Cardboard Fenway: 2008 Topps Heritage Dustin Pedroia

Cardboard Fenway - #81. 2008 Topps Heritage Dustin Pedroia

Dustin looks so sedate here: no eye-wagging, no gaping mouth. And where was this photo taken? All of the Red Sox players in this set look like they were thrown up against a wall in the bowels of Fenway Park.

The Tao of Fred McGriff - Day 7

Contrary to what Donruss would want you to believe, Fred McGriff never won an MVP award. Did he ever deserve one? No, probably not.

But so what? Teams need players like McGriff to be successful. In a similar vein, someone recently said that teams wouldn't win with a whole roster of Dustin Pedroias. Why not? The guy has over 200 hits, 100 runs, he hits for average, he's a good fielder... what's not to like? Is it because he's short? Scrappy? Prematurely bald? Is it because he does that weird thing with his mouth and eyes before every swing? The same could be said for Fred McGriff. Could a team win with a roster of Fred McGriffs? Who wouldn't want a bunch of guys consistently smacking 35 homers, driving in runs and hitting for average?

Though until recently Pedroia had been putting together an MVP-like season, guys like Pedroia and McGriff aren't really MVP-caliber players. They're complementary guys. They're guys who make a lineup formidable. And though they're not a given lineup's heavy hitter, they're guys pitchers don't want to face in any situation.

They're like Thursday night. It's not quite Friday, but you're almost there.

Goudey Trade-away #20: LaRoche for Wilson

This trade comes in from Daniel in Provo, Utah.

Giving: Adam LaRoche, #152
Getting: Preston Wilson, 2000 Upper Deck

Daniel writes: "Enjoy this card of Preston Wilson in a reflective pose. He is probably pondering over the fact that he will never hit over .300."

Daniel, you could very well be right. Either that, or he's trying to figure out if the good times will last. It's funny how some players can seem to figure the system out, but only for a very short period of time. Some guys make that period last for a year or two (like Preston Wilson), while other guys can't last for even a whole year.

Probably the most famous contemporary flame-outs are one-hit wonders like Kevin Maas and Jerome Walton. But there are others. Take this year's Red Sox. At one point they had two or three guys in Hideki Okajima, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Dustin Pedroia, who were in serious contention for AL Rookie of the Year. Now we're just looking at Pedroia, as Okajima has hit a wall as of late and whenever I watch Matsuzaka pitch, he's always working with guys on base ("Taking the Gas-pipe," as my father calls it).

By the way, do you think it would be weird if you could also call your step-dad Uncle Mookie?