Card collectors have a revolving door of options available as each new season unfolds. Every year, card companies bring out new lineups, and every season sees a new crop of young talent rise up the ranks of each MLB franchise’s farm system. Plenty reach The Show on a yearly basis, and some of the Red Sox’s most recent elevations to the big leagues, including electric names like Roman Anthony, Payton Tolle, and Marcelo Mayer, are delivering exciting performances on a regular basis. Others like Kristian Campbell are still honing their skillset and finding their groove. Campbell is by no means a bust, at least not yet, but many players do ultimately fail to pan out for their ball clubs.
When a prospect doesn’t quite live up to the hype surrounding his talents, card collectors who invested in the player’s memorabilia can feel a little scorned. It happens every year, but some prospects that provided false hope falter a little harder than others. These three guys are some of the most notable flame outs in the Red Sox organization, leading card collectors to hold the bag when their talents at the big league level failed to align with scouting reports and high expectations from fans.
Red Sox fans were scorned by these bad investments on the baseball card market
Bobby Dalbec
Bobby Dalbec looked to be the next fixture at first base when he reached the majors in 2020. Drafted in 2016 by the Red Sox, he hit .319 as a 20-year old at Arizona with 15 home runs and performed similarly in his age-20 Cape Cod League play, mashing 12 long balls in 27 games. Dalbec played well in the minors, hitting 161 home runs with a slash line of .262/.359/.514 and an OPS of .873 over eight seasons. Major league pitching proved a jump too far, though. His OPS was 160 points lower (.713), sitting at the low end of ‘average’ for major leaguers. In his final season at Fenway (2024), Dalbec posted a frozen-cold .410 OPS with a single home run and 43 strikeouts across 93 plate appearances.
Dalbec was tabbed as a highly skilled defender with the ability to provide a flash of power (hitting 25 home runs in 2021), but he became a significant liability at the plate, evaporating any competitive value his presence in the field might have offered. His 2016 Bowman prospect cards can now be found for as low as 20 cents, and other Dalbec memorabilia tends to rise up into the mid-double digits at best. A 2017 signed Bowman card, for instance, with a 10 grade from Beckett is currently listed on eBay for $35.
Craig Hansen
Boston.com’s Chad Finn had some damning words for Hansen’s career in 2020: “If you want to call him the biggest bust in Red Sox history, I’m not going to argue.” Finn noted that the excitement surrounding the pitcher after his first round selection in 2005 was extreme. His ceiling was akin to Jonathan Papelbon’s, but Hansen instead flamed out, pitching in 95 total games over four seasons for Boston and later Pittsburgh while recording a career ERA of 6.34. He logged a career best 0.0 WAR in 2005 over four appearances, after reaching the big leagues in his first season with just 10 games notched in his professional career.
Hansen’s card value varies wildly. There are a range of cards that feature him alongside other stalwarts of the organization like Kevin Youkilis and Papelbon, but cards featuring Hansen on his own are naturally far less valuable after his career trajectory took a decidedly negative turn. Though ... if you were investing big money in a relief prospect, that might be on you.
Juan Bustabad
Juan Bustabad never suited up for a game in the majors. That fact alone pegs him as a significant prospect bust. Ely Sussman of Bleacher Report named him among a list of infamous honorees who suffered this fate in 2018, although his story wasn’t highlighted, specifically. After his playing days, Bustabad transitioned into management, and won his 700th career game in August 2010 on the same day he was named Midwest League Manager of the Year (at the helm of the Dodgers' Class A affiliate). He was first drafted in 1979 by the A’s and then again by the Red Sox in the 1980 January draft, both times in the first round. His career spanned nine seasons in the minors, and he saw action in just over 1,000 games while hitting .247. His prospect cards throughout the 1980s are frequently available for less than $1, making any collector who might have held onto while waiting for him to break through worse for wear.
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