September 1st marks the point in the MLB season at which teams can expand their rosters for the final month of the season, either to give rookies a chance at the major league level or add depth for a playoff push. Dallas McPherson, Robert Andino, and Eulogio De La Cruz were the 3 players the Marlins have added to their roster for September’s push.

Among the group, McPherson brings the most potential in the present. McPherson, a 3B by trade who is also capable of playing 1B, brings power to the Marlins line up. McPherson leads all professional baseball players with 42 home runs this season. Although all his homeruns have been hit in the minors, mostly at AAA Albuquerque, they are not cheap shots that just drop over the fence. Many of McPherson’s are tape measure 500+ foot shots.

Andino is a reliable infielder, capable of playing SS and 2B and though he might not be as clutch at the plate as Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla can be, he is a much better fielder and less prone to making errors. De La Cruz adds another arm to a bullpen that quite frankly has been pathetic.

I’m not going to suggest that any of these men can make a big enough difference to bring a World Series title to South Florida. However, McPherson in particular should be able to have an impact and perhaps help push the Marlins toward the playoffs. If nothing else, the Marlins will get a look at players (McPherson and Andino in particular) that could have starting spots on the 2009 Marlins. Good performances from them in September 2008 could land them important roles in April 2009.

As if management didn’t have enough ammunition to show Kevin Gregg the door, they certainly got it tonight. With their backs against the wall and the nets closing in on the Marlins, they came out agains the New York Mets, 6 games out of 1st place and put in a great effort. Rookie Chris Volstad, facing the Mets for the first time in his career, held the Mets in check going 6 1/3 innings allowing 5 hits and striking out 5.

Naturally, as the 9th inning rolled around and the Marlins were ahead 2-1, Manager Fredi Gonzalez turned to closer Kevin Gregg to save the game and move the Marlins closer to 1st place. Unfortunately, as he’s getting much better at, Gregg blew the save opportunity in spectacular fashion. Gregg easily retired the first two batters before allowing a Luis Castillo single, David Wright single, and then hit Carlos Delgado with a pitch to load the bases. Then to top it all off, Gregg served up a Grand Slam to Carlos Beltran, and though the Marlins fought back in the bottom of the 9th, they ultimately fell 5-4. The loss moves them to 7 games back of 1st place.

Gonzalez dodged questions after the game as to whether or not he would replace Gregg as the closer. There is a very good argument in favor of it. From a morale standpoint, Gonzalez needs to strongly consider doing so as Gregg’s errors late in the season are really starting to cost the Fish. Starters and bats are putting in great efforts only for Gregg to throw it all away. In his last 7 outings, Gregg is 0-4 with a 16.20 ERA.

Unfortunately, the Marlins really don’t have many options to replace Gregg. Renyel Pinto is on the DL, Doug Waechter is returning from a shoulder injury, and Mark Hendrickson is in the bullpen because he faded mid season after a strong start in the starting rotation. Youngster Logan Kensing or Matt Lindstrom may be options, but are inexperienced and Jonathon Papelbon aside, many youngsters don’t experience early success closing. Arthur Rhodes may be a possible replacement, though he hasn’t had much work since joining the Marlins and has long been more of a hold pitcher. Its a tough gig, which makes it all the more important for the Marlins to go out and get a solid closer in the offseason if they wish to make a challenge next season.

Last night’s loss to the Atlanta Braves leaves the Florida Marlins’ playoff outlook very bleak. Over the course of the season Marlins’ fans have blamed ownership, the bullpen, or the manager for the Marlins struggles at different points in the season. The past three days however must leave all fans questioning the team itself, the 25 men who call themselves professional baseball players.

Last night the Marlins were bested by an Atlanta Braves pitcher that hadn’t won in his last seven outings, and were finally put away by a three run homer from a player who hadn’t gone deep since August 9th and had 0 hits in his last 15 at bats. The Marlins act as though they don’t care if they get into the playoffs. They return to Miami tonight after a 9 game road trip in which they had the luxury of playing the slumping San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves. Instead of a glorious return, they limp home after losing 2 of 3 to each of those squads and find themselves 6 games back of 1st place with the Mets coming to town tonight.

It would be easy to say Fredi Gonzalez isn’t demanding enough of his players, or hard enough on them. It would be convenient to blame the ownership for not spending more. But the bottom line is, these men are PROFESSIONALS. OK, so they aren’t paid on the level of Alex Rodriguez and so many other superstars, but they are paid more than you or I will ever see to play a GAME! If they want to make it into the playoffs, they should man up and show up to the park everyday. When they face, lets be honest here, terrible teams like Atlanta or Washington, anything but a sweep is unacceptable. It does you no good to get up for only the Phillies and Mets, because if you can’t beat the teams you should you won’t even be in contention to begin with.

As always though, I refuse to count them out. Yes, the Marlins are 6 games out of 1st and have 28 games to play. They get the New York Mets in Miami this weekend, they won’t have to face Johan Santana, and the Mets rotation and bullpen outside of Santana and closer Billy Wagner are awful. Now is the time, time to step up and prove you are men and professionals and get yourselves back in the race. If not, well then maybe we don’t need any of you back next year if you can’t step up when needed.

Regardless of how the Florida Marlins finish this season, miss the playoffs, booted in the first round, or magical run; when the off-season rolls around the Marlins need to make a closing pitcher their TOP priority. Forget signing Dan Uggla long term, forget Mike Jacobs, forget Jorge Cantu, the core piece of every teams bullpen is a closer who can come out night after night and do exactly what you pay him to do, dominate.

Kevin Gregg is not that guy, and can’t be that guy for the Marlins. Not now, not in the future. Lets briefly compare him with some of the more prestigious closers in the league. Gregg is 10th in the majors with 29 saves this season, however, among the top 10 closers he has the MOST walks and the FEWEST strike outs. Kevin Gregg is effective (when he’s effective I should say) because he has a great fastball and a very good slider, his problem however is that very good slider. Gregg doesn’t have the greatest control on that slider, sometimes it makes batters look ridiculous, other times it lands in the dirt before the mound resulting in wild pitches.

Kevin Gregg is just too inconsistent, the Marlins’ loss on Tuesday night showed it. He had a 9-6 lead going into the bottom of the 9th and absolutely imploded giving up 5 hits, walking 1, and giving up 4 ER and the game. For a team needing a win to get them rolling and keep the pace, a loss instead to one of baseball’s worst teams could be the straw that breaks Florida’s back and ends their wonderful season.

Bottom line, this season’s issues, particularly in the stretch run have been the bullpen. Sure, the starting pitching hasn’t been stellar, but they’ve more often than not kept their team in the game and 7 out of 10 games the bats are hot enough to offset it. The bats and the starters can’t do anything to prevent the bullpen from imploding and losing a game.

In the end, you just never know which Kevin Gregg will grace the mound each night, thats why he’s not really a top 10 closer despite the ranking. When Fransisco Rodriguez, Joe Nathan, Jonathon Papelbon, and Mariano Rivera come on to close a game for their team, the other team is shaking, not the closer’s manager. Those teams know their closer will get it done, when he doesn’t its just the world evening out because nobody is perfect, even those men make mistakes once in a blue moon. When Gregg takes the mound we all have to hold our breath, well I’m turning purple, we need a new closer.

The blame should fall squarely on the shoulders of ownership and the front office for being either too dumb or too stubborn to fix the real problem on this team, the bullpen. It seems odd that in a year that saw the Marlins pen at one point (April & May) considered the best in baseball, we would also see it become a liability in the team’s quest for October baseball.

Among playoff contending teams only the St Louis Cardinals and New York Mets have bullpens that have blown more saves, 27 and 21 respectively. And although a blown save does not always equate to a loss in the end, its certainly not a stat worth ignoring either. Baseball gets much harder in October, if you want to beat a team, you don’t give up the lead when you have them pinned down for the loss.

The Marlins bullpen has been particularly worrisome as of late. Closer Kevin Gregg blew a 2 run lead in the 9th inning Friday night against the Cubs, his 7th blown save of the season. Then on Sunday afternoon Renyel Pinto imploded allowing 5 earned runs while striking out none and walking 3, all in 2/3 of an inning.

Ownership and management knew exactly what areas of this team needed improvement, areas that if not improved could cost this team a playoff spot, and they did what amounts to nothing. The single move the front office made was to acquire 38 year old Arthur Rhodes, slap a gold bow on him, and call the bullpen situation solved. Clearly it is not as the pen continues to cost the team games.

Clearly the players share the blame when a team fails to perform, but you can’t expect a player to perform above their abilities. The front office knew that ability was lacking in the bullpen and still did nothing, so if the Fish are golfing in October instead of competing for a World Series crown, all of us fans will have management to thank.

After three seasons with the New York Mets, and a half season with the Washington Nationals, Paul Lo Duca returned to the Florida Marlins on Friday. The 36 year old catcher, who was cut by the Nationals after the trade deadline, signed a minor league contract with the Marlins and was to report to AAA Albuquerque.

Lo Duca was traded to the Florida Marlins in 2004 from the Los Angeles Dodgers, who in return received Brad Penny. Lo Duca played 2 seasons in Florida before being traded to the New York Mets after the 2005 season. Lo Duca adds depth, a big question mark for the Marlins, and brings with him a .286 career batting average.

Lo Duca however is 36 years old and is not exactly in his prime any longer. Lo Duca signed a lucrative free agent deal with the Nationals this season, only to miss 52 games with two separate hand injuries. Lo Duca bruised his right hand and then later broke his right hand. He eventually lost his starting job with the Nationals after batting .230 with 0 hrs and 12 RBIs this season and was cut.

While Lo Duca does add depth and bring experience behind the plate, he is not likely to play any vital role in the Marlins playoff push. In the end, the Marlins still haven’t adequately addressed their needs at the catching position. Lets keep our fingers crossed that Matt Treanor can play well through his injury and make it to the off season in one piece.

As the Florida Marlins head into the final two months of the season, a crucial two months, there is good news involving some of the teams key contributers.

The team is expected to recall catcher Matt Treanor from his rehab assignment with Class A Jupiter on Wednesday. Treanor has been on the DL since July 8th with a hip strain. Treanor went 1-3 with an RBI in his latest outing with Jupiter on Tuesday and is expected to split time with John Baker upon his return to the Marlins. Baker has been performing better in the past few days, but the addition of Treanor will be a needed boost behind the plate and another reliable bat in the line up.

Josh Willingham is making strides at the plate after missing nearly 2 full months of the season with a strained back. During his time on the DL, Willingham didn’t even swing a bat due to his injury. As a result, when he returned to the team June 24th he was cold at the plate. Recently though Willingham had an 8 game hitting streak and is starting to regain his form, just in time for the playoff push.

Lastly, Andrew Miller is still rehabbing from right knee tendinitis. Miller, acquired from Detroit in the Cabrera & Willis deal, exceeded expectations early in the season. However, in June his form was not the same and he was placed on the DL. He threw 1 inning for the Marlins’ Gulf Coast League team on Monday and is scheduled to pitch for Class A Jupiter on Sunday. If all goes well, Miller would be a welcome addition to the bull pen for the stretch run.

Give credit to the Marlins, they showed for perhaps the first time that they were willing to go after an already established big name. Manny Ramirez has clearly been discontent in Boston over the past year and a half, as a result the Red Sox finally gave serious consideration to trading him. Imagine the surprise all across baseball when the Florida Marlins were the team being named as recipients of Ramirez.

The proposed deal would have sent Manny Ramirez to the Marlins, Jeremy Hermida and prospects would have been sent from Florida to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Boston would have received slugger Jason Bay from Pittsburgh. As the deadline approached today however, talks fizzled, and the Marlins pulled out of the deal.

So who is to blame? One would have to say the Marlins are to blame for failing in their bid to receive Ramirez. The Marlins, instead of being content with Ramirez, were asking for minor leaguers, and cash exceeding the $7 million offered by Boston. Boston was not quite to the point with Ramirez that they were willing to dump him off no matter the cost, the Marlins simply asked for too much.

Ramirez’s sometimes questionable outfield effort, large contract, and age (36) no doubt prompted the Marlins to seek the extra cash and prospects. In the end though, positives must outweigh negatives. Ramirez would have brought a .299 batting average, 20 HRs, and 68 RBIs to an already potent offense. As a two time World Series Champion and 2004 World Series MVP he would have brought unquestionable playoff experience to a young team in the thick of a playoff chase. On top of all that, Ramirez’s star power would have put some butts in seats at Dolphin Stadium, especially in a city with a large population from the Dominican Republic, Ramirez’s home.

The trade deadline has come and gone, but the Florida Marlins still have a space that desperately needs to be filled to bolster their roster for the playoff run. As the deadline approached, the Marlins made inquiries for relief pitchers and catchers, but were only successful in acquiring a reliever.

The usual starting catcher Matt Treanor, who began a rehab assignment with A Jupiter on Thursday, is trying to return from a hip injury. MRI exams revealed that he has 3 muscle tears in his hip and pelvic regions. Treanor is determined to play through the pain and delay surgery until the post-season, but there is no guarantee he will be able to do so.

The Marlins do have John Baker, Mike Rabelo, and Paul Hoover available as catchers, unfortunately Baker boasts the best batting average, at .204. Rabelo and Hoover are batting .202 and .200 respectively. The Marlins’ targets before the deadline were Bengie Molina of the San Fransisco Giants, Gerald Laird of the Texas Rangers, and Ryan Doumit of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Molina was thought to be their first choice, but has a sizable contract. Laird and Doumit however both have reasonable contracts, and are putting up better numbers this season, batting .312 and .333 respectively. Doumit would likely be the best fit for the Marlins as he would bring a reliable bat to the bottom of the batting order and is also a dependable back up behind the plate.

At this point however, the Marlins have to hope one of the catchers they had their eye on is placed on waivers. At that point the Marlins could try and bid for that player. Assuming no other team bids for the same player, they have themselves a new catcher. If, however, another team bids things can get complicated in a hurry.

By now we’ve all had time to digest the fact that Manny Ramirez will not be calling Miami home. The deal between the Boston Red Sox and the Florida Marlins fell apart, and Manny will now be sporting Dodger Blue in Los Angeles.

The Marlins did make a move before the trade deadline however, acquiring left handed relief pitcher Arthur Rhodes from the Seattle Mariners for minor leaguer Gaby Hernandez. Rhodes, 38, comes in with a record of 2-1 and an ERA of 2.86 in 22 innings. Hernandez was 2-8 with a 7.24 ERA at AAA Albuquerque and 3-0 with a 4.30 ERA at AA Carolina.

In the end this is a trade that will perhaps prove worthless. The Marlins made this move to bolster their bullpen and add a lefty arm down there as well. However, with the additions of Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez to the starting rotation, Mark Hendrickson moves to the bullpen providing another lefty arm to ease the work load of Renyel Pinto. The Marlins also have Taylor Tankersley who, after starting the season with the Marlins going 0-1 with an ERA of 8.64 in 24 appearances, has regained his focus in the minor leagues and posted a 1.23 ERA in 21 games and allowed 0 earned runs in his last 10 games.

Ultimately, the Marlins did add another left hander to the bullpen, and that will allow Renyel Pinto’s arm to take a nap once and awhile. As the season draws to a close and the NL East race gets hotter, lets hope Rhodes has enough left in the tank to make this trade worthwhile.