The Miami Marlins have the third lowest payroll at a little more than $71 million. They're only better than the Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers. And yet, over the past couple of weeks the Marlins have been playing red hot, and only one team has won more games during that period.
But, can the team sustain that level of winning over the long Major League Baseball season? Here is Miami Herald sports reporter Manny Navarro's view:
The Marlins have been pitching really well. There had been some injuries early in the season and you get in Christian Yelich, who is red hot at the plate. Giancarlo Stanton is producing. They had a really nice road trip out in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. They're just beginning to get their stride a little bit and become the team that I think some people were hoping they would. I don't know if everybody envisioned it that way, but they're playing better and it'll be interesting to see, as we get closer to the All-Star break, where this team is in the standings.
With Dee Gordon out, how has that affected the team?
Well, I think for the most part, most of those guys realize that there's still enough talent here to be a competitive team. Dee Gordon is one of the best hitters in baseball. But there are some other guys on the team that can produce. Derek Dietrich has always been a really talented hitter. The defensive side hasn't been great, but he's always been a really good hitterm so this is an opportunity. You've got to remember these are all major league baseball players; they all have a lot of hunger; they all want to have a chance to sign a big contract one day. Derek Dietrich has always been a top player;he just never put it all together, and so this has opened the door for Derek to play a little bit more. And you have some other guys, some veterans, Chris Johnson who had a big home run the other night. He's been in the league many, many years and he now has the chance to play a little bit more. So things have just come together for them and you hope that they can sustain it and remain competitive at the All-Star break. By the time in August and September and they're still in the playoff chase and you've got some exciting baseball down here, that hasn't happened in a while.
When you look at the fact that they are near the bottom in payroll, can they really sustain this kind of winning over the long run and be competitive with those other big teams?
Well, you have to say that probably not. They just don't have the pitching experience that they need. I would think that they probably need to add one more arm into that starting rotation or have somebody emerge like Adam Conley has through the early part of the season. He's the young left-handed pitcher who was in the system for the Marlins for a couple years. He's pitched phenomenal here in the early going, but you're going to need somebody to compliment Jose Fernandez, [Wei-Yin] Chen who is also in the starting rotation, and you really need somebody definitely emerge in the bullpen and be a consistent go-to-man that is going to be able to hold a lead late in the innings. So no, I don't know that it's necessarily sustainable, but the Mets and the Nationals are still the two best teams in the division. It's got more talent and more pitching, and so again, it's not out of the realm of possibility. We've seen it in baseball happen before. Teams can get hot, certain players can get hot, and like I said, I think all the Marlins want us to at least be in the race and not be out of it by August or September . And I think this team is showing us early on in the season that they can compete.
