Baseball Etopps IPO May 07, 2007

It’s a busy week for the Etopps nation with five new IPO’s.

Adam Lind

Adam Lind is a top level prospect with the Toronto Blue Jays organization. After being really an afterthough within the system and baseball as a whole, Lind broke out in 2006 & set AA, AAA & the majors on fire, compiling close to a 1.000 OPS between all three stops. Originally Lind started the 2007 season in the minors, however an injury to Reed Johnson opened up the spot that Lind is currently occupying. On the down side, Adam’s ceiling isn’t regarded as too high, he plays in Toronto and he’ll turn 24 this July. If Adam played in a bigger market he may have been a “top prospect”. Due to this factor, I have a hard time seeing this card rising above the IPO price unless he has a major breakout season. If you’re interested in this card wait until the price drops in the secondary market.

Recommendation: Avoid

Rich Hill

Cubbie Hill is having a great season in 07, after a stellar short stint in 2006. The knock from a prospect/rookie card perspective is that Rich is already 27 years old, pretty much eliminating any chance at a cumulative HOF career. He can still be a very good pitcher in a very strong baseball market. This one’s a little iffy and pretty much a gamble. The Pie IPO earlier this year rose in value, so the same may hold true here.

Recommendation: Small Accumulation with Quick Flip in mind

Ichiro

Everyone loves an Ichiro card. The problem is, this will be his 8th Etopps card. Last season’s Etopps Ichiro is sitting at around $8 as of this writing with a PR of 894. The PR for this card will be lowest ever for an Etopps Ichiro, so if you’re looking to add one to your portfolio, this is the one.

Recommendation: Buy for Portfolio

Andruw Jones

Etoppers do not care for Andruw Jones. It’s that simple. His past non-rookie high PR cards trade for under $2 a piece. This will be his first Etopps card in four years, and his lowest PR ever, but this still won’t be enough to drive the price up.

Recommendation: Avoid

Jarrod Saltamacchia

“Salty” is a top level prospect in the Braves organization. Coming into 2006, Salty was on many top 10 prospect lists. A poor season changed all of this, although he did rebound and have a good Arizona Fall League season. The emergence of Brian McCann has placed a considerable roadblock infront of Jarrod, yet the Braves contend that they are sticking with him at the catching position. After McCann signed a long term deal in the off-season, things became pretty clear. Salty would either A)Move to 1B or the OF or B) be traded. As of now, I don’t think anyone is sure which of these options will come to fruition. Salty just turned 22 on May 5th, so he has plenty of time to get things together. With a low PR and a decent price, I think betting on Jarrod would be a wise move at this time. The difficult part is to determine whether his Etopps is a better buy now at IPO or later with the chance of a slight drop in the secondary market due most likely to the fact of little playing time this season.

Recommendation: Accumulate a portion (66%) of allotted cards at IPO & gather the rest in the secondary market.