Jeff Bagwell > Florida Marlins

This year, the Florida Marlins' team salary is $14,344,500. Most of their players are making minimum wage (327K), and only Dontrelle Willis and Brian Moehler are over 800K. The team with the second lowest payroll is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, with $35 million. In the last four years, the lowest payroll besides this year's Marlins was the 2004 Milwaukee Brewers, with a $27 million team salary. To me, these numbers are staggering. Here's a major league baseball team, playing with a total team salary, lower than each of the salaries of 12 players (which includes Jeff Bagwell at $19 million this year).

The Marlins do have a few very good players in Dontrelle and Miguel Cabrera. However, I don't see how Dontrelle could win more than 15 games with this run support, or how Cabrera could get to 30 homers considering the bats around him. I know that Florida has gone through this before, between 1997 and 1998, and won the World Series in 2003. Maybe they could do that again, but, frankly, I don't see how that can happen again any time soon. The Marlins' average age is just below 26, two years younger than the next youngest team. With only 4 guys in their 30s, I don't see any sort of veteran leadership ushering the team through what will definitely be a dark period, especially since those four guys are Joe Borowski, Matt Herges, Matt Treanor and Moehler — all first-ballot Hall of Famers.

Frankly, I just feel sad for the franchise. I would feel sad for the fans, too, but their state hosts Spring Training, and I'm quite jealous. There is discussion of them moving, but I really don't see how that could help them. I mean, if they traded their entire team for one player, they could have a higher payroll.

Am-A's-ing

The A's open this season with high hopes. Many say they'll reach the World Series, just a year after people thought their organization would take 3-5 years to recover from losing the best two of their Big 3. Now, not only do they look poised for a return to the playoffs, (and maybe win a series?) but they seem set to be an AL power for many years to come.

Their offense is solid, with consistently good Mark Kotsay, Eric (still hasn't reached his prime) Chavez, Frank (when I'm healthy I hit 3 homers a week) Thomas, Milton (he may not explode this year) Bradley, Dan (I seem really similar to Lance Niekro) Johnson, and others. The only piece that really seems to be dragging the A's offense down is catcher Jason Kendall. He has the highest salary on the team, $11.6 million, and that will be a hard deal to trade off before it expires after next season (when he will get $13 million). However, it's doubtful that he will be starting until the end of next year. Amazingly, the A's have three promising catching prospects in the minors. Daric Barton (who will probably move to C) was named the A's top 2006 prospect by Baseball America. Barton had a .900 OPS in both A and AA last season. Also, he went 3-7 this spring in Arizona. This year, he'll start the year for the AAA Sacramento Rivercats. Landon Powell (.374 OBP in rookie ball in 2004, injured all of 2005) and Kurt Suzuki (.818 OPS 2005 in A) were first round 2004 picks. The A's will probably trade at least one of these three before season's end, and hopefully they can get another starting pitcher with them.

The fact that the A's are so deep at their worst position is just part of why I think they will become a dominant team in the next few years. Their rotation is pretty good, and I think that Harden, Blanton, and Haren are their three best (combined salary: $2.127 million). Barry Zito seems to be a less severe David Duval, and I fear that he really doesn't care too much that his record over the last three years is 39-36. Esteban Loaiza has won more than 12 games once in his career, and has a 4.60 career ERA. I hope the A's trade Zito by season's end, in exchange for another young starter or two. I think Loaiza is signed for a few years, but I can't imagine him being on the young A's for longer than till next season's (or maybe even the 2006) trade deadline. If the A's can tame Dan Meyer (5.36 ERA in AAA last year, after it was never above 3 at any level), they have another starter for the end of this year or the beginning of the 2007 season.

The A's seem ready, with their young lineup and pitching staff, to be strong contenders until 2010. Billy Beane knew what he was doing by trading away Hudson (who has begun deteriorating since leaving the A's), and I trust that he also knew what he was doing by trading Mulder, although I'm less certain about that. However, I don't see him letting go of Blanton, Haren or Harden until he has another big three ready to go.