What was the worst investment

[matvoo]

What prospect did u expect to be a stud but failed miserably and how much did u invest in him. First year of prospecting so yeah.

[sigmachi]

Probably Michael Burgess. It was my first go of it. Though I did very well when he was traded to the Cubs.

[kevinshreves]

Josh Sale is not working out too well:(

[TarjetasBéisbol]

Miguel Tejada, I spent way too much on his cards.

[stera8]

Miguel Tejada, I spent way too much on his cards.

you didnt make anything off of him? didn't he win MVP one year?

[Sauceman]

Miguel Tejada, I spent way too much on his cards.

Crazy. There is a real lesson in prospecting. A player can have a great career and STILL not make you money. The prospects who turn into big money stars are so few and far between.

[Madrid1028]

Donavan Tate did not work out got lucky and only lost a couple hundred. I put one of his oranges on ebay when they were going for like 100 and some guy offered me 250 on it.

Brandon Wood another famous crash and burn. Had like 10 slabbed. Sold before he hit rock bottom but probably lost 500.

Delmon Young another lucky one got tight on money so I cashed them in at a LCS for like a 300 dollar total loss.

Tyler Matzek another bust lost a couple hundred

Matt Hobgood Lost another couple hundred lol

I could probably think of some more but Brandon wood still hurts the most out of all of those. He was poised to be a star but could never translate to the bigs.

[matvoo]

Wow madrid u sure have failed on sevral prospects

[centereacan06]

Fernando Martinez and Lastings Milledge had to have broken the hearts of prospectors all around the US.

[matvoo]

Success and Failure Rates of Top MLB Prospects - Royals Review (http://www.royalsreview.com/2011/2/14/1992424/success-and-failure-rates-of-top-mlb-prospects)

[charbs91]

Brian Goodwin because I like him now so will hold too long

[TarjetasBéisbol]

you didnt make anything off of him? didn't he win MVP one year?

He did win an MVP but I held on to his cards too long because I thought he was going to have a HOF career.

[Madrid1028]

Wow madrid u sure have failed on sevral prospects

over 10 years ur going to have a lot of failures

[matvoo]

Okay that made me feel worried madrid now only choosing top 50

[rosefan4lyf]

over 10 years ur going to have a lot of failures

I agree 100%. Finally someone honestly talked about their losses. I appreciate it haha. Honestly though, how fun has it been? I'm sure a blast. I hope you hit BIG on Giolito (I see that red :)!), good luck!

[waulk11]

German Duran.

[metsplaya123]

Okay that made me feel worried madrid now only choosing top 50
That's not prospecting. Do research and find guys you like. If you dont want to lose money ever, I suggest not prospecting

[jataman2612]

Travis Lee. I haven't done the math but I know I spent WAY too much on him.

[rudyjustinfarrell]

Kerry Wood got me all hopped up on Cubs pitching prospects. I still look at Pawelek and groan.

[Thommy]

Dee Gordon, I've probably lost $200+ on him

[Madrid1028]

Okay that made me feel worried madrid now only choosing top 50

Where do you think all those guys were ranked lol. Delmon Young was the number one prospect. Brandon Wood if not number one at some point in time was atleast in the top 3

[superjames27]

luckily i dont have the attention span or patience for a one player stash

[BostonNut]

The first (AND LAST!!!!) time I ever listened to the "prospectors" was with Matt LaPorta....

[Bhenry4]

Matt Hobgood Lost another couple hundred lol

Yeah, not sure what you were thinking with Matt Hobgood. Awesome guy, but he shouldn't have been selected anywhere near where he was drafted.

[matvoo]

Sticking to what i like mondesi, ventura, bonifacio, almonte

[raidersfan1983]

Sticking to what i like mondesi, ventura, bonifacio, almonte

smart decision pick your guys that you like and stick with what you know, thus far of my major stashes Valdespin is a bust but he is so young there is plenty of time for that to change. I have a ton of quantity but bought most at such low prices that even though I have probably spent $1500 or so I can't lose toooooo much ;)

[Madrid1028]

Yeah, not sure what you were thinking with Matt Hobgood. Awesome guy, but he shouldn't have been selected anywhere near where he was drafted.

homer pick. I didnt buy him at his peak I bought him in the middle but to be honest if his arm didnt fall apart and they tried to cover how bad it was he was an actually decent prospect. From high school to the minors his fastball dropped like 8 mph. They should have let him hit like the Angels did with Trumbo

[jedi500]

Dellin Betances for Over $700 probably worth about $100 right now. Pretty much my biggest loser

[bbcardsrgreat]

Donavan Tate did not work out got lucky and only lost a couple hundred. I put one of his oranges on ebay when they were going for like 100 and some guy offered me 250 on it.

Brandon Wood another famous crash and burn. Had like 10 slabbed. Sold before he hit rock bottom but probably lost 500.

Delmon Young another lucky one got tight on money so I cashed them in at a LCS for like a 300 dollar total loss.

Tyler Matzek another bust lost a couple hundred

Matt Hobgood Lost another couple hundred lol

I could probably think of some more but Brandon wood still hurts the most out of all of those. He was poised to be a star but could never translate to the bigs.

Hobgood is healthy again had a solid season last year he is going to turn out to be one of those guys that the non prospect guys will say where did this guy come from

[Mrpokey]

Brandon Wood - lost a few hundred. This guy coulda been AMAZING!

[cekirsch129]

Cameron Maybin... I was so pumped about him and he was my first "major" prospecting investment. Still sitting on all my cards of him as a reminder, lol

[matvoo]

Yeah i remember maybin also

[crazy4kinsler]

Tyrell Jenkins....been injured and hasn't thrown more than 80 innings in a single season. I owned 9 plates, about 40 autographs, probably 1k+ base cards. Gave most to his mother, but failed miserably on that investment.

[SaveMeTheGum]

Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Shea Hillenbrand, Brandon Wood, Delmon Young, Alex Gordon. At least Gordon has turned into a pretty good player.

[matvoo]

Hey no talking bad things about my 2 fav teams jk

[THE(NEXT)LEVEL]

Jason Stokes. I'd say well over 1k

[RYBOWSKI97]

Fernando Martinez, Ben Grieve, Corey Patterson, trevor cahill

[pdxprospect]

I am concerned I might be in a little too over the top on Bubba Starling...

[matvoo]

Starling seems like a bust if he doesnt do something about it

[jtptrap]

Justin Hoyman Adam Miller Chuck Lofgren

[mattpoin]

This is a slightly different situation than prospecting, but I'll share a story of why I stopped "making investments" in cards for a number of years.

There wasn't a card shop where I grew up, so I bought packs and traded commons with friends. But eventually, I realized I could buy single cards from the card guy who was at the flea market each weekend. I thought hard about which cards I really wanted to spend my summer job money on, and came up with rookie cards of two current players I was certain would be in the Hall of Fame when the finished.

That's how I spent what then felt like a real investment on Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro cards.

I think it was only a month later that Sosa had his embarrassing corked bat moment. And then the PED stuff happened to each. I didn't burn my Sosa/Palmeiro cards in anger or anything, but it made me feel uncertain about spending any amount of money on cards for a while.

[tdmonkeys]

Fernando Martinez and Lastings Milledge had to have broken the hearts of prospectors all around the US.

It's funny you mentioned Martinez. I still have multiples of him somewhere from a few cases of 07 Bowman Best including a few color autos. This was when I was first getting into collecting and thought he must be worth holding onto. Talk about cards losing nearly 100% of their value...

[chadc13]

My first guy I bought up was Kenji Johjima. We all now how that turned out.

[hearseguy]

Todd Van Poppel

[tiger221166]

Brett Jackson and LaPorta are two for me, definitely. I had 50ish Jackson autos at one point, sold them for 10 cents on the dollar in the end, probably. So it goes

[kyaa]

I've lost a lot of money on Oswaldo Arcia. I bought when he was doing well early this year in the minors but then he got called up way earlier than I thought he would and only did okay, which for a prospect is bad news. That, combined with the fact that I think 2013 Bowman values are down compared to previous years due to a higher print run ended up costing me a pretty penny.

[5pujols5]

I hate to make this a competition, but I win!!! LOL Being a Cardinals fan I super collected J.D. Drew from the minute he was drafted until about 2001. I had every hard to get rookie and autograph including
1999 Ultra Platinum medallion
1998 Leaf R&S Longevity
1999 SPX winning materials (UD has announced it only made 10)...I had 2 of them
1999 EX credentials........both of them
1999 Skybox Star Rubies
1999 SPX rookie auto and century auto
about 100 of the Fleer Updates PSA 10
and every rookie card he had and I bought them all WHEN THEY WERE AT THEIR HEIGHT!!!!!! I honestly haven't looked at my losses...it would make me cry!!!

[cross4444]

I know I've come across tons of people who have lost a lot of $$$ on Alex Gordon.

Thankfully, their loss is my gain since he's my PC guy. I didn't start collecting him until after his market collapsed, so every time I make an offer on one of his early cards on Ebay I hear a sob story about how the seller originally paid 10 times what he's selling it for.

It just goes to show you, if you're going to pay top dollar for a prospect then he better be the second coming or you're going to lose out. Gordon is now one of the top LF's in the game, and his cards have hardly any value because he didn't become "the next" George Brett.

[timelovesahero]

The one and only person I jumpped at was Braun.
I bit hard as a brewers homer newly home from two years in milwaukee. 2005-6 Post draft I picked up 9.5 autos sterling, and bochro for just under 30 each and a heritage auto and rough refractor auto for 40 total in a different deal. I had all but plates for 2005 topps and then every topps variation (exc 1/1s) in 2007. I sold the slabbed ones for 190 and 250 (during 07 spring). I have all the rest in a box of shame. In the long run I spent more in time than in money...collecting his cards. He was the son of Milwaukee. The cornfed counterpunch to princes big bat, head, and waistline, I was in.
Oh I also have about 400 in fielder auto rcs that used to be about 900
I still love you Milwaukee

[callou2131]

Rick ankiel, Larry bigbie, josh towers, jay gibbons, Travis lee, jack cust, Ben grieve, nomar. Perfect example of a great career with a lot of worthless cards is alfonso soriano. Except for his spx rookie they are a dime a dozen.

[slugger3469]

Cameron Maybin... I was so pumped about him and he was my first "major" prospecting investment. Still sitting on all my cards of him as a reminder, lol

PLEASE DONT EVER SPEAK THAT NAME AGAIN!!!!

I'm still stuck with a dozen or so BGS 9.5 2006 Bowman Sterling autos. Must be on the hook for $800+. I live in the Detroit suburbs, and stocked up thinking this guy was going to be the next big thing. Flash forward 8 years, and every last one is still sitting here...

[GB5HOF]

My best...Carlos Gonzalez in the Dbacks/A's era...

my worst Cale Iorg. Ooof.

Add Trevor Bauer to the loser list too.

[knicksguy86]

My ultimate fail is probably kirk nieuwenhuis.
I'm a mets fan and tend to collect mets prospects, I usually get burned. LOL

[cekirsch129]

PLEASE DONT EVER SPEAK THAT NAME AGAIN!!!!

I'm still stuck with a dozen or so BGS 9.5 2006 Bowman Sterling autos. Must be on the hook for $800+. I live in the Detroit suburbs, and stocked up thinking this guy was going to be the next big thing. Flash forward 8 years, and every last one is still sitting here...

I remember going to Cardinals Spring Training in Jupiter the season after Maybin was traded to the Marlins. The Cards had an off day, so I went to the other side of the facility to watch Maybin workout. I remember thinking he had the laziest mannerisms and work ethic that I had ever seen in my life. It literally looked like there were a million different things he'd rather be doing than playing baseball. I think it was at that moment that I realized my investment in him was a poor one, lol

[GB5HOF]

Funny...I was in Vegas a few years back when their AAA team was still the Dodgers or Blue Jays affiliate (can't remember which one)...they were playing Tacoma. I was excited to see Dustin Ackley play...I'd put a little money into his cards based on the hype. I'm by no means a scout, but I've watched a ton of live baseball in my life...and um, he just didn't look "right" at the plate. His swing just looked weak. Guys like Mike Carp and Greg Halman (RIP) looked a hell of lot more like major league players to me. Mike Sweeney was down there rehabbing an injury...and when he came up to the plate...you could just tell why the guy was such a good hitter in the majors. I got home from my trip and immediately sold all the Ackley stuff I'd bought. I think I pretty much broke even...but I would have taken a bath if I'd held on to it another year or two, like I'd planned.

[Mattsurewood]

A couple hundred lost on Billy Rowell

Held onto Nick Markakis too long, thought he would turn into a 30HR/100RBI guy. A few more hundred lost there.

Spent a couple hundred on Greg "Toe" Nash also. We all know how that turned out..

Those are probably my 3 worst.

[bradical]

That's not prospecting. Do research and find guys you like. If you dont want to lose money ever, I suggest not prospecting

I hate when people say stuff like this.

[bradical]

Oh, and I have a very large pile of Julio Borbon and Michael Ynoa Chrome Autos collecting dust - somewhere.

[GB5HOF]

I just throught of a couple more fails on my end...Andrew Miller and Dustin Richardson. That was the end for me on pitching prospects.

[hagausaf]

Mike Montgomery is prob my biggest bust to date. About 40 chrome autos which I took around a 300 loss on. Havent had the major bust yet but its bound to happen as not everyone I stash is gonna be a gravy train. Key is to get multiple stashes with the hopes of a few panning out and making you enough coin to where the ones that hurt you dont sting near as much

[darkman]

Pedro Beato did me in, not a super expensive guy but was my largest investment and am sitting on all of it.

Best was Wlad Balentien, actually invested on different occasions and made money both times.

[Rndm1]

Here, i'll save everyone the trouble of bumping this thread a year from now...

Masahiro Tanaka :devil:

[GB5HOF]

Here, i'll save everyone the trouble of bumping this thread a year from now...

Masahiro Tanaka :devil:

Perfect....

I can't imagine the money people must've lost on Dice K...

[anusinha]

The guy who bought my 9.5 gold chrome auto of Eric Hosmer for $1000

[scfdff]

I've lost a lot of money on Oswaldo Arcia. I bought when he was doing well early this year in the minors but then he got called up way earlier than I thought he would and only did okay, which for a prospect is bad news. That, combined with the fact that I think 2013 Bowman values are down compared to previous years due to a higher print run ended up costing me a pretty penny.

Don't quit on Arcia. He is 22. He got called up too early before he learned to consistently hit upper level pitching. I am still high on him.

[Cactuspies]

I was out of baseball for quite sometime, but put a ton in 1987 Donruss & 1986 Donruss back in the day, nevermind topps products from the mid-late 80's and early 90's.

Got back in more in 2010 and started up w/bryce brentz - even before the sox picked him in the draft. not a bust, but hype is down too. I had/have a ton of autos, printing plates, gu, base, etc.

Being in AZ and reselling some stuff locally I started to stock up on Adam Eaton, Trevor Bauer, Matt Davidson & Tyler Skaggs

Dbacks are good on getting guys ready and tossing them out too early - See Scherzer, Max.

I no longer dwell on just one guy

anyone need some 1988 glavines, gants, jeffries, etc? 1991 TVP? Mo Vaughn? Phil Plantier? Klesko? Dean Palmer? Yikes!

[letsgoSkins]

I feel like I need to get these on paper somewhere haha, so many failed prospects:

Lonnie Chisenhall (could turn around still)
Kyle Drabek
Christian Friedrich
Jiovanni Mier (never learned to hit)
Randall Delgado (held too long)
Brandon Snyder (got out OK, lost at least $200+ tho)
Chris Marrero (tank city, still young though)
Jeremy Hermida (seemed like he had all the tools in the minors, I always thought he would finally turn it around. He still haunts me, but it taught me a valuable lesson to not get too attached. )

[KryKslr]

Hobgood is healthy again had a solid season last year he is going to turn out to be one of those guys that the non prospect guys will say where did this guy come from

I hope so...I pulled a Bowman Draft Red Refractor Auto /50 of him from retail, so I'd be happy to see it happen haha.

[StraWMyerS]

I got burned pretty bad on Homer Bailey. I finally sold a 9.5/10 base for like 50$ after his last no-no, but I think I paid around double that. For some odd reason I didn't sell off everything I had though, I just never learn lol

[metsplaya123]

I hate when people say stuff like this.
How come .........???

[peterose4hof]

Yasmani Grandal & Yonder Alonso. $300ish loss

[Casebreaker]

Donavan Tate did not work out got lucky and only lost a couple hundred. I put one of his oranges on ebay when they were going for like 100 and some guy offered me 250 on it.

Brandon Wood another famous crash and burn. Had like 10 slabbed. Sold before he hit rock bottom but probably lost 500.

Delmon Young another lucky one got tight on money so I cashed them in at a LCS for like a 300 dollar total loss.

Tyler Matzek another bust lost a couple hundred

Matt Hobgood Lost another couple hundred lol

I could probably think of some more but Brandon wood still hurts the most out of all of those. He was poised to be a star but could never translate to the bigs.

I actually made money off Brandon wood his first big year, his 2003 autos were cheap and I think they got up to $60 or higher at a point.

[daveyou]

2001 bc hank Blalock gold refractor psa 10 - $275 I believe, after a 30hr/110rbi year

This card is currently being used as a coaster on my computer desk -_-

Dave

[timelovesahero]

A couple hundred lost on Billy Rowell

Held onto Nick Markakis too long, thought he would turn into a 30HR/100RBI guy. A few more hundred lost there.

Spent a couple hundred on Greg "Toe" Nash also. We all know how that turned out..

Those are probably my 3 worst.

TOE! that's a classic! Also on my top 10 favorite nicknames actually used on cards.

[Dbott1234]

I've lost around $1500 on Drew Pomeranz (Ole Miss homer pick). I'm not out of all my Matt Moore stuff, but will probably lose around $1500. Anthony Rendon lost probably 1k. Jesus Montero bought in a few days before he was traded, got burned nice on him.

Those are just the ones off the top of my head recently. Had a HUGE stash of Jorge Soler that I got out of recently for a scratch.

[Jbgoode63]

If that's true about UD only making 10 of the Drew 1999 Winning Materials, I know where the remaining 8 are. Where did you see the announcement? They would not disclose anything to me, stating legal reasons. We have 5 complete sets of the 99 WMs, and 3 spare Drews, with some effort.