2015 Bowman's Best Baseball - The Dodgers Base Cards

After a decade long hiatus Topps has decided to bring back their Bowman's Best Baseball card brand as a standalone product, and it was officially released yesterday.  Check out all of the Dodger base cards below.  Go here for a complete checklist.

There are five Dodger players in the 100-card base set and two Dodger prospects in the companion Top Prospects set.

#10 Yasiel Puig

Blog Kiosk: 12/24/2015 - Dodger Links - Some Odds and Ends Before the Holidays

With the year coming to a close the Dodgers are sharing a bunch of old photos from the past 30 years of Jon SooHoo's tenure.  As you know, he's been the Dodgers official photographer for the past three decades.  You can check out those pics exclusively on their Instagram account; using the hashtag #soohoo30.  Go to this link to check them out.  The photo above features two young Dodger prospects before they would ever have an opportunity to put on a Major League uniform.  Meet prospects Blake DeWitt and Clayton Kershaw - "Before the Bigs."

Below are more links to check out:

• Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Dodgers continue to show interest in Kenta Maeda."
• Former Dodger Jerry Sands has been claimed by the White Sox, via Jeff Todd at MLB Trade Rumors.
• A minor transaction.  Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, "Astros claim Daniel Reynolds off waivers from Dodgers."
• Panini provides an early peek at some of the 2015 National Treasures Baseball cards that will be hitting stores come early January; including the Joc Pederson card on the right.  Go here to check out a bunch more pics.
• The other night the LA Kings wore some fantastic Christmas themed jerseys for their pregame skate, and auctioned them that same evening to benefit the victims of the recent San Bernardino shooting.  Go here to check out the results.  Surprisingly, backup goalie Jhonas Enroth's jersey sold for the most - at $4,000.  Other sales include Jonathan Quick at $3,025; Anze Kopitar at $2,525; Drew Doughty at $2,275; and Alex Martinez at $2,025.  The below are pics of the jersey's via the LAKings on twitter:

• Panini shares a bunch of preview pics of their 2015 USA Baseball Box Sets that include cards of some of the best and brightest prep stars in the country.  Check it out here.  It doesn't look like any current Dodger prospects is a part of this set yet, but I suspect a player or two will eventually be in our system as some of the prep stars get old enough to be drafted.  Go here for a complete checklist.  BTW, this set is now officially available in stores.

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2015 Topps Strata Baseball - All the Dodgers Cards

Once just a fancy insert, Topps Strata has gone legit.  It is now its very own standalone Baseball card brand.  As you know, these are acetate cards that promises two hits per box.  BTW, boxes will cost you about $75 to $90 a piece for two cards.  Go here for a complete checklist.

As you can see, there is no base set.  Instead, every card either has an autograph, relic or both.  One of the Kershaw cards comes with a redemption.  There are a couple of cards I have yet to see, so I'll update this post once they come to light.

Autographs

#SA-AGZ Adrian Gonzalez                  #SA-CKW Clayton Kershaw

Happy Festivus Day! - The Airing of Grievances

A Festivus for the rest of us!

As has been the tradition on this blog, I will now begin this merry occasion with the "Airing of Grievances."

• SportsNet LA, Time Warner and the Dodgers management shall be forever hated by this and any right thinking fan for allowing this television debacle to continue.  For the love of God... This is Vin Scully's last season, and there are millions of fans STILL unable to hear his words!
• Damn you Zack Greinke!  Didn't you like it in LA?  Didn't we fans treat you right?  Are a few more dollars really worth moving to the hell-hole that is Phoenix?
• STOP with the Jose Fernandez rumors!  It's not going to happen.  
• And will those reporters/bloggers who keep pushing the Fernandez narrative, please stop.  It's obvious click-bait and it's disgusting.
• To those fans who insist that we should be willing to trade the farm for someone like Fernandez, I say you are wrong.  The Dodgers have a plan, and it consist of building a farm system that will continually provide players to feed the big club.  To turn around now, just as we are about to reap some rewards, is foolhardy.  As Peter Gammons said, this is about "21st century Branch Rickeyism."  Deal with it!
• There is never a reason to strike a woman - I'm looking at you Aroldis Chapman.
• Screw you TMZ.  You sensationalist A-holes!  You pushed the story that Puig committed some heinous violent act at some bar recently only to share a video of said altercation that is not him - obviously (link here).  Not only that, we learned that the initial story is likely far removed from reality (link here).

I'm sure as the day progresses I'll discover even more folks who should be on this list.  For now, this will have to do.  In the meantime, anyone want to wrestle?

Video Link:

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Blog Kiosk: 12/23/2015 - Dodger Links - Turner, Alvarez and Stan Kasten

Following up yesterday's announcement that Dodger Stadium would soon have a Jackie Robinson statue on its grounds I thought I'd put up this fantastic United Press photograph of the Hall of Famer in action.  (Check out the eBay auction here)  It is from late-August in Chicago during the 1952 season.  Per the descriptor on the reverse:

Jackie Robinson got the Dodgers off to a flying start in the first inning of todays game with the Cubs by hitting a triple to right field.  Robinson slides safely into third as Cubs third sacker Randy JAckson reaches for the throw from right fielder Bob Addis.  The umpire is Lee Ballanfant.  Robinson then came home on George Shuba's base hit as the Dodgers went on to beat the Cubs 9-6.

It should come as no surprise that he was the bellwether in the game - as he was in life.  Below are more links to check out:

• Mark Saxon at ESPN shares an interview with Stan Kasten (link here).

Was [president of baseball operations] Andrew Friedman given a mandate to decrease the payroll?

Kasten: Let's go back to the start. Did you not see us make big offers? Don't pretend that's not there. What is important is that we continue the program we began three years ago of becoming more self-reliant on our own development. Over the course of time, becoming a younger team will be cheaper, but it will also be one that stays good longer. From the start, I said we don't make decisions by looking at payroll. I didn't know what it was going to end up being last year. We had to do some cleanup for the new administration. If you told me it would be the highest in baseball again next year, that might well be right. I just don't know yet. It's not the biggest consideration. The biggest consideration is putting winning teams on the field.

• Via David Hood at True Blue LA, "Dodgers top prospects 2016: No. 12, Yadier Alvarez."

Perhaps of greater interest with Alvarez is how easy his arm works to generate velocity. Alvarez has a fluid motion, though the arm action can be long, creating velocity so effortlessly. It’s that type of ease that makes many believe he will be an elite starter at his peak, needing little effort to produce plus stuff. 

• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Turner on track in knee surgery recovery."

"It feels great," he said at Friday's annual children's holiday party. "I got off crutches beginning this week, started strengthening stuff, doing cardio stuff as low impact as I could. I saw ElAttrache and he was pretty pleased with how it looked."

• Craig Edwards at FanGraphs writes about, "Joc Pederson’s Ugly Second Half."
• Via Zach Links at MLB Trade Rumors, "Latest On Kenta Maeda."  The Dodgers appear to be players for his services.
• Panini provided an early look at some of the 2015 Immaculate College cards on their blog (link here); including the Dodgers 2015 1st round draft pick card of Walker Buehler on the right.  This set officially goes live today.
• Via Joe Posnanski at NBC Sports, "Set the record straight: Even Pete Rose's career-defining record is a fake."
• This is fun.  Via Blowout Buzz, ""Five top Santa Claus cards *serious* collectors need right now."
• Blowout Buzz shares a bunch of preview pics from 2016 Topps Pro Debut; including the below Julio Urias card.  This set comes out in late-May 2016.

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2015 Topps Dynasty - All the Dodger Cards

This product is as high-end as you can get.  For the price of $250 to $300 you get a single box with one encased autographed card.  So this Baseball card brand is not for the weary.

On the positive side, the cards are attractive, and they feature many of the best current and former ballplayers in the game.  Go here for a checklist.

Like last years set, each players "Autographed Patches" have numerous variations available.  For Kershaw and Puig there are at least five different cards available.  So far, I count only three Pederson cards.  I'll update this post should any more pop up.  Also, each variation only has 16 possible copies in existence (including parallels).  There is a blue tint parallel card numbered to ten, a green tint parallel numbered to five and a red tint parallel numbered to only one copy.

I've done my best to collect pics of all the different cards available.  Check them out below.  BTW, you will notice that the backs of each different card has a different description.  Click on any pic to embiggen.  Of note, there is a Will Ferrell (in a DBacks & Angels uni) and John Elway (as a Yankee) cards available.

Autographed Patches

#Nomar Garciaparra

• redemptions only - printed checklist indicates he'll be a Dodger on these cards.

#Clayton Kershaw

#Clayton Kershaw AP-CKE1