I arrived in Virginia this afternoon, a few days early for Christmas, for the main purpose of trying to get the 2014 Prospect Guide out by the end of the week. By sending the book to Virginia, rather than Florida, I was able to get everything packaged up tonight to ship out tomorrow. If you have placed a pre-order, you would have received a tracking number in your e-mail.
This is the fourth Prospect Guide we have produced. This year’s version is 160 pages, with profiles on every prospect in the system. We’ve added a new ratings system, which means we have our top 50 prospects, our tiered rankings, and the new 2-8 grades for each prospect. The book is in digest size, which means it’s perfect if you’re going to Spring Training, minor league games in 2014, or just something to keep on your desk for a quick reference. It’s also useful if you want to find out information on a player called up by the Pirates in 2014. I personally use my copy of the book for every article I write. The book was originally designed so that I could have a central cheat sheet when covering live games.
The books arriving means that the 2014 Prospect Guide is officially available. You can order your copy here. At the moment there are very limited quantities. I’ve only got around 25 remaining from the first shipment. UPDATE: The first shipment is now sold out. The next shipment will hopefully arrive a week from today, although it’s difficult to tell when things will ship with Christmas right in the middle of the week. If you don’t get one of the final books from the first shipment, you will probably receive your copy right after the new year.
As for shipping times from existing orders…
If you ordered one book
USPS says that anything shipped First Class by tomorrow will arrive before Christmas. All individual books were shipped first class, so they should be expected to arrive before Christmas if you were buying it as a gift. If you bought multiple books, but bought them in separate orders (shipping to different addresses), then your books would have shipped first class.
If you ordered multiple books
Due to weight restrictions for First Class mail, anything above one book was shipped media mail. That is what we have always used for shipping, and the times have been just as good as First Class. However, there have been a few occasions where the shipping was delayed a few days. I don’t have much control over this. If you’re hoping to get the book before Christmas, and it doesn’t arrive on the 24th (or is scheduled to arrive later than the 24th), then send me an e-mail at tim@piratesprospects.com.
E-Books
The 2014 Prospect Guide will have an eBook. I will be finishing that process this weekend, and hopefully publishing it on Monday. The pricing of the eBook will be the same as the hardcopy ($21.00), although it will come with discounts from the publisher, which will make it cheaper.
Don’t Have Paypal?
The payment method we use is Paypal. This method doesn’t mean you need a Paypal account. If you don’t have a Paypal account, then proceed to the checkout page and click “Don’t Have a Paypal Account?” This will allow you to pay with your credit card, without signing up for Paypal.
The 2014 Annual
In the past we have done a second book, called The Annual, which focuses on the major league team. I’ll have an announcement on the Annual after the new year.
Links and Notes
**Pirates Sign Seven Minor League Free Agents. Leftover from Wednesday. I don’t think the Ishikawa signing means anything for the Pirates and their search for a first baseman. However, I do think the signing of a few left-handers puts them in good position to deal a lefty from their bullpen.
**Winter Leagues: Starling Marte Makes Winter Debut. One game later he exited early after getting hit in the left hand. Looks like he’s in mid-season form. No word yet on the severity of the injury, although it’s encouraging that he stayed in the game right after being hit. John Dreker will have more in tomorrow morning’s update.
