The Marlins kick off there final season as the franchise known as the Florida Marlins, as the Marlins will move into their new ballpark in 2012 and subsequently change there name to the Miami Marlins.  So while we buy up all our priceless Florida Marlins gear, and anticipate the opening of a fabulous new home, we must remember there is a season to be played.

With the addition of Cliff Lee over the off season and the mid-season trade for Roy Oswalt instantly gave the Phillies one of the best pitching staffs in MLB history (on paper). However, the injuries suffered by an aging offense is something of a concern for the Phillies. Chase Utley will start the season on the 15-Day DL but some thought he may have been place on the 60-Day DL, so who knows when he will return.  Jimmy Rollins is coming off an injury stricken down year and is hoping to bounce back as an offensive leader.  The big question is who will fill the whole left by Jason Werth in left field?  Dominic Brown is another Phillie to start the season on the DL and with the signing and then cutting of Luis Castillo in the past 72 hours there are still many questions to be answered about this Philadelphia offense.

Atlanta and Florida made the first blockbuster trade of the off-season by swapping second basemen Dan Uggla for Omar Infante and relief pitcher Mike Dunn.  The trade on paper appears to be a winner for the Braves who are looking for some offense, but with the strikeouts and mediocre defense that Uggla brings could be a negative the Braves will have to come to terms with. However with the trade of Dan Uggla the Marlins saved nearlier $40 million dollars on a 4 year contract offered to Dan Uggla. So in return they are able to bring in an all-star second basemen in Infante as well asa a much needed catcher, with John Baker on the DL, in John Buck. combined last year Buck and Infante combined for 28 Homeruns as opposed to Uggla's 30.  Not to mention the two combined for nearly 50 less strikeouts.  The Braves have an excellent pitching staff in Derek Lowe and Jair Jurrjens at the top, as well as a phenomenal manager in Freddi Gonzalez and could definitely be the favorite to win the NL East.

However, as we have all come to learn the Florida Marlins are overlooked as a team to finish under .500 and possibly 4th in the division.  Four of the Marlins opening day starting five pitchers finished last season with less then a 3.9 ERA.  The bullpen has been upgrade with additions like Randy Choate and Mike Dunn to go with pitchers like Chad Hensley and Leo Nunez.  So there is hope that the Marlins bullpen can be improved.  As for the Marlins lineup the only questions are at third base and who will be the consistent everyday third basemen.  Other then that with Ramirez, Infante, Sanchez and Buck in the infield that's four solid bats to spread through the lineup.  And I would like anyone to challenge that the Florida Marlins have the best young outfield in all of baseball.  Logan Morrison is starting to get his feet wet and come into his own.  Chris Couglan who is coming off of a knee injury is looking to bounce back to form where he was the 2009 rookie of the year.  And there is very little to be said about Mike Stanton other then the fact that if you ever have the chance to see this guy play and take batting practice it is a MUST do. My prediction is that Stanton puts up 40 homeruns in his first full season in the majors.

The Marlins have the starting staff, an improved defense, a tremendous young offense in a division where they are overlooked.  If there bullpen can come through (like just about every other team is saying) then I believe the Marlins have a chance to win the Wild Card in the National League.  The question will be if they are in the playoff picture by the trade deadline and they don't have a solid third basemen or a struggling bullpen will they go out and get what it takes to win. With the track record of the Fish it is easy to say they will get it done if they are put in the opportunity to.

The Marlins look for there first sweep of the season and they look to do it the hard way.  The Marlins came into this series against the New York Mets in the cellar of the NL East and with a win today would complete a four game sweep and possibly move themselves into a tie for second place in the east with the Washington Nationals.  The Marlins have struggled with consistency and putting together an all around complete game of good defense, offense, starting and relief pitching.  Yet since the start of this most recent home stand they have managed to do it against a Mets pitching staff that as of late have pitched exceptionally well.  There is no question that the Marlins have one of the best young starting pitching staffs in baseball.  Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, and Chris Volstad resemble the dominate young staff the Marlins had in Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, and Brad Penny. This is promising for the Marlins and there future and if they can hold together the core of excellent bats they have in Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu, Dan Uggla and Chris Coghlan the Marlins could give the Philadelphia Phillies a run for there money in years to come. 

Mets vs Marlins coverage

The Marlins got an extremely dominate pitching performance from Chris Volstad tonight in there 7-1 victory over the Nationals.  Volstad pitched a complete game, striking out eight and only allowing four hits.  The Marlins capitalized on Volstad's performance by scoring seven runs and getting home runs from Hanley Ramirez and Jorge Cantu.  However, they were far from dominate on the base path.  Cameron Maybin the Marlins young center fielder is still adjusting to the major leagues and it is easy to see on the base path.  The Marlins had several opportunities in tonight's game with Maybin and also Cody Ross to tag up and advance bases and were not able to capitalize.  Both players on deep fly balls to the outfield were dancing in between the base paths two times with Cameron Maybin and one time with Cody Ross which almost cost them a run had there not been a wild throw home.  If the Marlins are going to make it to the post-season they are going to have to use speed and good base running to get there.

In recent years, good base running and speed has been a key component to winning for many teams in the MLB.  With the steroid era coming to an end teams are more reliant on the leadoff hitter getting on and manufacturing runs.  Remembering the Marlins 2003 World Series run most of their success was because of there table setters and the excellent speed they had.  Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo caused havoc for teams in the top of the lineup and on the bases and that is what the Marlins will need to improve on and hope to get from Maybin and Chris Couglan at the top of the lineup.

The Marlins signing of Nate Robertson early on has looked to be a very nice addition to the teams rotation. But the Marlins still have a lot of work to do in the bullpen, and besides Burke Badenhop and Leo Nunez who has been lights out, the Marlins bullpen has struggled. With Mike Stanton completely tearing it up in the Minor Leagues right now he really puts a lot of pressure on the Marlins to call him up to the big leagues. If the Marlins make this move and call up Stanton they can then make several moves to help benefit there team even more. The easiest option, and the option that has them parting with the least amount of talent is simply calling up Stanton and moving Ross for an average bullpen pitcher. The other option, which would free up the Marlins from a decent sized contract, is to call up Stanton and move Chris Coghlan into his original infield position of second base and move Dan Uggla while he is hot and has decent value. Uggla, who has been on a tare to start the 2010 season is a guy who is going to give a team 30+ HR and bat .250 a year and with his average defense would not be to much of a loss especially considering a guy like Stanton can hit 20+ HR a year, if not more. The Marlins could possibly get a strong set up man for the bullpen or a young prospect or two. Either way there are two things the Marlins have to be trying to deal with right now and that is where can Mike Stanton fit in and what are they going to do about there bullpen? For now we will have to sit back and just wait and watch what happens.