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Welcome to Purple Row

Whether you're here for the first time or the million-and-first time, we welcome you and hope you enjoy your stay. Here's some information that will help you do so.

By Bryan Kilpatrick
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Colorado Rockies baseball is upon us. With that comes another new year at Purple Row, which is celebrating its 10th year of existence.

If you're new here, welcome. If you have been here for one, five or even 10 years, you deserve a welcome, too. We're excited to have you on board as a reader, commenter and/or FanPost contributor, and we would like nothing more than to see that continue this year and beyond. But, before you begin posting, take a look at our Rules & Regulations.

All done? Good. Let's continue.

Since you're so valuable to us, we feel compelled to tell you about what you should expect from our staff this season. We'd also like to give you some tips on how to make your experience here at Purple Row more enjoyable.

What to expect: Content

Prospects. Our bread and butter has always been minor-league coverage. We lived up to that during the offseason by unveiling our top 30 prospects in the organization (as voted on by you, the community!), then continued our promise to deliver the best Rockies minor-league coverage anywhere by providing exclusive prospect coverage at the beginning of spring training. Later, we unveiled the rosters for all four Rockies full-season minor-league squads.

Simply put, you've come to expect the best Rockies prospect coverage from us, and we'll be taking steps to make that even better this year. In addition to our daily Pebble Reports, we'll have a week-in-review series for each affiliate. Credentialed, on-site reporters will be in place for several of the Rockies' minor-league teams, bringing you content that you won't find anywhere else.

We'll also have a couple of other minor-league-focused weekly features from Drew Creasman and Thomas Wilson (better known as TomCat009). Really, we'll have so much minor-league coverage that we're confident each and every one of the readers will be an expert on the Rockies' farm system by the end of the season.

Game coverage. We're trying something a little different this year. Our goal is to be quick, accurate and detailed, which is why you'll get not one, but two game wraps. The first will be the nuts and bolts information -- final score, summary of crucial plays, WPA chart and pertinent stats -- and will lead into the extended recap, which will take the biggest story of the game and expand on it from every possible angle.

Of course, game previews and threads will be included in our daily coverage. Our game threads are unrivaled in the Rockies community; nowhere else will you find the passion, knowledge and, let's be honest, hilarity that you'll find on Purple Row while our purple-clad heroes are in action.

Rockpile/Scaling the Rocks. The morning Rockpile links post, usually up around 9 a.m. MT, is where all baseball-related discussion takes place -- at least, until other articles are posted later in the day. You can expect a Rockpile and ensuing Scaling the Rocks post, which takes the biggest story of the day and expands on it using the detail, knowledge and analysis you've come to expect from our staff, on a daily basis.

Know Your Foe. Jay Tymkovich and Jordan Freemyer will provide comprehensive previews of the Rockies' opponents prior to each of the 50-some-odd series the club will play this season. Expect solid analysis and, in some cases, even better humor as we break down Colorado's foes.

NL West Report. The other half of the Brothers Freemyer, Ryan, will take a weekly look at what is shaping up to be a tough division. Will the Dodgers' massive payroll allow them to win consistently? Can the Giants avoid their customary odd-year funk? Will the Padres make a huge splash every week during the season? The NL West Report is the place to find out.

Fan experience. Over the last few years, Purple Row has gained inside access to the Rockies, but we'll never lose sight of what is truly important: being a fan. This place, after all, is the premier place on the Internet for Colorado baseball fans, so from publishing articles ranging from ballpark experience (from Jared Buck) to pondering why we're supporters of the Rockies, we'll have the fan point of view covered.

Weekly features. Jay Milnes and Carolyn Jelley, two of our brightest young writers, will tackle various subjects in what will surely be some of the best, most thought-provoking work of the season. Don't miss those.

Purple Dinosaur Podcast. Tyler Maun (ESPN Denver, MiLB.com) and Anthony Masterson (Fox Sports) are back for their second year of shenanigans! The Purple Dinocast guys provide unique analysis and always have top-shelf guests on the show. You can listen right here on Purple Row or look for the show on iTunes and Stitcher. PDP is required weekly listening for all Rockies fans just as Purple Row is required reading. Subscribe today!

In addition to the above topics, we'll provide our usual brand of breaking news and ensuing fallout. It's going to be an interesting year in Denver, to say the least, and we hope you join us every step of the way.

What to expect: Community

We've always been proud of our community. Its diverse interests, deep knowledge and passion for the team and continued hilarity have been a huge part of our operation from the start. Whether you're already part of the community or would like to join, here are a couple of quick rules taken from our community guidelines:

  • Practice civil discourse. This means don't be a jerk.
  • Remember: Purple Row is a place for Colorado Rockies fans. Nobody wants a complete and total curmudgeon being a Debbie Downer in every thread.
People are going to disagree about the way the team is constructed or about whether Player A is overrated or about if Jeff Bridich and Walt Weiss are truly the guys for the job. While you're doing so, remember these two rules and you'll be fine. You can bring up concerns you have with the team (let's face it, there are a lot of those), but don't start fires in the comment threads just because a fellow poster is exhibiting positivity/giving the front office and coaching staff the benefit of the doubt.

FanPosts. We always encourage community members with thoughts that go beyond a simple comment in an article to use our FanPost function. The rules are outlined in Purple Row's Rules & Regulations. One thing to consider: To some degree, we're always looking for writers. A good FanPost is a great way to make yourself stand out not only to us, but perhaps to other prospective sites or publications.

Party Deck. Just as the Rockpile is centered around baseball conversation, the Party Decks (found in the FanPosts section) are for off-topic discussions. Enter the Party Deck at your own risk; unlike in the baseball threads, just about anything goes here. See the Rules & Regulations for more details.

PuRPs voting. We publish our top 30 Rockies prospects lists twice a year, and your input is what makes the rankings happen. As promised above, we'll give you all the tools necessary to make your decision on which prospects should be ranked where. So, pay attention and take notes, and when the time comes for PuRPs voting, your list will be the best of them all.

Rockies Roster. Born from Project Libra (from all the way back in Purple Row's early days), Sage Farron's RockiesRoster.com is an invaluable resource for Rockies fans, media members and, quite possibly, even the team itself. It's that good. Need to know how many options a player has remaining? Rockies Roster will tell you. Want to keep up on every single major or minor transaction throughout the organization? Look no further than Sage's brilliant creation.

Bloggers panels. In conjunction with our friends at Rockies Zingers, Purple Row hosts and/or participates in monthly panel discussions, most of which will take place at El Charrito's in LoDo. We'll keep you posted on the days of the events; if you're in the area, come meet some members of Purple Row's staff and community and talk Rockies baseball with some of the finest writers and media types in the area.

★★★

If you have any questions or comments about the site, staff or community, don't hesitate to email me (Bryan Kilpatrick) at bryan.c.kilpatrick@gmail.com. I can also be reached via Twitter at @PurpleRow and @purplerowBK. Otherwise, let's make 2015 a year to remember (in a good way, of course!), regardless of what the Rockies do on the field.

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