GO, FIGHT, WIN: The 1848 Winnemucca Choo-Choos Team Preview

[Young Drachma]

In the second season of the franchise's existence, the Choo-Choos have opened the pursestrings to see if they can't contend with SLOP's premier franchises. The team, which took over for the defunct New York Americans in the Associated League last year -- and that moribund's team roster -- have not made the playoffs in three years dating back to the A's days and that team in its three playoff appearances (the first two coming during the 1st two seasons of the league's existence) never advances to the Sunset Series; the only team left in the league not to do have done.

Well, fans of the "Mucks" as the team has been nicknamed by local fans have to be encouraged by the roster that D.C. Harris has assembled this year. Not only do they top the payroll charts of the league, but it contains some names who have been top performers in SLOP for years.

"It was just the right timing to assemble a roster like this," said Harris. "In the past [in New York] we would bring in guys who had experience elsewhere but would make the mistake of committing too much salary to one or two guys. Or the guys would inevitably decline and ownership would want us to stay locked into those guys no matter what; believing that it'd be better for fan immersion. Now? It's all about performance and the bottom line. But we're super excited about this ball club. Want opening day here right now."

Not only has the team built a strong roster on paper, but the Choo-Choos boast the 2nd best farm system in SLOP. "When contraction happened, we had a strategy that was to make sure we acquired talent. We were not having the kind of success we'd hoped for and knew that if we had to rebuild, that we should get players who'd be part of that. We're thin on young pitching, but save for that, we like the sorts of guys we have on the farm," said Harris.

The Choos brought back Jay Man Yun with a monster contract and added to the roster of 2-40 HR guys, another one in late signing Dalton Wright who starred for Carolina last year. It remains to be seen if former San Diego luminary Winston Bancroft is all washed up, but Winnemucca scooped him up with a 5-year deal that many analysts believe was overpaying.

The real noticeable difference is the money shelled out for hurlers. The Choos remade their rotation with veterans. Warren Helton, Charlie Taylor and ace closer Colby Wade will join a star-studded cast that already features former Philadelphia closer turned starter Bobby Carter and longtime New York/Mucks ace Ramesh Chandar. With six guys in the rotation who logged 200+ innings last year, it'll remain to be seen who ends up in what slot, but it's obvious that the ballclub has spent a ton of money trying to retrofit a rotation to go around its sluggers.

It'll be interesting to see whether Winnemucca can emerge this year with this ill-fitting, but talent laden roster or if it'll be another spendy failed experiment by the regime of D.C. Harris. No matter what, there ought to be fireworks on opening day in Nevada.