Thursday, December 31, 2015

Zistle Trade #31: tidalwav90

It is the end of 2015 with 2016 just a few hours away.  This has been a pretty great year for Mets fans.  We went into Spring Training with a returning Matt Harvey, but then lost Zack Wheeler for the season.  We started the season strong, but then lost a couple of big bats to injuries and stopped scoring runs.  We traded for a big bat then went on a tear to the top of the NL East.  We made it to the World Series then lost it in five games.

I have read a lot of Mets fans being upset at the lack of a big signing this off season, but I think the signings we have made are just fine.  Cespedes would be nice, but not at the cost he is asking.  Zobrist would have been nice and filled many needs, but he wanted to play somewhere else.  Murphy signing with the Nationals hurt a little, but we got a nice replacement in Neil Walker.  We still have a couple more needs to address, but this off season has been good enough so far. 

Now back to the cards!  Here is another Zistle trade completed, this time with Jesse.  He reached out with some Cubs needs and offered up some Mets in return.


I always like to get 1988 cards since they show Mets players in their 1987 uniforms.  The 1987 season was the only time they wore those New York script uniforms.  Here's to hoping they bring it back for some games in the future.


Finally, here is nice Jeff Kent card depicting him about to make a play at second base.  Kent had a great career and showed a lot of promise with the Mets, but played his greatest elsewhere.  For Mets fans, at least for me anyway, it feels like there are a number of players we can look back on in the same regard.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Zistle Trade #30: hpennington22

The last time I posted the Mets and Royals were going into Game 4 of the World Series.  Well, we all know how that turned out.  I was not heartbroken with the lost.  The Royals played great baseball, but ultimately I think the Mets beat themselves.  They had every chance to maintain the lead or take it, but failed to hold on in the end.

Even with this lost, there was a lot gained by the young Mets players like Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, and Michael Conforto.  They each made their MLB debut this season and ended up playing in the World Series.  There are a lot of great players who never even got that chance.  Ken Griffey, Jr., Ichiro, and Ernie Banks are some of the first to come to my mind.  No doubt that this experience will help each of those players out tremendously.

All things consider, the 2015 season was an enormous success for the Mets.  Most people probably thought the Mets were a fringe playoff team at best.  The Mets exceed all expectations, in my opinion.


Now, back to some trades.  This is my second trade with Henry.  He reached out to me with a rather large trade offer.  I believe it was, and still is, the most cards I have traded and received via Zistle.  Here are just some of the cards that I received.




I enjoy these 1996 Upper Deck cards.  I like how each card is game dated to the photo depicted.  It really puts the photo into context more than today's cards.


Later Upper Deck releases didn't really do much for me.  I think the only thing Upper Deck had going for them in their later years was that they were able to get more players on cards, but that came at the expense of large, massive sets.



And we finish up with another player who never played in the World Series and one who was a big part of the 1969 World Series champions.