Wong Gone

 

Cards from the @dimeboxman help say goodbye to Kolten Wong, plus more players that are sticking around. 

 

Every off season generally sees players leaving your favorite team, but it feels like it's been awhile since the Cardinals have lost a player from their core in free agency. Kolten Wong became the first significant player to leave from the Matheny days in awhile, as he comes off back to back Gold Glove award wins to join up with the rival Brewers. This Wong Big League parallel is just one of a bunch of Cardinals cards sent to me by Nick of Dime Boxes late last fall. While Wong's departure will certainly be felt, the Cardinals do see the rest of the core returning along with the huge trade for Nolan Arenado.

Dexter Fowler was recently dealt to the Angels to give other younger outfielders more of a shot at playing time, like Tyler O'Neill here. What this really means is the opportunity for Dylan Carlson to continue the big role he had at the end of 2020, but it should mean ample opportunity for others like O'Neill, Lane Thomas and maybe even Justin Williams.

Former Cardinal Stephen Piscotty shows up here on his rookie year "metallic snowflake" parallel from 2016 Topps Holliday. I've yet to figure out what a metallic snowflake is supposed to be, because these never really seem to have much in the way of metal in them. I guess they didn't want to call them glitterflakes?

Jack Flaherty is not yet under contract for the 2021 season, but it looks like an arbitration hearing will settle that. It will be interesting to see how Flaherty responds this season after only throwing 40 innings in 2020.

Nick sent no less than four purple prospect parallels from the 2015 Bowman set. Of the bunch, only Edmundo Sosa has logged any time with the big league club. Sosa seemed likely to be in the mix in 2020 as a utility player, but after adding Brad Miller to the roster it appears that he got squeezed out.

I'm a fan of these vintage World Series cards and really should own more of them considering how many of them feature the Cardinals.

My relative lack of interest in last year's Allen & Ginter set means that I'm not tired of the inserts yet. This Big Mac Longball Lore card still pops!

Nick also sent a quad-pack (a quad-laser?!?) of 2020 Turkey Red cards from the Update set. Most of my remaining needs are from the elusive Series 2, though I still need a couple from Series 1 and Update as well.