2015 Topps Baseball - Red Sox Prospects Playing Elsewhere

The last of the baseball sets I got with my Christmas money was the 2015 Topps baseball set. I think it's a good looking set.  It just might have been the end of an era actually, the last flagship set with borders on the cards. Who knows if they'll ever do them again. As I sorted this set into teams and put the cards into pages, I noticed a fair number of players who had been minor league prospects of the Red Sox, but now were getting the job done for other teams.

 

Anibal Sanchez played two years in the Red Sox farm system, having good success and making it to AA.  But he was traded to the Florida Marlins after the 2005 season as a part of the Hanley Ramirez/Josh Beckett/Mike Lowell trade.  At the time of this card, he was considered one of the better pitchers in the league having won the ERA title and finishing 4th for the Cy Young award just two years before.

Anthony Rizzo played in the Red Sox minor league system for four years.  He made it to AA in 2010, hitting 25 home runs and driving in 100 runs that year as a 20 year old.  During the following off season, he was traded to the San Diego Padres in the Adrian Gonzalez deal.  Now he's a perennial all-star and MVP vote getter for the Chicago Cubs.

David Murphy was in the Red Sox organization for five years.  He made it all the way up to the major league club for 23 games between 2006 and 2007.  He was traded mid-season in 2007 to the Texas Rangers as part of the Eric Gagne deal.  After that he put together a nice string of eight seasons as a starter while putting up solid hitting numbers.  The year of this card would be his last as a regular player.

Jose Iglesias was in the Red Sox organization for four years.  He too made it up to Boston, playing in 98 games from 2011-2013.  Mid-season 2013 he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in the three team trade that brought Jake Peavy to Boston.  He finished second in rookie of the year that season, and was an all-star the year of this card.  This card was a finalist for best super glue shot of the set.

Jorge de la Rosa played in the Red Sox farm system for three years, making it to AAA and looking impressive enough to join the Boston rotation the next year in 2004.  If that had happened, he could have been part of the infamous 2004 season.  But alas, since he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Curt Schilling, it's doubtful he would have experienced a championship if the trade hadn't happened.  He's been a solid pitcher for a lot of years now, winning 16 games twice.

Brandon Moss was in the Red Sox system from 2002-2008.  He started at the bottom and made it all the way to the bigs, seeing action in 49 games in Boston.  From 2012 to the present, he's averaged 24 home runs a year for the A's and other teams.
From 2007 through 2011 Josh Reddick was in the Red Sox system.  He started at A and worked all the way up to Boston.  He saw action in over 130 big league games over parts of three seasons.  He won a gold glove and received MVP votes in 2012 for the A's, hitting 32 home runs.

So even though the Red Sox lost some good players in this group, for the most part the trades worked out for them.  Some of their departures also opened up spots for the next generation of prospects and free agent signings.

Two fantastic players who have perhaps benefited the most from the WAR metric are Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw.

I forgot that Daisuke Matsuzaka was still pitching this recently.  If only the Red Sox had not allowed him to play for Japan in the World Baseball Classic following the 2007 season.

The best super glue shot in the set has to be this one.  Using a bat instead of a ball, the man in orange in the stands has glued the barrel end of the bat to his shoulder.  No wonder he needed a front row seat.

Here are a couple honorable mentions for best super glue shot.

And finally on a side note, my entries into the trading card database continue at a good pace.  I'm still doing the Red Sox, but am up thru 1992.  Check out my trade list and see if you want anything.