2008 Florida Marlins

The Marlins finished 2007 at the bottom of the NL East with a 71-91 record with a very young team. 2008 won’t be much different as they are full of young talent, but in order to get all this young talent fans have had to watch big name player after big name player get traded away. They didn’t stop this off-season as they made a big deal with the Detroit Tigers to send Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis for 6 prospects. The two best players that came the Marlins way are OF Cameron Maybin and starter Andrew Miller. The Marlins are well known for trading away big players and getting great players in return. They won the World Series in 1997 then dismantled the team and rebuilt the team to World Series champs in 2003. After just four years there isn’t a player from the 2003 World Series team left on the roster. It is just a matter of will this strategy keep working?

Pitching:

This is a very young pitching staff and doesn’t have a pitcher who has pitched more than 200 innings in a single season. Without a proven ace the team has said they expect the top four pitchers to be Sergio Mitre, Scott Olsen, Andrew Miller, and Mark Hendrickson. Olsen had the most wins in 2007 with 10, but also had the most losses with 15. Not one of the four posted an ERA under 4.5, and Mitre was the only one under 5. The fifth spot is wide open until the team gets injured Anibal Sanchez back sometime in the middle of the season. Closer Kevin Gregg who saved 32 games last year leads the bullpen. They also have a fast improving setup man in Matt Linstrom.

Offense:

For a team that was pretty bad overall, they had a pretty solid offense. They tied the NY Yankees for the forth-highest homerun total in baseball. They will struggle to repeat that after losing 34HRs from Cabrera. In 2008 the offense will be led up the middle with 2B Dan Uggla and SS Hanley Ramirez. Uggla had a solid season hitting .245 with 31 HRs and 88 RBIs, but Ramirez was a little better at the plate overall hitting .332 with 29 HRs and 81 RBIs. The team also has some power in the bats in the outfield. RF Jeremy Hermida hit .296 with 18 HRs; LF Josh Willingham added another 21 bombs. The team hopes new coming CF Maybin is ready to go as he has 30 HR 50 SB potential that is rare to find. The team did add veteran outfielder Luis Gonzalez for a solid bat on the bench and a guy who can help they young guys mature.

Defense:

While they were a very young team, there is no reason for a team to have 137 errors. They were worst in the majors in that category and will have to improve on that number or their season will be even worse. They just don’t have a big time defender anywhere on the field, maybe that will change with some of the new players they brought in.

Prediction:

We don’t see to much promise for this team in 2008, as we have them finishing last in the NL East. If their strategy works again of building up young talent, this could be a very dangerous team in 2-3 years.

2008 Florida Marlins Odds to Win World Series 100-1

For every team’s odds head over to Sportsbook.com and check them out. You can also go to Sportsbook.com to look at the odds for teams to win their division or league pennant. Feel free to leave any comments in the comment section.

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