SNY on the Marlins

Ted Berg and I have spoken on the phone on a few occasions and he is a good guy, so why not link to his story: Here come the Marlins.

Here is my favorite part:

The Fish worry me, not because I think they're an exceptional team, but because I think they're a player or two away from irreversibly distinguishing themselves from the Mets. If they find someone to fill Bonifacio's offensive black hole at third base or one of their talented young starters like Andrew Miller or Chris Volstad heats up, the Marlins could easily end up leaving the beleaguered Mets in their dust and chasing the Phillies down the stretch.

And if that happens, well, I'd rather root for the Fish than the Phils. They're a flawed team, for sure, but a fun one to watch thanks to the mighty homers and mightier whiffs.

Go ahead and read the whole thing, some you may agree with and some you probably will think is a mischaracterization, however it isn't a bad read.

And he is right about a couple of things, if the Bonifacio experiment will be allowed to die for this season, not saying he won't ever be average, given his age he still could be, but it won't happen in 2009.  Also, if the light will come on for Miller and/or Volstad, and stay on, then the Marlins will be scary.  (Yes, yes, I know about the outfield defense but every team has a weakness that has to be worked around.  And anyway, Coghlan should continue to get better and Cody is actually a pretty defender, his numbers will improve.)

For all of the talk about needing bullpen help, and maybe trading for a closer, that really isn't the biggest hole on the team right now.  The bullpen really has done well since the likes of Penn, Davidson, and sad to say, Lindstrom are no longer in the mix.  The problem is at third, which can be handled internally and getting one the young starters not named Johnson or Nolasco to be more consistent.

And oh, does anyone like the Phillies who isn't a Phillies fan?