Autograph Offering: Joba (finally)

Since the autographs for 07 Baseball started with Alex Gordon in March, etoppers have anticipating Joba each week and finally etopps is offering this at quite a reasonable price tomorrow at 3PM.

For just $80 you have a chance of ordering one of the 100 autos that will sell as fast as Joba's meteoric rise that has had legs throughout the off-season and these legs may get stronger since he'll be transitioning to becoming a starting pitcher for the Yankees.

Etopps may have chosen the right time to sell this card, when he is making this transition. While it will sell well out of the pre-sell starting gate, by the time this auto is shipped we may have a better picture about how Joba transitions as a starter and if he does well, this auto may be better as a hold than flipping.

Like with other hot-selling autos, it's hard to compare to the cardboard variations (sticker vs. on-the-card signature) along with graded autos and ones that are and are not his true rookie. In the last two weeks on ebay, sales for his 2007 cards have ranged from mid-$100 up to the BGS 10 graded going for $465.

What makes this one appealing:

• Yankees card
• Rookie
• RRO
• Hype/Potential

Long-term hold is a question mark. The young Yankee starting pitchers have not been promising so far. Both Kennedy and Hughes have ended up on the DL this season and Hughes is making his second trip on the DL. Though you never know. Chamberlain may be the piece of thestarting pitcher puzzle the Yankees have been looking for to win another World Series some day.