Napa Winers outlook

The Napa Winers are new to the TBA league this season. This franchise was able to be formed because of some other now defunct team. After waiting patiently for approximately 15 minutes, the new ownership group headed by CEO/GM/Manager/Scouting Director/1st and 3rd base coach/bench coach/etc, etc, etc... Eamonn Dymer is excited and somewhat optimistic about the upcoming season. Coach Dymer was recently interviewed and had this to say about his club...

"We will have no shortage of offense, I just worry about whether or not we will be able to catch the ball on defense, and if we will have any pitching outside our #1 starter."

In the dispersal draft, the Napa Winers selected that #1 starter with the first overall pick. Tim Lincecum should provide them a dominant starter for years to come and be able to provide quality, if not dominant, starts every 4th or 5th game.

Napa has also been busy in the offseason trade market having acquired A.J. Burnett to give Napa a solid #2 or 3 starter along with Brian Fuentes to help shore up a bullpen led by Jonathan Papelbon.

The team roster as it stands now (with probable drops included) looks something like this:

C- Jason Varitek
1b- Miguel Cabrera
2B- Placido Polanco/Clint Barmes
SS- Marco Scutaro/Adam Everett
3b- Jeff Keppinger/Juan Uribe
OF- Adam Dunn/Rick Ankiel/Ben Zobrist/Johnny Gomes/Ben Francisco
DH- Carlos Lee/Ken Griffey Jr.

SP- Tim Lincecum/A.J. Burnett/ Jeremy Guthrie/ Joba Chamberlain/ Randy Johnson
RP- Jonathan Papelbon/ Brian Fuentes/ Sean Burnett/ Dan Wheeler/ Darren O'Day

In the upcoming draft, it has been forecast in some mock drafts that the Napa Winers will be looking to draft a Starting Pitcher (perhaps Brett Anderson) to help shore up the starting pitching. When asked about this, GM Eamonn Dymer responded, "While we do need another starting pitcher or two, there are also other needs we will be looking at with our first round pick at #10. Perhaps one of the frontline centerfielders will be available (McCutcheon, Rasmus, or Fowler). We can also use another reliever and Andrew Bailey, Luke Gregerson, and Neftali Perez (although he is being converted to a starter) all will be dominant. We could also use some youth in the middle of the infield and definitely need some help at catcher. There are a number of routes we can go. And we hopefully aren't done in the trade market yet as well."

The Napa Winers should have no problem drawing fans at first with that explosive offense and "The Freak" on the mound. The question is, will Mr Lincecum and the offense be able to keep the butts in the seats if the defense and thin pitching keep the team from getting the W's? We'll see.