Cabrera but it will effect the lineup.
Melky Cabrera batted second basically all of 2011. Cain will not bat second in 2012. He will likely end up near the bottom of the lineup at number 7. This will be a good low pressure spot for him to get established in the major leagues. The move of Cain down will shift Johnny Giavotella up the second hole. This is where the Royals second baseman had batted in the minor leagues and he could be an excellent number two hitter. Cain could shift to the top of the lineup but it is unlikely will all of his strikeouts. If he cuts down on them he could be a candidate to be a leadoff hitter. This would allow Alex Gordon to move to the number two hole where I feel he would be most valuable for the Royals but it is unlikely.
A Hair Off Square 