Five players whose cards you should watch heading into 2015

It’s #OpeningNight and the mood is right.

OK, that’s the opening line to TGIF theme song from back in the day, but it certainly applies. After a long winter of snow, ice, slush, gripping winds and more snow, baseball is back.

A few players stood during this season’s spring training, making some guys well known to more than just prospectors and die-hards.

Here’s a look at five players from spring training to keep an eye on this season whose cards you may want to grab – although they are getting pricier by the minute.

Taijuan Walker, Seattle Mariners

Walker’s cards have a lot to gain. Throughout the spring, his cards have steadily risen in price, in large part to his spectacular numbers. He threw 25.1 innings and gave up one earned run. That equates to an ERA of 0.36. He also walked just four guys. Walker is 22 years old and gets to learn from one of the best pitchers in the game, Felix Hernandez.

With the Mariners poised to make a run for the AL West title this season, Walker’s cards are warm right now and could get hot.

Jon Gray, Colorado Rockies

Gray is another pitcher who got attention this spring. He was reassigned to triple-A before the end of the practice session, but still many are awaiting his MLB debut. Gray’s last Spring Training outing was, but shouldn’t scare too many. The scary part is that he should end up pitching in Colorado one day -- that’s never been good for any pitcher.

Joc Pederson, Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers seem to have a plethora of players so the rookies had to fight and scrap their way onto the 25-man roster. Pederson seems to have done that, and even won the starting centerfield position. He hit six home runs in 60 at-bats this spring, and hit slugged .750. He is not, however, one of the cheaper autographs to grab. But his Rookie Cards will appear in 2015 products

Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox are another team that is loaded with talent – they even have Rusney Castillo starting in Triple-A. Betts is one of their young studs that could shine this year, and the Red Sox are going to give him the chance. Betts hit .451 with a 1.295 OPS this spring.

By the way, his Rookie Cards appear in 2014, but there aren’t many autos because of his late call up.

Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs

I feel like a teenage girl, ‘I can’t even’ with Bryant. Bryant was sensational, amazing, legendary this spring. He hit nine home runs in 44 plate appearances. He slugged 1.175 with an OPS of 1.652. And, he will start the season in Triple-A. However, it’s likely we see Bryant sooner rather than later with the Cubs.

But, getting an autograph card of his will set you back on the secondary market as they going for hundreds, if not thousands. Pulling one of his autographs from a pack is like finding a unicorn.

You want competition, you got it: Panini gets MLBPA license

Topps is coming to the end of the second year of its exclusivity with an MLB license.

Upper Deck had an MLBPA license in 2010, but no MLB license, which meant they could only make cards with players only, no logos or team names. UD didn't follow those rules and got sued.

So, for some time there was just one.

Topps.

The longtime card company stood alone creating a variety of products that were received differently by the collectors. Regardless if a collector liked or disliked a set, it seemed there was one thing they all wanted – competition.

Most people understand competition is good in a business marketplace. It doesn't allow companies to get complacent. I'm not saying this is what Topps has done. It has put out some really good products this year such as Gypsy Queen.

Still, we wanted more.

Consumers wanted options.

On Thursday, we got one step closer, although we're not entirely there. MLBPA gave a license to Panini America to create baseball cards. The catch? Just like Upper Deck, they cannot use team names and logos because those are with the MLB license.

Why midnight will be important for cards

Today, is the signing deadline for this year's baseball draft picks. As of noon, 17 of the 32 picks have been unsigned, which may seem like a lot of people, but it was the same number last year.

MLB is funny with its draft. MLB has an idea of how much a player should be paid according to their draft status. When a player agrees to terms, MLB goes over the contract and it could anywhere from a few days to a few weeks if MLB thinks a team is giving too much money to a player.

We're all waiting on top pick Bryce Harper (where too much was made of what Stephen Strasburg said about him).

More than anyone else, Topps might be sitting on their computer clicking refresh to see who gets signed.

2010 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects information was released last week. In the checklist released, more than half of the Future Stars slots were marked TBD. In addition, of the 25 Future Stars autos in the set, we only know 12.

Topps likely knows who will fill these spots based on who signs, but they have to wait until tonight when the rest of the announcements are made as to who that will actually be.

Prospectors, just a few more hours and you will know if you're going after this product or not. 

Although, I wonder why Topps released the information on 2010 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects early when they could have waited four days for a more complete checklist?

Is there any prospect you hope signs and gets included in this year's checklist?

MLB: "The real winners today are the millions of fans who collect baseball cards."

I probably shouldn't speak for the majority of card collectors, so I will only speak for myself.

I didn't view the settlement between MLB and UD as a victory for me. I didn't feel as though I won anything.

I'm missing out.

Competition is usually a good thing in any marketplace. Competition sparks creativity, hard work and, sometimes, shady manuevers. We've seen plenty of that over the years in the card industry. (View details of the settlement here)

Even with that, I always felt having a variety of products to choose from was always a good thing. I was someone who bought mostly Upper Deck. This was never a slight at Topps, but I would much rather get the chance to pull a Derek Jeter-type of card from UD and found myself gravitating toward them in recent years.

Sets such as Masterpieces, Goudey and Sweet Spot helped their brand. I enjoyed these cards and loved ripping open packs. Upper Deck's pictures were always top notch and they consistently gave collectors a good flagship set.

In 2010, I have bought one product of a hobby box. Just one. I purchased two products of Ultimate. And, this is the first time I have ever bought a hobby box of a high-end product. I actually never even considered buying Topps Sterling or Triple Threads. When it comes to high end product, Upper Deck was clearly the better of the card companies.

I would like for MLB to explain how the million of fans who collect basecall cards won today. Do we get to see some of the money that was collected from Upper Deck in settlement? Does this mean that licenses will be cheaper so Topps could charge less on product?

I didn't really think so.

Despite certain practices Upper Deck employed over the years, I am definitely sad to see their current run of baseball cards come to an end.

I own three Derek Jeter autograph cards and can happily say they are from Upper Deck.

Make sure you get the last bit of Upper Deck you can.
2009 Star Signatures

2009 Ultimate Collection

2010 Upper Deck Series 1

Marie's View: You wanna know how I really feel?

(Warning: This is a rant and me going bananas in no sort of logical thought process exists here. Just remember I warned you.)

This whole denial of licensing for Upper Deck has put the final nail in the coffin of collecting a variety of different cards. I was enraged when Donruss was taken out of the equation, but now all we have left is Topps? This is bullshi#%.

I don't give a sh$% that Topps was the innovator of the industry, or that they have been around the longest or any other crap reason someone wants to spew. They supposedly want to create this monopoly to engage the interests of young children and young adults again and move the hobby in that direction. I'm sorry, isn't that what they were supposed to be doing all along? Maybe it's MLB saying the hobby is moving in the wrong direction, and maybe they should stop and think about who is buying tickets to their games, buying the gear, etc. because it surely isn't a 9 year old.

I understand that the hobby is dominated by adult collectors, but realistically what kid has means to get to the hobby store (which nowadays could be 30 miles from home), and has an allowance that will afford them packs at $5 a shot for 4 cards in some cases. In the last few years the only movement the card companies have made to engage young children in collecting were putting out Opening Day and First Edition. Not for nothing, kids aren't stupid and they want to get the packs where they have a chance at pulling a jersey card or an autograph, not a pack where there is no gloss and a garbage design.

This has me so amped up, you guys have no idea. I understood the explanation for cutting Donruss years ago because of the oversaturation of autographs and what not but this makes no sense. While I would love a topless set of cards, I would much rather be able to buy a box of Goudey, Sweet Spot, or Goodwin (which I'm still exicted about even if it will only be around one year) yet now we are stuck with Topps. Oh and I guess Bowman and their stale design.

Without any competetion from other companies Topps can continue to produce mediocre base sets, reused designs, and the same BORING sets year in and year out with no worries of people buying Upper Deck or anything else. Great move MLB, bravo idiots. Maybe this will make Topps actually attempt to come up with new designs, or bring back some retro set that people liked from years and years ago like the Heritage.

I would love to see the first year sales report for Topps as the sole provider of baseball cards. Can't wait to see how many children buy Triple Threads and Sterling.

Sooz's View: I still don't like it

After getting the night to digest the information reported by the New York Times, my initial reaction hasn’t changed much.

I don’t like the idea of a monopoly. Upper Deck’s products had gotten a little stale over time (what were all those Xs about), but there were still products I definitely enjoyed. One of my favorite all-time Upper Deck products is 2007 Sweet Spot.

In reality, there is nothing the collectors can do about Upper Deck not getting its MLB license, however, it still has the MLBPA license.

Last night, during my outcry about the news, one of my Upper Deck Twitter buds (@ScoobyCub) said they could still use the players on the cards, just not any team logos. So, apparently there will be Derek Jeter cards just nothing that says New York Yankees or have the NY logo on it.

I am thinking portrait shots. Perhaps topless shots?! Guys in just uni bottoms and no tops?

Maybe this isn’t a bad thing for the female collectors out there.

All kidding aside, in a year’s time we will be able to gauge how this has affected the industry.

Topps will come out with invigorating products and drive the market because collectors want to get everything that is out there.

Or it will shut out the people keeping this business alive because they don’t like the idea of the companies pretending we don’t exist. This could have potentially big ramifications in the industry.

I am interested to hear MLB’s explanation for going with just one company.