*sigs are sigs...does it matter if it looks like ted williams or miguel sano? doesn't really matter to me i enjoy both equally. i don't collect autographs for how they look.
*kimbrel--he's had a nice bounce back year. prolly just needed to adjust to boston's scrutiny...some never adjust like crawford let's see how price does. kimbrel's still dependent on the big velo? his 2 pitches have like a 10 mile difference, let's see how he does when he starts to age and his fb is slower. i'd take kenley jansen who has that unhittable 92-94mph cutter like rivera that never ages.

I bit the bullet:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...psjpkicpbs.jpg

He just dropped under .300.

His cards will never be worth as much as they were a few weeks ago. Hope you all got off that train and made some dough off Judge!

i guess if you're a red sox fan you're waiting for him to fail. as for the rest of us i hope he exceeds his expectation, baseball needs more charismatic stars. a better version of joey gallo would be disappointing at this point.

I guess I just don't know why people don't want him to be good. There are some really pessimistic posts in this thread about a guy with a feel good story who's liked and respected by pretty much everyone in baseball. I admit I never thought he'd play as well as he has, but now that he's succeeding all I want to do is root for him.

I don't think that is the case at all. Most in this thread, including me, do not wish him to do poorly, we just wish, with those that have him touted as being the next Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth, would be a little more realistic in their assessment of him at such an early stage in his career.

I like the guy, and I hope he continues to climb and do well as I think it is great for baseball, but paying what some have, even for manufactured rare cards, like has been said numerous times, is just plain silly.

There is nothing wrong with speculating/hoping, but with the crazy prices we were/have been seeing with his cards, hopefully you can understand why some were being a little less optimistic $$$ than others. :D

I root for him too--a very smart, humble guy who is good for the game. I watch every Yankee game televised on Fox Sports, ESPN or MLB in my area just to cheer him on. The reason for his downturn lately is that the pitchers have found a hole with balls breaking down and inside to him (good lefty sliders and righty changeups) plus he is chasing sliders breaking down and away to some extent again (a la last year) and even occasionally chasing fastballs above the letters. His chasing of pitches should be curable, but the vulnerability to pitches breaking in and down to him may well be a consequence of his inability to recognize what these pitches are, and present a more serious problem in the long run.

While I root ardently for him to succeed, I certainly wouldn't buy his cards now, since as I've stated before, their current high level of demand (and hence prices) is of a speculative and transient nature. Also, since he is already 25, it may prove difficult for him to put up significantly high career numbers to even remotely justify those prices later. Buy him during his 30's downturn if he still looks good then career-wise.

Happy collecting,

Larry

As an O's fan, I dislike the Yankees as much as anyone. Having said that, what I have seen of Judge so far is all good. He is humble, well spoken and appears to be a great person. It is hard to root against him. Also, I am the guy who would get in arguments with other Oriole Fans at Camden Yards regarding Derek Jeter. I would defend Jeter and could never understand why the O's fans would boo him. He was the Yankees version of Cal Jr. How can you boo a guy that shows up every day, gives 100% and is a great person off the field as well. Sometimes you have to look beyond the uniform and show some respect to what some players bring to the table, on and off the field.

Duane

Even as a Red Sox fan I have nothing against Judge and wish him well (in his other games), my issue is only with the frenzy that some people seemed to be in after just a couple of good months, which means very little in baseball.

For any fellow Judge Collectors, some recent pickups that've been exciting additions to mine and my son's Judge Collection. Frazier, Sanchez, Severino, and Bird (we are hoping for a healthy return to 1B) also have some great-looking cards. Still looking for the Judge 1/1s from Heritage and Archives; hard to find, but leads to lots of ripping wax, which is always fun.

https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...stin-refractor

https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...tor-judge-auto

https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...ium-club-judge

https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...now-judge-auto

He is having a historic rookie season. Only 2 rookies have won MVP. Ichiro (OPS+126) and Fred Lynn (OPS+ 162). Judge (OPS+ 170) is at worst top 2 in the MVP race. If you have an issue with hype, it should be over Andrew Benintendi, the next Ted Williams, earlier in the season or Rafael Devers, already better than Judge after 8 games.

You are a great Dad, sharing your passion with your son, right on!!!

I agree it's way premature on them too. But that's Boston for you. It wasn't long ago we were anointing Will Middlebrooks, and then Travis Shaw.

Had the opportunity to watch Judge and the Yankees take on the Blue Jays the last few nights and unfortunately for Judge, he is still struggling since the All Star break.

I believe, IIRC, he only had 1 double (his only hit) in the series? What surprised me the most, was the amount of strikes he took just watching them go by. Even I, a Blue Jays fan, was saying, swing when I could see a hittable ball coming his way, but he just watched them into the catcher's mitt. :confused:

It's his 27th consecutive game with a strikeout :eek: The record for positional players is 32.

I am not sure the story nor the reasons why, but for him, and baseball, I sure hope he is able to turn it around.

Who's Aaron Judge anyways? What about Justin Smoak?

Hit his 32 HR today, is batting .300, is a switch hitter, like Mantle, is a solid first baseman, has a gorgeous wife and looks like Johnny Hopp. :D

He does have a few RC's, but nothing like Judge does, so, being since his RC's are more scarce, they should hold better value, no? :confused:

All kidding aside, I am happy to see a player turn things around like he has.
I don't know for sure, but I am pretty sure the Jays were looking to trade him before the season started this year based on his last couple mediocre seasons with the Jays.
He has had a great season, and the Jays would be in a worst position than they are (chasing a wild card spot) if it weren't for him. :)

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2007-UD-USA-J...YAAOSw0j9ZOIwc

Two more Ks for Judge so far tonight. And he is down to .288. The only positive sign recently is that he is walking quite a bit which suggests he is not swinging at bad pitches, and is also keeping his OBP and OPS up.

Perhaps the comparisons to Babe Ruth were a little premature. Not like Yankee fans though to get a little carried away. Usually very calm and understated.

He's been profoundly depressed since learning that his home runs in the Home Run Derby don't count.

Judge was barely a top 100 prospect for most of his minor league career. There are reasons for that. We are now seeing those reasons.

I am not quite sure that I heard it right but didn't he tie a major league record by striking out at least once in 30 consecutive games?

I think that is right. There must be a hole in his swing ? because he's drawing a lot of walks so he doesn't seem impatient or to have a bad eye.

Mark Simon of ESPN thinks the Umps have changed his strike zone:

http://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/p...in-second-half

The record is 32, he is now at 30 I believe?

Adam Dunn holds the record for position players with 32 consecutive games with a strikeout.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseba...tic-1.14027302

Up to 31, he whiffed in his first at bat just now.

From the article.
Judge has drawn 25 walks and hit the five home runs since the break, but much of the rest has been hard to watch. The player who seemed to always put the barrel of the bat on the ball has 46 strikeouts in 97 at-bats since the break and at least one in 30 straight games (51 strikeouts in 104 at-bats in that span).

It's painful to watch the rapid decline of a seemingly very nice young man, and one with some clear talent although his anointment as the next superstar was premature. Obviously if he is striking out 50 percent of the time he is not long for the majors even if he does have the occasional pop in his bat. Hopefully he can stop the bleeding and figure out what's going wrong. It's a reminder of how damn difficult it is to hit a baseball and how small the difference between stardom and nothing really is.

Just a couple of thoughts I had:

Judge is starting to remind me of Jeff Francoeur, great in his first half season and just average for the rest of his career.

Or possibly he needs some time off he has played 114 of the 118 games this season so far. Maybe he hasn't adjusted to the MLB grind the way the Yankees have hoped.

Yesterday's was actually number 32, tied for the most.

Thanks; that's what it's all about. The boys in my family have always been about baseball— playing, rooting, collecting.

We've really been getting into the players we watch daily, especially Judge, Sanchez, Severino, Montgomery— and it's important for kids to learn the character of rooting for and collecting your favorite players even through their rough patches. I think the Heritage and Archives cards especially are great for kids and adults; lots of cool variations to look for.

Kid turns to me as we're opening packs and asks, "Dad, is this the best thing ever?"

I'm like, "Yes, son. Yes, it is."

Matt -- Trout and Altuve!!!:D

Trout cards hurt the wallet, Pete! Boy he has some great looking cards, though.

That Altuve is a fantastic player to watch; the MLB app allows us to catch a good amount of his ABs. Wish my Yanks had a sparkplug that bats .360! Our buddy Gardner's in love with that short porch, LOL.

If I was the GM of the Texas Rangers, Joey Gallo would still be in the minors, and remain there until he learns to hit the ball. He takes this big, long cut at mid-nineties fastballs at the letters as if he really believes something positive for his team can come of that.

Aghast at this trend,

Larry

Joey is hitting .208 with 145Ks, and an OBP of .324, to go with the home runs.

Judge had a good night tonight, but he did strike out in his 33rd consecutive game. He now has the record for most consecutive games with a strike out previously owned by Adam Dunn.

you guys would probably bash adam dunn too.

we are not even watching the same game. gallo is delivering great value on a rookie contract and you wanna send him to the minors and have a 10mil scrappy utility man take his place probably...

Not a record he wants, but Aaron now owns it.

He is a great person, and despite what some may think my thoughts of him are, I hope he can get things turned around. :)

He's had a 400 OBP the last week and has been hitting the ball a lot better recently. Even over the last month, where people claim he's become a shattered player, the guy put up a 378 OBP.

He's hitting 291 on the season. When you hit 291, you don't hit 291 every month of the season. You have ups and downs. It's a natural part of the game.

This week he has been putting up the numbers he did at the beginning of the season, but the issue he has always had was that he is streaky. Sure he has an average of .291, but he dropped to this after a peak on June 12th of .347ba/.453obp/.728slg in his first 59 games, when he had 74 hits and 72 strikeouts. Since that date he has played 56 games and batted .230ba/.387obp/.490slg with 45 hits and 87 strikeouts.

He seems like a great guy, and is a guy I would like to do well. This past week is a start, but there is a lot he has to do to get back to his May/June stats.

I guess it depends on the measuring stick. Why does he have to hit 350? If the Yankees have a 25 year old right fielder who is good for 30 homers a year and hits even 270, I'll take it all day.

Agreed, if he can do that. But if the last 50 games is his real self, that's not good.

Agreed, I wish the Cardinals had a player like that. That same player, though, wouldn't garner the prices Judge has. I think he would garner a little more just because he so relatable and likable, just not the value he currently is getting.

That's part of the Yankees that you can't get away from.

On the flip side, I don't hear anyone saying much about Mookie Betts. He came in 2nd in MVP voting last year but this year his average is almost 50 points lower and his OPS is 100 points lower.

He projects to about 25 HR 100 RBI so not a terrible year production wise but yeah he is well below where he was a year ago. Still young, and nothing IMO glaringly wrong, so time will tell.

PS Judge just whiffed in his first two at bats, extending his new record.

Wow. Has there been any talk about sending him down to stop the bleeding?

I can't imagine he wants to add any further to it, but maybe he's determined and doesn't really sive a ghit?

Three whiffs tonight so far, it's painful really to watch.

Is that 34 or 35 now? Not sure why they don't remove him from that by sending him down but there is likely more to it than that?

I can't see this new record and his current slump, let alone all the attention he is getting, doing anything for his confidence and self esteem.

Maybe he has said no to any suggestion of such and wants to work through it himself? Who knows?
It would make for a great story if he is able to turn things around and find his form like he had at the start of the season.

You're worried about his confidence so you want to send down a guy who will win ROY and leads your team in all offensive categories, not to mention leads the entire AL in runs, home runs, slugging and OPS? And do it while battling for a play off spot?

I think at this point you just let it ride and hope he picks it up at least a little bit. But if he continues for the rest of the season to strike out in nearly half his at bats (which he did last year in his brief debut BTW), I think you need to reassess. At this point the book seems to be out whether he is a real star just going through a prolonged slump, or whether his first half was just an aberration. Fascinating story really, made more so by the fact that he is so physically imposing and at the same time seemingly a wonderful guy.

peter--as a sox fan you're way too invested in a yankees player. go start a thread about bogaerts' annual 2nd half slump or devers' impact on this red sox season.

just going on track record and scouting reports i'd take the next 10 years of devers over judge (caveat devers doesn't start eating like pablo sandoval).

Quan, yeah Devers looks promising but who knows. I still have hopes for Benintendi I think he is solid and has a big upside.

I'm actually hoping to capitalize on the post-Benintendi hype and pick up some of his cards for cheap over the winter. I think he's going to be really good even though he didn't quite live up to the hype this year.

He's picked it up recently, he's over .400 for August with a 10 game hit streak. The hype out of Boston was way overdone but he seems like the type of player with strong fundamentals who will keep getting better.

As an objective observer I'd take Benny over judge long term also...but TBH I don't think either gonna be top 5-10 players yr in n yr out going forward

Judge looks flat out awful. He's lucky he was hit on that 0-2 pitch. Almost looked
like he stuck out his elbow on purpose, can't say I blame him.
Girardi needs to drop him down in the lineup, that's for sure.

When Judge passed Dunn for consecutive games it was just for position players in a single season.

After his 36th consecutive game tonight he has the record in a single season of all players passing pitcher, Bill Stoneman. He is also just one away from tying the record that spans two seasons at 37 games (Stoneman 1971-72).

Judge needs a strikeout coach.

I would suggest Mariano Rivera.

In 19 years in the bigs, he only struck out once.:eek:

Frank must be lost

Aaron Judge Will NEVER Beat MY Record:
 

I struck out in 21 consecutive at-bats in Pony League.

That's when I started pitching...luckily, the days of the DH quickly followed.


.

Simply stated, Gallo needs to learn to hit the ball. Most comparable player: Rob Deer, although Deer hit .220 for his career. The air lives in fear of Gallo's bat; the ball feels very, very secure in comparison!

Regards,

Larry

Gallo is somehow being productive tho. .890 OPS, 127 wRC+ is pretty darn good

The interesting question for players like this is whether the incremental power when they do hit the ball offsets all those extra outs and strikeouts. I guess it all depends which stats you think are more reliable.

Glad to see Judge's streak is over, but, of course, it isn't without controversy.
http://nypost.com/2017/08/23/whiff-o...t-streak-ends/

LOL the pressure would have been on in that final at bat.

Man, he's about to dip under .280. This is awful. 0 for 4 and 2 Ks today so far. Cmon Aaron.

"All Rise"

will be replaced by

"Please Be Seated"

very soon indeed.

.176 since the All Star game. :eek:

Aaron Judge’s struggles continued on Saturday as the slumping slugger went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.

He is now 15 for his last 82 and is hitting .176 since the All-Star break.

Girardi plans to give Judge a day off soon, but not because he’s slumping.

“I think at some point in a 29 out of 30 day stretch he’s going to need a day off,” he said.

Epic. I hope this young man can turn it around at least to the point where he can be a respectable player and not a footnote. I joked with a board member after the HR Derby that it was all downhill from there, and unfortunately there seems to be some element of truth in that.

Me too. He seems like a great kid who would more than likely give you the shirt off his back if he had to?.

My gut tells me he'll get things figured out and be a great player someday.

He is an apparent victim of the curse of winning the All - Star Home Run Derby contest.
Just as there is the Madden NFL game cover curse and the Sports Illustrated magazine cover curse ( for those players who are rookies or have yet to appear in a professional level game but have so much hype ) we have had for a few years now the All - Star Home Run Derby Curse.
Wonder what will be the next curse ?

In 2005 Bobby Abreu surprised most hitting 41 in the HRD.
I don't think he surprised many others thereafter.

Heating up now, isn't he? 4 homers in the past week. 2 yesterday. Has 19 total bases in his last 20 at bats.

Got his OPS back above 1.000 to................and as long as he keeps getting on base and keeping his OBP over .400, any comparisons to a Rob Deer or Dave Kingman type are pretty baseless.

Still wouldn't stock up in his cards long term, but as a Yankee fan he's way exceeded my expectations, recent slump or not.

What does give me a bit of pause is that Judge's latest tear has come against really sub-par pitchers. September call-ups essentially.

Taken as a whole this is a very impressive season from a player the Yankees had modest expectations for at the end of 2016.
I'm rooting for the guy.
RayB

Give me all the 25 year old right fielders you can to pencil in at 270 and 40-100.

Judge currently leads the league in runs, home runs, walks, and is second in Slugging, OPS and OBP only to Mike Trout, who has played just 99 games. Judge has played 140. I would call him the true leader in those categories too.

When it's all said and done, Judge's 2017 season will go down as one of the best rookie seasons— heck, it already is. And from a homegrown Yankee with an endearing persona. He's a fan favorite for many years to come.

In the last ten games he has posted a 1.309 OPS.

A pretty good improvement from .533. :)

Two words, Jay Buhner. I think those are reasonable expectations for him. Of course the market for his rookie card might not be happy with the comparison...

Jay Buhner never led the league in anything but strike outs. His highest single season WAR was 3.5. Judge is already at 6.7. He has surpassed Buhner's best season in his rookie season.

Yes and I would bet you he never sniffs another 6.7 season, his reality is somewhere between his insane start (I mean a .440 average on balls in play is just not real) and his 2nd half swoon. Hence, Jay Buhner. 40 homerun power nice OBP. In New York that'll be enough to get him to a bunch of all-star games.

We don't have to agree, Although I think it's funny that now that we're not talking about Corey Dickerson suddenly you are interested in WAR...

:)

You probably would have said Judge wouldn't sniff 6.7 at the beginning of the year, but here we are with him there. The only comparison between Buhner and Judge is a home run total, which I think ignores every other aspect of Judge's game.

You don't even bother to read my posts. Power and OBP, pretty much where I feel Judge will settle in. He hits singles and homeruns, there's a reason he didn't make the majors until 25, and never hit for anything remotely resembling these numbers in the minors. You'd think I was insulting him comparing him to a guy who hit 310 HR's with a .360 OBP.

I didn't mention a fielding comparison, Buhner was a decent fielder with an awesome arm, hard to know how that equates with Judge's fielding which is pretty good, but his arm doesn't seem like anything special.