Napa Winers- blown up

There is mass hysteria in Napa over the ongoing overhaul of the Napa Winers. Less than one offseason removed from a playoff birth, the Napa management team has completely dismantled the roster bringing in draft picks (youth), and athleticism. Napa has changed its offensive philosophy. The Winers will no longer be the "pray for a 3-run HR" team it was last year. It is bringing in players who can take an extra base, who can steal, and for the most part players that are not entering the twilight of their careers.

Gone are fan favorites Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, and Tim Lincecum. In are promising youngsters Dexter Fowler, Howie Kendrick, and Mike Aviles. Gone are base cloggers David Ortiz and Vlad Guerrero. In are fleet footed base stealers Rajai Davis and Juan Pierre.

Also added to a team that previously held 0, yes Z-E-R-O, first round picks are the first and second overall picks in the upcoming draft.

What is the thought process that preceded this apparent chaos? It can be summed up in one word, opportunity.

"What we had was a tremendous opportunity to use the talent that we had to secure some pieces that we believe are pivotal to our long term success. The team was aging, slow, and pretty much one dimensional. Our team lived and died by the homer last season. If we could hit a couple, then we did great. If we were held in the park, then the offense had trouble creating scoring opportunities. We believe that we have already found our centerfielder for the next 10 years in Dexter Fowler, along with a highly talented 2nd baseman we believe is ready to start living up to the hype in Howie Kendrick. Plus, with those 2 draft picks, we have a chance to draft 2 players who will form the heart of this lineup for the next 15 years. We saw ourselves with an opportunity to be aggressive in building a future for this team. There are a couple of players that we felt we had a shot at if we could make a move to acquire the picks. It cost us big, but we feel it is going to pay off. There were some very tough decisions, unpopular decisions, made but in the end they will turn out to be the right decisions."

The roster is currently made up of the following players:

SP's- Clayton Richard, Justin Masterson, and Kevin Slowey
RP's- Evan Meek, Tyler Clippard, J.J. Putz, Brian Fuentes, and Kris Medlen
C- Ramon Castro
1B- Carlos Lee
2B- Howie Kendrick
SS- Jimmy Rollins
3B- Johnny Peralta
INF's- Jeff Keppinger, Mike Aviles
OF's- Dexter Fowler, Juan Pierre, Rajai Davis, Ryan Raburn, Aaron Cunningham

"As anyone can see from the roster, we definitely still have some work to do. We need to get some help for our rotation. We also need to find our full time catcher. Jimmy is getting older and we could use another youngster in the outfield. We also need to find a closer of the future. The first two picks in the draft should help us out tremendously and we may still have a couple of minor moves made once the draft starts."

Will there be more trades? Who is going to be drafted with those picks? As with all re-build's, there are still many unanswered questions. One thing can be said though, the management team decided to overhaul and boy did they go for it!!!