As it has been for a while now, Friar Forecast is in archive mode. We’ve switched from a self-hosted platform to wordpress.com to avoid having to continuously pay for hosting, however we’ve kept the domain name so all of the links should still work. This should allow the archives for the blog to remain online for all of eternity.

Thanks for the years of support. Go Padres!

By now, you probably know I write a bi-weekly article for The Hardball Times. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s a great opportunity to write for a site with a rich history of producing awesome content.

This year I have a chance to write the San Diego Padres player comments for THT Forecasts, which you should probably buy. I’m taking over the duties from the venerable Geoff Young, so I have my work cut out for me.

It’s a bit of a challenge distilling a player’s future outlook down to a paragraph or two, but it’s a challenge I wouldn’t dare pass up. I should have comments for a good 40 players or so, including a number of prospects. The player comments won’t be available until closer to spring training, but the 2012 projections are already updated and certainly worth the price. The comments are just an added bonus.

Along with the 2012 projections, you also get a long-term (six year) forecast for every player, various leaderboards and options to sort the projections, comments from past seasons, and updated in-season projections. If you’re a fantasy player, these are right up your alley.

For more info about THT Forecasts, check here and here.

It’s the weekend — a good time for a little blog-promotion.

Many of you already follow us, but if not consider following @FriarForecast on Twitter.

We don’t get too carried away with tweeting, but you’ll find links to our content here, links to notable stuff around the interwebs, and some good ol’ Padres/baseball/sabermetric discussion. That’s a combination you cannot resist.

Thanks!

We’ve done a few chats in the past with reasonable success, and I’d like to potentially make it a somewhat regular feature here at Friar Forecast. Bill Center’s chats at the U-T are always informative.

So bring your questions regarding the Padres offseason, the upcoming season, sabermetrics, blogging, whatever you have in mind. If there’s an audience, we’ll make chats more of a staple here at FF, and maybe get some of the other authors involved as well. Thanks and come back on Tuesday!

I’ll put up a new post with the Cover It Live platform on Tuesday.

We’ve recently installed a new theme here at Friar Forecast, as you may have noticed.

It’s a work in progress, for now, as it’s highly customizable once I dig into the code. I am far from a Web designer, so the customization process can be a bit … challenging, to say the least.

You can see some of the new features already, though. The Twitter and Feedburner icons are located on the right side of the navigation bar, easily visible but not too intrusive.

For now, you can see the author of the post by looking at the categories (on the top) or at the end of the post (where you can click through and view all of that authors posts). At some point, I would like there to be a byline at the top of each post, but we’ll have to figure that out.

My main concern is usability, and I hope the installation of this new theme will enhance your experience here at Friar Forecast. I’m particularly hopeful you notice an increase in the speed of the site, as that is one critical element to usability. I’m a bit obsessive about Website speed; I can’t stand overly slow sites.

There are likely a number of things that will be changing over the coming days/weeks, but what you currently see is the basis for the new look of the site.

I hope you like it, but please let me know what’s working and what isn’t. What needs to be added/deleted? Any comments on the new look and the overall usability of the site are welcome (encouraged!), either here or via email.

Thanks,
Myron

We would like to wish you a happy holiday season from the Friar Forecast Headquarters. May you and yours have a wonderful time.

And thanks for sticking around these parts. Things were slow for a while, but we’re back and we’ve got plenty planned for the new year. The support is much appreciated.

-Myron

We are currently looking to add contributors at Friar Forecast.

We’re hoping to provide more extensive coverage of the San Diego Padres heading into the 2012 season, and one of the best ways to do that is to add some new voices.

Preferably, we would be interested in someone with an analytical mindset and some writing/blogging experience. Any type of specific knowledge, be it prospects, sabermetrics, business, etc., is a plus.

New writers would be expected to contribute (at least) once a week on a scheduled day, but this is negotiable.

If interested, use the contact form above or e-mail Myron at myronlogan5 [at] yahoo [dot] com. Please don’t be hesitant to inquire, even if you’re not sure if you meet the “requirements.” We’re flexible and would be happy to work something out.

Thanks
-Myron

You’re digging it, right? Hopefully. If not – or if you notice any issues – feel free to let us know.

We may be doing some additional customization, too, so please be patient if you notice any changes.

If you’re not following us already @FriarForecast, check it out. We’ll tweet most of our new content here, link to other relevant articles around the internet, and also get involved in some Padres-centric discussion.

Also, we’ve added a re-tweet icon to the top of our new posts here, which should allow you to easily re-tweet our content if you wish.

Easy, I know, more content.

But, more specifically, what are you interested in as the 2011 season approaches? Do you like longer, research-based articles? Short, quick posts? A mix of both?

Are there any features, like chats or interviews, that you like? How about game threads? Links to other relevant blogs and articles?

I know we’ve done this before, but it is always helpful to see what you folks are interested in. Please use this thread to discuss what you are or aren’t looking for when you visit Friar Forecast.