I am very happy to announce that Pirates Prospects has made two great additions, merging with two great Pirates sites. Today, Pirates Prospects has added Pittsburgh Lumber Company and Wilbur T. Miller’s Pirate Player Profiles to the site.
-Matt Bandi and Randy Linville of Pittsburgh Lumber Company will be joining Pirates Prospects, bringing the PLC site over with them. The PLC archives can now be found in the Pirates Prospects archives. Matt and Randy have been doing great work at PLC over the last few years, and I look forward to their insight being added to Pirates Prospects.
Matt has been working on an annual, which is on schedule to be released on February 21st, under the Pirates Prospects name. You will be able to buy the e-book here, when it goes on sale. For more information on the annual, check out Matt’s post. A few of the features include:
- Profiles and 2011 projections for all players on the 40-man roster, plus bonus profiles for non-roster players who have received an invite to the major league portion of spring training
- Full career projections for Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata and Neil Walker, plus extensive analysis on the results
- Projected platoon splits for major league position players
- A detailed look at how the Pirates compare to the 24 teams that reached the postseason in 2008 – 2010, broken down by offense, defense, starting pitching and relief pitching
- A comprehensive review of the “Five-Year Plan,” the Pirates rebuilding attempt of 1996
- An extensive look at Andrew McCutchen’s defense (Is he as bad as his UZR indicates?)
- The 2011 PLC top 30 prospects ranking
- Projected 2011 win total
-As for the other addition to the site, Wilbur Miller has been contributing to Pirates Prospects since last July, and was a major contributor to the 2011 Prospect Guide. As many of you know, Wilbur’s player profiles are an excellent read on all of the players in the Pirates’ system. Wilbur has brought his player profiles to Pirates Prospects, merging them with the existing Pirates Prospects player pages.
Each player page will include the usual information: biography, contract details, contract information, transaction history, free agency and Rule 5 dates, and any other information you wish to know about the players in the system. The pages also now feature Wilbur’s player profiles.
You will also notice a new set up on the player pages site. The players are now grouped by position, and each position is broken down in to different categories: “40-man Roster”, “Prospects”, “Trying to Get Established”, “Organizational Players”, and “International Players”. This is exactly the same as the positional breakdowns on Wilbur’s site. The player page section also includes Wilbur’s depth chart, which is always a resourceful reference.
In the future I’m hoping to add stats to the player pages, which will be updated nightly. I also hope to have high quality photos of every prospect in the system by the start of the regular season. There are a handful of prospects who don’t currently have pages, although every prospect in the system should have a page by tomorrow. The exception would be the international prospects, who will eventually have pages as well, although that is something which will happen once the season begins.
-Along with the additions of the Pittsburgh Lumber Company, and Wilbur’s player profiles, Pirates Prospects has added Terry Matthews, who will be providing the site with game reports, and possibly some video, from Bradenton this year. Terry is a very knowledgable Pirates fan, whose opinion and analysis on the prospects in the farm system I respect. Terry’s reports will be something to look forward to this year, especially with Luis Heredia scheduled to start the season in the Gulf Coast League in Bradenton this summer.
I’d like to welcome Matt, Randy, and Terry to the site. I’m looking forward to the input they will bring to Pirates Prospects. I’m also looking forward to the addition of Wilbur’s player profiles, which only strengthens the quality and value of the Pirates Prospects player pages. These additions will only strengthen the quality of content that Pirates Prospects will provide during the 2011 season.
