Harper Superfractor Hits Ebay

The Bryce Harper Superfractor is up on eBay, and has already been bid up to quite a considerable amount of money. Harper has generated equal hype as Strasburg did at this point in his career, and most likely will reach the same level next year when Washington inevitably calls him up. This card should easily hit 10K, even with the reserve, and it just goes to show you what people think about the crop of cards from this year’s Bowman. Its odd, because this is the first time that MULTIPLE cards from a product have/will break the modern card ceiling that I have talked about on numerous occasions, as his red refractor, a few Strasburgs, and one or two others should hit that number if auctioned.

I stand behind the fact that Harper is more likely to end up on a level similar to Ryan Braun than Albert Pujols, and though Braun is no slouch by any means, the upward mobility of this card is definitely limited. I commented before that even if his hype counterpart Strasburg performs at Tim Lincecum’s ridiculous level, the team they play for will limit how much his cards will eventually be worth in comparison. Outside of that unlikely possibility of playing at a ginormous success rate, its still not out of the question that either will play to a long and great career outcome. However, does that mean that their inevitable production will necessitate prices like this, even when Harper’s card is a USA card and generally considered to be an XRC or whatever by those standards?

Im actually frightened as to what happens when the Strasburg Bowman Chrome Auto Superfractor surfaces once Bowman Chrome is released. It may not be able to be sold because the expected value will far exceed the money people have to pay for it.

Cue the upcoming facepalm, no doubt.

When it Comes To Hype, Does Harper = Strasburg

The MLB draft is coming up, and there is one particular player that has been focused on more than any other leading up to the National’s second number one pick in as many years. Much like Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper is supposed to be one of those “cant miss” prospects due to his ability to hit for power and average. He has been featured in Sports Illustrated and in just about every baseball publication,and his cards are the only ones to even rival (or sometimes eclipse) the value of Strasburg’s from 2010 Chrome.

Harper was recently slated to be developed as a more valuable outfielder instead of the Catcher most scouts expected him to be drafted as, something that should do a lot for his card values. As a five tool player, he should end up as a combination of Joe Mauer and Evan Longoria, but that is only if he lives up to the massive expectations placed on his head. As of now, the hype machine is a whirling dervish swirling about, and his prices will most likely jump when he is splashed all over every page of every baseball site once again.
The big news should be announced shortly after, as it is likely that he will be included as a USA auto in both Topps Chrome this october and as a featured card in 2010 Bowman Draft Picks. Like Strasburg, his prices are so high that buying now would be completely ludicrous, and after the draft pick is announced, I would laugh at anyone hitting the BINs.
The one drawback to all of this is that unlike former number one picks like Mauer and Longoria, Harper is widely believed to be a hothead with entitlement issues. He also has Scott Boras as his agent, which may lead to some incompatibility issues if things get blown out of proportion. When looking at the production of his future compadres in the bigs, he sure has a lot to live up to, and its going to be interesting to see if he becomes the next Ryan Braun or the next Todd Van Poppel. With the prices that people are paying for his cards, there are going to be a lot of sad pandas out there if something doesnt go the way it is expected to.