Last Tuesday, the Pirates had an off-day. That gave me the rare Spring Training opportunity to head out that evening with some friends, taking the night off to grab a few beers. Our first stop? Darwin’s Brewing Company, across the street from McKechnie Field. Unfortunately, when we got there, we saw that they are closed on Tuesdays.
This coming Tuesday (March 22nd), we’re having a Pirates Prospects meetup in Bradenton. The original plan was to watch the minor league games at Pirate City, then go to Darwin’s for some prospect talk. The second part doesn’t seem to be possible now, unless we want to meet outside of a closed business. So the new plan will be the same thing I did this past Tuesday — go to World of Beer, where they have Darwin’s beers, along with plenty of options from Cigar City.
When I first posted the idea of a Pirates Prospects meetup, I heard back from about a dozen people who said they were going to be in town, and interested in going. Any subscriber or non-subscriber is welcome to join. Here is the plan:
**There is no MLB game that day, so all of the action will be at Pirate City. The game starts at 1:00, and practice starts earlier in the day. My typical schedule is to work on articles for most of the morning, so that I’ve got nothing to do but watch games in the afternoon.
**Anyone who wants to come watch the games definitely should make it over to Pirate City (where admission is free). I’ll have a bit of work to do throughout the game, so the meetup won’t officially start until later, although we can get everyone together in a group and watch the games, and I’ll be able to meet up with the group when I’m not working. The Triple-A and Double-A teams will be in camp that day, so there will be a chance to watch a lot of the prospects who could arrive in Pittsburgh this year.
**After the games, we’ll head over to World of Beer on Cortez Road, where the actual meetup will begin. As the name indicates, they’ve got plenty of beers to choose from, and also food that you can order. We’ll be able to discuss baseball, the site, comic book movies, and anything else.
It should be a fun time. If you’re planning on attending, let me know in the comments below, or for the large majority of you who don’t post in the comments, let me know via e-mail (tim@piratesprospects.com).
I’ll also be heading up to Pittsburgh for the opening series, and going to Altoona after that. I’m looking to do meetups in each city, if there’s interest. Considering I’ve already heard from about a dozen people in Bradenton, I’m guessing there will be enough interest in the actual region the site covers.
Site Renewals
We’re approaching the one year mark for site subscriptions. Over the next few weeks, those of you who signed up when we first made the switch will have your one-year subscriptions automatically renewed. You’ll get an e-mail seven days before the renewal, which will remind you to update your billing info if necessary, and that the charge is coming.
I hope everyone enjoyed the first year of the site under a subscription model. We were able to do a lot of things with the coverage that we were never able to do before, and got the most information on the farm system that we’ve ever received in the past.
I also hope everyone renews, or even upgrades their subscriptions. There are a lot of things I want to do with the site to continue expanding the coverage in 2016, and the subscriptions have been a massive part in our expansion over the last year. You don’t have to do anything to renew your subscription, but if you want to upgrade to a bigger (and cheaper) plan, you can do that anytime on the subscription page.
And for those of you who haven’t subscribed, you’re missing out on the best and most in-depth coverage of the Pirates’ system, which you can get for less than the price of one cup of coffee each month. Or one beer, if you’re like me and don’t like coffee.
