I’ve recently updated the outdated “Primer” page at the top of the site. I included the link to background information on the site, an overview of the 20-80 scale and scouting tools, and then there are a few more advanced baseball statistics that I like to reference here. Please check this page out, and then let me know if there are other topics or items that you think could be added into the page. My goal is to make that page the one stop reference for anyone new to the site. I also addressed the topic of donations. I’ve done this before, but it seems there is still confusion, as I get a few emails a week asking me about the process. The donation button on the right side of the page, which gets way too many clicks every day (in relation to the actual number of donations), directs you to paypal. All donations go toward maintaining and running the site. The site is ad-free, I make no money off of it, and everyone who contributes here does so on a voluntary basis.

I’m closing comments on this post, if you have feedback on the primer page, please post it in the comments section of that page. Thanks in advance for your cooperation. If you have any other questions, please do shoot me an email. Thanks.

This post will stay at the top of the website and serve as a quick guide for the re-design of the site. Take some time to explore and get accustomed to the new layout. If you’re finding the site for the first time, please read the site overview page by clicking here. If you have any other questions about the site, please send me an e-mail.

I meant to make this post right after the draft, but life kind of got in the way. Well, better late than never. A few days ago we went over 4 million hits since the inception of the site. I realize a lot of that is people hitting refresh, but every hit counts! In all seriousness, its been a really wild ride over the last 3.5 years, and most all of it has been positive. As I mentioned previously, I’m planning some redesign stuff for the site, but I really like where the content of the site has gone. Over the last 6 months, I’ve received quite a few offers to have ads placed on the site for a fee, and I’ve also received an offer (somewhat sizable too) for the domain name itself. But as I’ve stated in the past, I will never put ads on the site, and I have no plans on selling the domain name or content. The handful of donations I received, and more importantly, the consistently positive direction of the site is enough to keep me happy and motivated. This site would be nothing without the help of my fellow writers, notably Gregg and Todd, who manages all of the transactions and rosters on the pages at the top. Another thanks goes to all of the affiliate writers and those who have written guest articles, as well as those who have helped with the nuts and bolts of the site. And most importantly, a big thank you is in order for all the people who continue to come here, read the stuff we write, engage in solid discussion, and share this site with their friends. Next stop, 5 million!

I wanted to take a few moments to talk about the website here, kind of recap what’s been going on, what I expect to happen going forward, and a bunch of other stuff. The minor league season is almost here, and with that will come an increase in traffic. With that comes more comments, more discussion, and mostly good times had by all. I wanted to briefly discuss some of the nuts and bolts here, as well as put in a request for help, and a bunch of other things. I tend to write best when I’m using bulleted points, and to keep this short and readable, I’ll do just that, so check below for more…

Continue reading State of Phuture Phillies address →

Is now located under the “Top 30 Prospects” page at the top of the site. Head over there, scroll under the chart that I’ve made, and you’ll see a link to click to view it in Google Documents. Enjoy.

On an unrelated note, in my wordpress dashboard where the admin type stuff is, I can see what people are clicking, where links to this site are posted, etc etc, and I’ve noticed that every day, the “make a donation” button is getting 15-20 clicks, and there are no actual donations. If you’d like to donate (and as always, its 100% optional, but obviously greatly appreciated) and you’re having an issue with paypal, please send me an e-mail and I can try to help. Or maybe you just click the button out of habit, I understand that too. Either way, it was kind of a curiosity, and I wanted to make a note.

Comments on this are closed, if you want to comment on Reader Top 30 submissions, do it at the above link. Thanks.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet, and its not really a topic for discussion, so comments will be locked. If you need to get in touch with me on this, you can send me an e-mail. I’ve mentioned it tons of times before, but my goal in starting this site was always to keep it ad free, mainly because I don’t need to make money off of this site, and because I know how intrusive and annoying ads can be. I’ve had offers to integrate ads into the site, to merge my site with other sites, and just about everything in between. I’ve resisted all those offers, and I likely will in the future as well. This place runs on the hard work of everyone involved, especially guys like gregg who take tons of time to add their own content and keep things fresh. So, I actually came up with an alternate idea that might work. You may have noticed that I’ve added a “donation” button on the right side of the page. This button links to PayPal, and allows you to donate money in the name of the site. This donation button is 100% optional, you shouldn’t feel obligated to donate money, and I’ll never personally ask anyone who visits here to donate. But if you do want to toss a few dollars into the fund, I’d appreciate it. What will it go toward? Well, I have to renew the domain name every year to keep the unique web address and not .wordpress attached to it. Also, the money will go toward subscription services that provide baseball content that I can synthesize and pass along in some form. Finally, the money could be used to pay for content for the site, whether it be getting players to contribute in the same fashion as Michael Schwimer, or anything of that sort. This isn’t a tax writeoff, or some grand scheme. But if you want to contribute to this site, the option is there for you. I won’t address it again on the site, if you want to discuss it, then email is the avenue for that.

This should be a real hoot. I don’t know when wordpress added the feature, but I’ve enabled comment rating for the site. Lots of sites are now moving toward this function, where readers can rate the comments of their fellow users. I can remove this feature with the click of a mouse, so if people abuse it, its gone, I just wanted to test it out. If you see particularly troubling comments, stuff that is off topic or just insulting, then flag it with a thumbs down. I believe there is a way for me to generate reports if certain comments receive excessive thumbs down ratings. This might help me figure out who is here stirring up trouble and I can rectify the situation. So, rate away.

In one week, a new feature will be added here in the form of a player blog. Michael Schwimer, a 14th round pick in 2008, has agreed to provide a once a week entry for the site. He has created an email address specifically to take your questions, and he’ll try and answer as many as he can, while also providing a glimpse into the life of a minor leaguer. I’m really excited about this opportunity for the site and look forward to hearing Michael’s insights on the game and life in the minors. Send all of your questions to mschwimer at yahoo dot com

As I said a few days ago, there are a number of things Im working on with the site right now to try and make it better. I’ve added a Glossary/FAQ which helps explain some of the more advanced statistics used here, as well as how options and service time work. I also wanted to thank everyone who visits here regularly and partakes in the daily discussion. This year, the three draft days were three of the most active days in the history of the site, with 11,000+ hits every day, and 18,800 hits on June 10th, our busiest day ever. June was also the busiest month in the history of the site, with over 200,000 hits.

I’ve tried to get back in the swing of writing more here, of participating in the conversations. And I’ve noticed that people continue to just post whatever random comments they think of in places where its not appropriate. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, its very disrespectful to the people who take time to contribute content for this site for you to just take it off topic with the first thing that pops into your head. So from this point on, I’m just going to delete those comments when I see them. 99% of the people here are respectful, this is just a memo to those who aren’t. If your comments start disappearing, you know why.

And to wrap it up, have a happy holiday weekend, and thanks for continuing to come back.

Normally you’d find the Monday Morning 6 Pack here, but I am in the process of signing a lease for a new apartment, and still trying to get work done, so I don’t have time to put together the update right now. However, hopefully I’ll be back with that tomorrow, plus a few more things in the pipeline. I’ll roll out my Jeremy Slayden profile this week, as well as more on the draft, and maybe some other stuff as well. However, I want to take this space and thank each and every one of you who have come to the blog since I started last December. We hit a bit of a milestone today…

When I started writing, I thought I might do it for a day or two, maybe a week, and I guessed that maybe 20 people would read it. Well, 181 posts later, 806 comments later, and 100,000+ visits later, I’m still at it. Thanks again for all the support, thanks for continuing to come back, and thanks for telling your friends about the site. I keep writing because you keep coming, and I’ll continue as long as there is interest. Thanks again, and happy Monday.