Seager Signs Extension

As most people have heard already. Seattle Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager has signed a seven year deal with the club. Included in the deal is a club option for an eighth season.

Add me to the list of people that are thrilled to see Seager get this deal. Seattle has a roster full of blaring holes with Cano, and Seager being the most solid everyday players. I've commented a few times in the past on this very blog about hoping the team would keep Seager around long term. This deal makes that happen for the next seven years atleast. With Seager now signed hopefully the team can now move on to filling more of the teams huge holes.

First base, and the corner outfielders being the biggest holes. Finally giving up on Justin Smoak the team site list Logan Morrison, and Willie Bloomquist as the two players at first base. Neither player instills confidence for fans on getting much production from that position. Throw in that Morrison missed a large amount of games in 2014, and you are stuck with Bloomquist. A player who is nothing more than a utility player as the teams first baseman. Not exactly the best situation for the team in 2015. Hopefully the team will find someone out there, or a prospect will step up. If not it will be a long season of mediocrity at the position.

With how bad the first base position looks the outfield corners is even worse. In left field you have Ackley who is hit or miss constantly. When he is on top of his game the man is incredible. Problem is those times are few, and far between.The bright side is Seattle is rumored to be in on the Justin Upton possible move. Adding Upton would be an incredibly large upgrade to the position.

In right is Logan Morrison, and Michael Saunders. The same Morrison that the team is relying on to play first base. What that leaves is a very disgruntled Saunders for the majority of playing time. Not long ago the team called out Saunders for what they believe is a poor work ethic. All this could be leading to Saunders being traded if that is even possible. Personally I feel his value is probably as low as ever, and will be just a thrown in piece of another trade. That is if any other team out there is even interested in him. To say right field is a mess would be an understatement.

The best news of all now though is Seager will be a Mariner for seven more years.

More Business

I know these aren't my more popular posts when they are posted. The thing is that since getting the hobby room is mostly completed. I have been pushing hard on getting the three hobbies organized. Part of that process is getting these type posts done, and the cards put in their place.

Just this weekend all the schedules for trading have been put in boxes. Now all that remains is going through them, and doing the tedious project of putting them on the new blog site. Things have been going so well that my unlisted traders shoe box is at its lowest level since I bought it seven years ago. That doesn't mean they are all listed yet as odds are this will take a month or two before being completed. It just means I am now set to hopefully work on it at a faster pace than normal.

Another thing that has been getting done, but still has some work is the business cards. Until the big schedule swap last month, and a big business card trade through the mail. The business cards were fairly close to being organized. Now there is a stack of around one hundred cards waiting to be put in their place. Most should be easy, but a few will require some research.

I've been so focused on the schedules that the business cards have been pushed back. After another PWE from Jay who was the big trade. I'm glad that the stack still needs some work.

The best news of all is Jay hit me with an NHL team that was missing, and a missing minor league hockey team. When an envelope starts out with those kind of odds you know things are looking up.

The first two are a big question mark, but the Pirates one is new. Three out of five isn't a bad start for this batch of cards.

Jay finished things off with two more missing cards from the collection. Business cards that are related to college's are very slim in my collection. So adding a card this cool from Army was a sweet deal.

To say that Jay nailed it with this PWE would be an understatement. With how tough it has been in adding business cards from the major sports teams. Adding the Columbus Blue Jackets card is huge.Trading business cards with other collectors is tougher than it seems. Being able to add all the cards Jay sent in his two returns, and helping out his collection. This has to possibly rate as the best business card exchange I've done in the 13 years I've been collecting sports team business cards. Hopefully we will be able to work something out again in the future.

It's Not 2008 Topps, But I Like It

Larry who writes the blog 'My 2008 Topps Set Blog' recently dropped one of the famous PWE's on the cat. Contained within wasn't any 2008 Topps cards, but other items that are always welcomed at the cat house.

Every time someone like Larry sends me a schedule that is a couple years old I can't help, but wonder. Did he once collect schedules? Does he know another schedule collector he picks them up for, and saves a few for future trading? I ask, because some very unexpected schedules have found their way to me from some unexpected sources.

Newer schedules are always appreciated just as much as the older stuff around here. The wild part about these spring training schedules are you really have to pay attention to the year. They don't seem to put a whole lot of thought into their designs.

The Diamondbacks, and Rockies follow that same trend. They atleast change the angle of the picture they use for the stadium at the bottom. It's not much of a difference as I've mistaken different years schedules in the past.

Not everything was schedule related in this fun little PWE. Larry mixed it up with a card as well.

I had to save the card until last as it just hurt to much. Seeing it reminded me that there was no racing on television today. No fast cars running around an oval track at high speeds. No fights after the race to talk about all week. Just NFL football, and the chance to think about the college games we watched on Saturday.

Even with the sad reminder Larry. Thank you so much for the schedules, and card. They are very much appreciated.

Presents From Santa Raz

Just recently it was revealed to the cat that one of our fellow bloggers is a celebrity. That blogger hails from the great blog 'The Raz Card Blog'. While most of us know him as Chris he hides a secret that I just recently learned of. That secret is he is a distant relative of this man.

How distant I am unable to tell you. Maybe one day Santa Raz will share with all of us in the blogger world. What I do know is some of his trade secrets. Those secrets are how I discovered Chris was hiding something from all of us.

What I learned is how Chris makes his deliveries. The method he uses is why I was the first to put his charade all together. Unlike his relative that goes with the sled, and reindeer on one day in December. Chris uses this system to deliver his presents throughout the year,

Using this method has helped him disguise the fact he's related to the more well known Santa Clause. Then you throw in last, but not least his stockings. While we all know Clause uses the more decorated, and actual stocking shaped stockings. Raz goes with another method that helps disguise his identity.

That is right kiddos. Santa Raz uses bubble mailers so no one will suspect his true identity.

Now that I have shared the a small sampling of the evidence I give to you the real evidence.

To the few that actually see my NASCAR related posts it's no secret that we are huge Kyle Busch fans here at the cat house. From reading Chris' blog I also know he has a Busch fan in his house. So thank you for wrestling this beauty from said fan.

These next two cards I know were the ideas of Chris' staff.

I know this because they might be the least obvious cards in the batch.

Zunino is one of those secret players I collect. The few guys that I am still on the fence on whether or not I want to go full force on their cards. What you can't see is both cards are shiny, and Zunino is numbered 117/199. The other thing you can't see, and will be dealt with in a series of posts next month. What my collecting status will be with Mike Zunino cards.

Gonzalez comes from what is actually my favorite team. While this blog seems to be filled with Mariners quite a bit. That is due to them being the second favorite team, and the logistics of us living in the Northwest. In my heart I am more of a Rockies fan, and love adding this Gonzales into the batch.

From there I learned that I must have been more than good this year. I must have made Santa Raz's awesome list.

All green, red, and shiny in one single card. This has to be by far the coolest Mike Trout card currently in the collection. Any time I can add a tougher than usual Trout card into the collection I get excited. To get one that has all the bells, and whistles this card has is truly awesome.

When I first saw this card I almost got up, and started dancing I was so excited. Little did I know Chris was just warming up.

Two more very shiny, and just as sweet Kyle Seager cards. As I saw these two cards the feet started even getting closer to dancing. What I didn't know is Raz was just starting to get serious with this gift.

Being a Rockies fan I have to collect atleast one or two players on the team. Going away from the obvious Troy Tulowitzki collecting. Rosario was one of the guys I chose to collect. Personally it was a great choice as I think he has some sweet looking cards.

Lying beneath these two cards were three cards that had me so excited that I wanted to dance, but couldn't. I just ended up sitting here with the mouth gaping open, wanting to do something, but was unable to know what it was. Simply put, I was so stunned that I didn't know what to do.

Let's start with the top card, and very cool looking Heritage patch card. I love the classic look of this card, and the patch just adds to that awesomeness.

While some people aren't fans of the Donruss stuff due to the licensing thing. I am a big fan of the stuff they put out this year. The purple border on the Rosario card just adds to the coolness factor with this card. The nutty thing about this card is not that it's a 'Press Proof' numbered  114/199. The nutty thing is I don't believe I have this card in 'Non-Press Proof' form.

The final card Chris sent blew my mind. The blue looking Rosario card is the cyan printing plate numbered 1 of 1. I never imagined in a million years that any portion of the baseball card collection would contain a 1 of 1. Not only being able to add this into the collection, but have it be from another blogger blew me away.

Chris you are a legend in my world. I could spend weeks trying to thank you, and it wouldn't do justice to how thrilled I was to get all these cards. Hopefully this crazy post shows some of that to you, and everyone out there.