ICYMI – the best of Pirates Breakdown – 2/7/16 to 2/13/16

Did you miss some of this past week’s content on Pirates Breakdown? No problem – here’s a weekly look at what you might have missed on our pages.

First off, let me say how much we appreciate your readership, thought provoking opinions, and dedication to sharing and commenting on the site and social media. To you, we say thank you. Between celebrating Valentine’s Day and mentally preparing for the week ahead, we have compiled some light reading to get you all caught up on everything Pirates in your down time.

In just a matter of days, the Pirates will descend upon Bradenton in preparation for what will hopefully be a long and exciting season. The editors have been hard at work preparing to provide some of the best Pirates coverage on the web, and we have a staff ready to provide you with a heavy dose of analysis and opinions all season long.

Here’s some of the highlights from the past week:

• One of Pirates Breakdown’s most recent acquisitions Brian Hannon took a look at the Pirates outfield depth and what options are available to them if they continue looking to add.
• Jason Rollison took a look at what Josh Harrison needs to do to carry his late season success into 2016.
• Justin Frazee began analyzing the Pirates minor league affiliates and the talent the organization has accumulated in the upper levels.
• How is Mark Melancon expected to follow up his career year in 2015? Ethan Obstarczyk finished up our projections series by looking at what’s in store for the Pirates expensive closer. Check out all of our previous projections here.
• Joy Frank-Collins compiled her weekly round-up of the Pirates social media activity as Pirates Breakdown and the rest of the baseball world mourned the loss of Pirates beat reporter Tom Singer, among much else.
• Tyler Waite took a look at the rationale for ESPN’s Keith Law ranking the Pirates farm system the eighth best in all of baseball.
• Steve Kubitz took a look at the best and the worst free agent deals in Pittsburgh Pirates history. Did your picks make the list?
• And I, Tyler Thomas, began a weekly series breaking down how the Pittsburgh Pirates match up against their National League opponents with a preview of the 2016 NL East.

That does it for this week’s best of Pirates Breakdown. We want to take a moment to sincerely thank you again for your readership. We invite you to join the conversation! Sound off on anything Pirates-related in the comments below!

Thanks for checking us out here at Pirates Breakdown. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook for the best Pirates coverage all year long!