COMC Haul 1: New Sergio Santos PC

One of my goals for my most recent of COMC order was establishing a player collection of Sergio Santos. Sergio has a pretty unique (though, becoming less unique) history in professional baseball.

So, as the cards come out, I'll give some history:

Sergio hit .388 for his high school team in Hacienda Heights, CA in 2002. He was subsequently drafted in the first round of the 2002 draft (27th overall) by the Arizona Diamondbacks as a shortstop after also slugging well and stealing a few bases along the way in his senior year.

In the Skills section of his 1st Bowman Card (read: rookie),  he is compared to Alex Rodriguez. That's a bit of a stretch, as at the time of the printing of this card, Alex was one of the greatest players on the planet, before he pissed it away and destroyed his body and credibility with PEDs. There was one telling bit on the back of the card, though: "big league arm." Sergio never played a game for Arizona, and was traded along with Troy Glaus to the Toronto Blue Jays for Miguel Batista and Orlando Hudson.

$0.54

Sergio never impressed as a batter in the minor leagues for the Blue Jays, nor was he a particularly strong defender, and in 2008 was selected by the Minnesota Twins off of waivers, granted free agency that winter, and signed with the Chicago White Sox.

$1.24

The White Sox had the great idea of turning Sergio into a relief pitcher in 2009 - sending him back to A-Ball, trading him to the San Francisco Giants, trading for him again 10 days later, and putting him through 4 leagues and 4 teams in 2009, grooming him as a reliever.

(Breathe.)

In the Spring Training of 2010, Sergio killed it. Enough so that he was added to the ChiSox roster to start the season, and by the end of 2010, he had his first career save.

$0.54

In 2011 he was just plain dirty. 30 saves, 1.3 WHIP and a respectable 3.55 ERA. He also set the ChiSox record of 120k's in his first 100 innings, opening the year with 20 1/3 scoreless innings.

...and then the Silent Assassin swooped in and stole him from the White Sox for a torn bag of baseball and a half-eaten ham sandwhich (Nestor Molina.)

$0.90

Sergio missed most of 2012 with some mostly unexplained elbow issues for the Blue Jays. From a fan's standpoint, it looked like he was trying way too hard out there. Settle down, tough guy, the Jays have you until 2017, but in 2012, we'll need you the most.