Originally Posted by Renfro
I've been trying to finish the Expos Missions since early September, when I had decided to do a bunch of the missions that had a Diamond Pack as part of the reward. Even though I remember going to Olympic Stadium in Montreal when I was a kid, I didn't know many Expos outside of the more famous guys (Vlad Sr, Gary Carter, Marquis Grissom, Tim Raines). Ironically, the one Expo I really do like, Warren Cromartie, isn't even on one of the two Expos Missions. Cromartie wrote the compelling memoir, Slugging It Out in Japan. (He was fined 50,000 yen for thinking a ball was a home run and trotting on home from third when in reality it was a long fly out and he had to race back to base so as not to be doubled up.)
I finished the Expos Early Years mission after about a month. I was aided in that I pulled SPs Dan Warthen and Joe Hesketh in Spring. Warthen was actually in that bonus Gold pack you got when you bought the game when it launched. Total outlay was 16168 PP with 7430 of it going to SP Joe Hesketh. Hesketh is on my team in Perfect League as a converted RP where he performs at a +1 WAR. In our PL WS appearance, he did not allow a home run in 61 IP. Considering his MOV is 63 that was a total outlier and this past season pitched 95.1 innings with an 4.81 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, and a 9.9 K/9 (to go with with 5.7 BB/9). He allowed 12 home runs and finished with a record of 4-3 to go with his 1 save.
The reward card was an 85 SE Rusty Staub. As much as I like Staub from his days as a Met, he never saw my Active rosters. But he never went into the AH. So he lays there in the Reserve Roster along with other SE cards, waiting for maybe an Active Roster spot on a tournament team. Side note: I've only sold a SE Reward Card once (SE Dave Stieb) and I've regretted it ever since, even though I'm pretty sure Stieb performed poorly for me in Perfect.
Around the same time I completed The Early Years (middle of October), I also had 14 out of the 15 cards needed for The Final Years. Missing was 90 Vlad Sr and 97 Pedro Martinez. I knew I wanted Pedro, even though I had a 90 BOS Pedro from The Cursebreakers Collection (Red Sox edition) mission. Besides, getting 90 Vlad would only unlock 98 Vlad, the reward card for finishing both Expos missions. I had two or three chances to get 90 Vlad and passed up on each, because while 97 Pedro was rare, it wasn't Freehan rare. Maybe 97 Pedro has the same rarity as 91 Hiller? Of course, Hiller's the much more prized bird. I did see 97 Pedro on the market once in October and I simply did not have the funds. That's one of my problems: it's hard for me to sit on a pile of PP. It's much, much more easy to start up another mission.
Late last night, November 9, Pedro Martinez appeared on the market. Its kind of like when a Red-headed Woodpecker appears hovering around your backyard feeder: you kind of just drop everything and rush to get your phone to snap a picture before it flies away. He had a BIN of 36999 which I think was a few K above the AVG7. I only had 32K, which I put it all in.
Within minutes, I got overbid so I started emptying out my reserve roster. Who should go? What was this Harry Walker doing here? He's up for a 1K BIN and he goes quickly, part of me thinking, maybe I should I have set the BIN higher? But no, time is money here. Time is Pedro. Who else? What's this SP Bill Callahan? How did I get that guy? Looks like a semi-valuable gold card. BIN for 3999 and, after an anxious 45 minutes or so, he goes giving me just enough funds. I hit the BIN button for Pedro, and because it's Saturday night and my staying up nights are over, I turn off the computer and go to sleep.
This Sunday morning, my Xenos out of the playoffs but with an 82-80 record due to a +8 PYTHAG differential to belie my -70 run differential, I officially completed the Expos Missions.
The details:
16168: The Early Years (Hesketh went for 7430)
47085: The Final Years (Martinez went for 36999)
63253 total
Summation:
From a PP standpoint, depending on your level of risk tolerance (remember that Diamond Pack), it's really not worth it. 98 Vlad goes for about 25k-30k and the only usable cards in Perfect are 97 Martinez and, to some extent, 90 Hesketh. I'm sure I could have purchased a solid PL performer for the PP I spent on either or both. But, as usually with the missions I complete, it was fun. It is about the journey and the hunt.
But wait, what about the Diamond Pack? Ah ... the Diamond Pack with so much juicy potential. I had some good luck with the few Diamond Packs rewards (92 Molina, All-Star Bregnman, 96 McGwire - both Cards making it to All-Star games in Perfect) but I've also known the vast disappointment at pulling a Live 90 Woodruff.
Anyway, I pulled Live 98 Verlander with his sub-40 MOV. The one Verlander in my perfect league just went 8-16 with 2.3 HR/9, but, looking at his history, he did have one or two winning season. Eh ... into the breach!
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