MLB Showdown Cards

#ShotsFriday

                Happy #shotsfriday again everyone. Sadly we all started this season with a slump and we hit no shots as a team. Remember to tweet in your pick of who you think will home today before their games start and root them on to improve their 2013 card. You can use the hashtag #shotsfriday. Don't forget to enjoy your favorite work appropriate beverage and enjoy some pump up music, baseball is back.

                After reading Michael Lewis’s great book Moneyball I was wondering how the story played out in MLB Showdown terms (if you have seen the movie or read the book none of this intro is original content). The book chronicles the Oakland Athletics moves from the late 90’s and early 2000’s toward a new philosophy of valuing players. The years highlighted here are the transition from 2001 to 2002. Since MLB Showdown had changed R&D people and the mechanics changed we have no sets from ether year (in the eyes of this blog, there are sets but we do not acknowledge them). 6 players are highlight specifically. 3 players who would leave the A’s: Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Isringhausen. Then 3 players who would replace them: Jeremy Giambi, Scott Hatteburg and David Justice. This will be a 3 part piece so today I will just introduce who these players were in the Showdown world in the 2 sets prior to 2002.

                Jason Giambi is a Showdown legend for those of us who played the 2000 set and then purchased the 2001 set. Jason Giambi  00 was a solid 10, 18-20 HR, 16-17 2B, speed C for 450 points. That was nothing special in the Showdown world that first year. He could play but there was no coveting him with McGwire’s power and Bagwell’s speed/power. Then the 2001 card came with one  number that showed how great of a player he was in the 2000 season…11. Himself and Carlos Delgado (great year in his own right) as the only 2 in WotC produced sets to have that distinction. He was an 11, 18-20 HR, 17 2B for 570 points as a speed C. Many of use 570 points as the threshold for elite because of this card (with McGwire 00 and Bagwell 00). For 570 points you could get a power/power combo with McGwire 00, power/speed with Bagwell 00 or now a power/on-base combo with Giambi. The 11 to this day still changes the way opposing managers manage more than any other trait.

                Johnny Damon would always be viewed as “under rated” by Showdown compared to the opinion of him by baseball fans. One reason was in 00/01 sets the 3 speeds were 10,15 and 20. With the new individual speed I imagine he would be a 21 or 22 which would have helped him. He has 3, 9, 20 HR, 19 3B, 17-18 2B cards for 360 00, 350 01, 340 01p.

                Jason Isringhausen has a mediocre 00 card with a 3, 1-16 out for 140 points. Pretty average and I doubt many people used him as a closer consistently. His 01 card is one I wish was a bit different. A 6, 1-14 out no double or homer is an interesting idea. The problem is relievers in 01 were priced much higher than their 00 counterpart (roughly twice as much for players who would normally be 150+ points).  So for 230 points he would never be used in open leagues. He is an interesting card that at 140 points would have been an interesting play.