Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...
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AL East
BOS: Hunter Renfroe
NYY: Gerrit Cole (but Aaron Judge could also be in the running)
BAL: Cedric Mullins
TOR: Vladimir Guerrero Jr, easily. However he has had several cards this year... so maybe Bichette?
TB: Brandon Lowe. I don't follow Tampa too closely, but Lowe leads the team in WAR, so.AL Central:
DET: Casey Mize. He is tied with Candelario for WAR, but his pitching has been stellar.
CLE: Jose Ramirez. It's like he's the only one at Cleveland capable of doing anything right now. 6.7 WAR. 3 WAR ahead of Quantrill.
CWS: Lance Lynn. They have a lot of pitching talent this year, so I had to go with a starter for this one.
MIN: Polanco or Buxton. Polanco for his bat, or Buxton for his defense (when he's healthy, anyway).
KC: Salvador Perez, easily. How can you not be Finest when you break Johnny Bench's record and be the bright spot in an otherwise-dismal team? Mondesi and Merrifield could get the card since Salvy has kind of met his quota for special cards...AL West:
TEX: Adolis Garcia I guess. It would've been Gallo, but he went to the Yankees.
HOU: Carlos Correa or Kyle Tucker.
SEA: Ty France, I suppose. Blind guess on that one.
OAK: Matt Olson for his bat or Chris Bassitt for his pitching... and sheer will.
LAA: Do I even need to say this prediction? Shohei.NL East:
ATL: Austin Riley. I love watching this kid, he's really improved from his rookie season.
NYM: Jacob DeGrom. He may be out with injury, but it's clear he was carrying the team because they suck without him. I really pity the fans here.
WSH: Juan Soto is also carrying his team, but with his bat.
MIA: Sandy Alcantara. Nobody is really good, so I'm basing this on WAR.
PHI: Bryce Harper, I admire the effort he's putting in for MVP.NL Central:
CIN: Nicholas Castellanos or Joey Votto. I'm hoping Nick though.
STL: Could be anyone really. Goldy, Bader, Arenado, and WW are all possible.
MIL: Corbin Burnes, easily.
CHI: Contreras, Schwindel, or Wisdom. They are trying to carry the team after losing some big pieces at the trade deadline.
PIT: Bryan Reynolds. Hayes could've been in the running but he missed touching first on the HR. It's hard to find a good player for PIT right now to be honest.NL West:
LAD: Literally anyone could take Finest home. This team is stacked.
SFG: Kevin Gausman. I hate facing him in DD on CPU so I'm gonna assume he gets it.
SDP: Tatis or Machado. Leaning on Machado on this one. You may be the cover athlete, but you're carrying the team, you can't risk getting thrown out by the ump because you don't like a call.
COL: Ryan McMahon. Loved his TN card, which still hits bombs btw. He leads the team in WAR. Cron is a close second, but his improvement comes in the last few months of the season.
ARI: This team is so rock bottom that I have to base this on WAR. Eduardo Escobar. But everyone's WAR is around 2, so anyone is fair game. They might have to draw lots for this one.What do you think? Agree, disagree? Which picks do you think are my most accurate?
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I question anyone on your list that already has a boosted high Diamond. A perfect example is Vlad Jr. He already has three diamond cards including a 99. So while he may deserve the finest card and I am not that he will get one.
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So we get a 4th Vlad Guerrero JR (including LS) a 5th Shoei Ohtani (he's the John Smoltz of 2021) a 3rd Sal Perez.
See this is why I have a problem with Finest this year. Just give me more legendary Sig/Award/ Prime or Milestone players.
It can still be done
Orioles - Cal Ripken 99
Red Sox - Babe Ruth 99
Yankees - Lou Gehrig 99
Rays - Evan Longoria 99
Blue Jays - Edwin Encarnacion 98White Sox - Chris Sale 99
Indians - Jim Thome 99
Jack Morris - 98
Royals - Wade Davis - 98
Twins - Harmon Killebrew - 99Angels - Garret Anderson - 98
Astros - Jeff Bagwell - 99
Athletics - Reggie Jackson - 99
Mariners - Ken Griffey Jr - 99
Rangers - Will Clark - 98 -
@dolenz_psn said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
I question anyone on your list that already has a boosted high Diamond. A perfect example is Vlad Jr. He already has three diamond cards including a 99. So while he may deserve the finest card and I am not that he will get one.
It was kind of difficult to find a Toronto player who is good and hasn't gotten a special card this year. Semien was POTM in May, Robbie Ray was POTM in August.
Maybe Bichette could get Finest, if I had to name a different candidate?
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@ladyswampfox_xbl said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
,PIT: Bryan Reynolds. Hayes could've been in the running but he missed touching first on the HR. It's hard to find a good player for PIT right now to be honest.
Not true. You can almost find a good pirate on any MLB roster that’s not the pirates.
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Most of these guys already have 99s in TA3
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What if SDS does a all time best Finest TA5? I'd be able to get on board with that.
You know include classics like Kirby Yates/Josh Hader/Nick Anderson/Shane Bieber/Jack Flaherty.
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I think finest will be different this year, still called finest but will be a change from past years. The 2021 AS Series was the key to this as they had to figure most of those players would be a possibility for finest especially teams with one rep.
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@cdnmoneymaker93_xbl said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
I think finest will be different this year, still called finest but will be a change from past years. The 2021 AS Series was the key to this as they had to figure most of those players would be a possibility for finest especially teams with one rep.
I hope your right because it means my dream for a all time Finest TA5 could happen
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@jcassaro44_psn said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
Most of these guys already have 99s in TA3
That's why I had a hard time choosing my predictions. Anyone who has been good this year already has a card
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People that know the history of the show:
Any chance they still give a Finest card to very deserving guys like Shohei, Salvy and Vlad Jr even with high diamonds already?
Like juice the hell out of them with 125s in power/contact across the board?
It just seems insane to give the Royals Finest to anyone but Salvy and the Angels Finest to anyone but Shohei. All-time historic seasons.
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@dbub_psn said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
People that know the history of the show:
Any chance they still give a Finest card to very deserving guys like Shohei, Salvy and Vlad Jr even with high diamonds already?
Like juice the hell out of them with 125s in power/contact across the board?
It just seems insane to give the Royals Finest to anyone but Salvy and the Angels Finest to anyone but Shohei. All-time historic seasons.
Guerrero is also closing in on most home run in a season before the age of 22 or younger only trailing Eddie Matthews by 1 home run. I would call that a historic season as well.
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Tough to decide for the Jays
Guerrero has a multitude of cards including a 99
Teoscar has that AS one from TA3
Semien and Ray have POTM lightning cardIf I were to guess, it would be Bichette or Teoscar
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@quinnymcquinn said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
@ladyswampfox_xbl said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
,PIT: Bryan Reynolds. Hayes could've been in the running but he missed touching first on the HR. It's hard to find a good player for PIT right now to be honest.
Not true. You can almost find a good pirate on any MLB roster that’s not the pirates.
Painful but hilarious.
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@dbub_psn said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
People that know the history of the show:
Any chance they still give a Finest card to very deserving guys like Shohei, Salvy and Vlad Jr even with high diamonds already?
Like juice the hell out of them with 125s in power/contact across the board?
It just seems insane to give the Royals Finest to anyone but Salvy and the Angels Finest to anyone but Shohei. All-time historic seasons.
I mean, Perez’s home runs are cool and all, but he still only has a 125 wRC+. That’s obviously good, and any team would be ecstatic to get that production from their catcher, but by no means is it some kind of historically good season. He also only has 3.0 fWAR, which is 3rd best on the team and definitely not worthy of being called an all-time historic season lmao.
Nicky Lopez has 4.4 fWAR in 100 less PA, so I’d say he would deserve it.
Among catchers with at least 400 PA this year, Perez ranks third in wRC+ behind Posey and Will Smith. He also ranks 6th in fWAR, behind Realmuto, Smith, Posey, Murphy, and Narvaez.If you want an all-time historically good season for a catcher, look at Mike Piazza’s 1997 season.
That’s the best offensive season of all time for a catcher, with 183 wRC+. -
@dbub_psn said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
People that know the history of the show:
Any chance they still give a Finest card to very deserving guys like Shohei, Salvy and Vlad Jr even with high diamonds already?
Like juice the hell out of them with 125s in power/contact across the board?
It just seems insane to give the Royals Finest to anyone but Salvy and the Angels Finest to anyone but Shohei. All-time historic seasons.
Salvy has got the best chance of the 3. Last year there was only 1 guy with 2 99 cards. Jose Ramirez. You can give Rasiel Iglesias or Bichette/Teoscar/Gurriel a finest without issue. Royals, Orioles, and Mets finest are a little more sketchy. Nicky Lopez could be the Royals guy easily. David fletcher had one last year and they are extremely similar. The orioles have no one but mullins and after Degrom got hurt the Mets had what could honestly be said is a historic level collapse. Aaron Loup? He is the most deserving guy on that team lol
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@arvcpa_psn said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
@quinnymcquinn said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
@ladyswampfox_xbl said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
,PIT: Bryan Reynolds. Hayes could've been in the running but he missed touching first on the HR. It's hard to find a good player for PIT right now to be honest.
Not true. You can almost find a good pirate on any MLB roster that’s not the pirates.
Painful but hilarious.
Ah man. That’s funny. A very unintentional burn to a forum member I enjoy.
. Im a Yankees fan so you can let me have it anytime. I love PNC, one of the best unexpectedly enjoyable experiences I’ve had at a ball Park. Also cheap prices on most everything. -
For the Mets they could give it to Stroman. He had a good season and really pulled through with some Ace performances after deGrom went down. The only batter who really had a good season was Nimmo.
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@ladyswampfox_xbl said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
@dolenz_psn said in Is it Too Early for Finest Predictions? Here are Mine...:
I question anyone on your list that already has a boosted high Diamond. A perfect example is Vlad Jr. He already has three diamond cards including a 99. So while he may deserve the finest card and I am not that he will get one.
It was kind of difficult to find a Toronto player who is good and hasn't gotten a special card this year. Semien was POTM in May, Robbie Ray was POTM in August.
Maybe Bichette could get Finest, if I had to name a different candidate?
Jordan Romano
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I really don’t think any of the TA3 guys will get slightly boosted Finest cards. Pretty much all of the teams have somebody else that could at least have some kind of argument.
Baltimore could be Means instead of Mullins. The royals will be Lopez instead of Perez. The rangers could be Lowe instead of Garcia. Oakland would be bassitt instead of Olson. Mets 100% will not be another deGrom lmao, it would be Nimmo or Loup instead. The reds would be India instead of castellanos. The giants could be Crawford instead of Gausman. And Escobar isn’t even on the diamondbacks anymore, so Rojas instead.
