Wes Helms has signed a new 2 year, $1.9 million deal to remain with the Florida Marlins. This officially opens the door for what is expected to be an interesting, if not downright exciting, offseason for the Marlins.

Wes Helms is not going to be the highlight signing, at least we hope not, for the Marlins this offseason. Nonetheless, Helms is a wise choice to throw a litte money at to keep around. Helms is a veteran and though he’ll only be a spot starter and pinch hitter, he’s not a bad choice to have for a back up and has some dedication and commitment to the Marlins. Helms asked near the end of the 2008 season to remain with the Marlins and was rewarded with a 2 year deal.

Helms won’t light up the scoreboard but he is a reliable back up to have in the game. Helms batted .243 this season with 5 HR and 31 RBIs. In pinch hitting situations Helms boasted an impressive .317 average and 2 HR, including the tie breaker in the 8th inning of the season finale that booted the Mets from the playoffs.

Helms is a 3rd baseman by nature but is capable of backing up at 1st base as well. The question now becomes how will this effect the jobs of Jorge Cantu and Mike Jacobs. Helms isn’t going to challenge either for their starting job, however with Dallas McPherson expected to be up with the Marlins full time next year, 3rd base is covered. This seasons 3rd baseman, Cantu, is capable of playing 1st and 2nd as well, meaning between Helms, Cantu, and Jacobs, someone will likely be departing South Florida. Jacobs would likely be the odd man out in such a scenario.

Alright, now the Marlins have not even been done for a full week, but it is never too early to guess at what the Marlins can/will do over the winter to improve themselves for the 2009 season. I know what you’re thinking, what do you mean improve? This team just finished within a few games of making the playoffs in the NL and were in it till the last week. They sure were, but what fun is life without striving to always get a little better. The Marlins CAN make the playoffs next year and it won’t take a lot of shifting, so lets just take a walk down “Imaginary Lane” and take a look at what the Marlins offseason should look like to make them a contender in 2009.

First off, lets put a new twist on an old South Florida trick, the player sale. Only this time there will be no sign outside Dolphin Stadium saying “Fire Sale: Get Your Red Hot Ballplayers!”. The Marlins have 17 players eligible for salary arbitration this offseason, and it is estimated that to resign all those players and maintain 2008′s team, the Marlins payroll would have to double from $21 million to over $40 million. Why waste the money to maintain a team that missed the playoffs, albeit barely, when for the same amount of money a playoff contending team can be put on the field. The Marlins hold players with high trade value and should use them wisely.

The main focus of the Marlins offseason should be to refocus from a power hitting, high strikeout team to one that has improved defense, contact hitting, speed, and solid pitching from beginning to end.

Call ups Cameron Maybin and Gaby Sanchez showed in the last 2 weeks of the season they are ready to go full time for the big club. Dallas McPherson is also ready to move up from AAA to take over at 3rd base, and John Baker grew by leaps and bounds as the season came to a close, he too is ready to go behind the plate for the big club. This means Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham, Jeremy Hermida, Kevin Gregg, and Scott Olsen won’t all be returning next season.

This offseason won’t read like past seasons that have seen successful Marlins teams torn apart to save money. Mr. Loria has his stadium, time to fork over some cash and put a true winner on the field. Scott Olsen and Dan Uggla hold the best trade value of the lot, so they’re gone. Baker takes over behind the plate, Mike Jacobs likely could remain at 1st, Jorge Cantu is a fantastic utility infielder who played 2nd in his time with Tampa Bay, Hanley Ramirez at short, and McPherson at 3rd. Should Cantu not return, Gaby Sanchez will step in and not miss a beat in the field. If Jacobs departs, Cantu plays 1st and Sanchez 2nd.

Some jobs will be lost in the outfield as well. Maybin proved in the last two weeks he’s ready all around, which means Willingham and Hermida are not both likely to stay with the team. Pitching is going to shake up as well. Lindstrom seems ready to take over as the full time closer, sending Kevin Gregg packing, much to the relief of Marlins fans across Florida. Scott Olsen isn’t likely to return either, but with Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Chris Volstad, and Anibal Sanchez returning, the rotation is in good hands regardless.

Lots of things can happen in the following weeks to alter the above scenario, assuming they don’t, the Marlins should be wise when dealing with Uggla and Olsen. The greatest need of the team is extra help in the bullpen, it is imperative that is addressed. It would also be wise to secure one more proven, reliable bat. A starting pitcher would be acceptable, though the Marlins have several talented prospects waiting in the wings to pitch.

It may seem silly to shed power baseball for the manufacturing of runs, but that is not the only thing being accomplished here. These moves won’t be made for the sake of lowering the number of homeruns the team makes, they are dual purpose moves. Improved defense, speed on the base paths, and FEWER strike outs with better contact are necessary if the Marlins want to be strong consistently in 2008. The long ball is fickle, it is there somedays and gone the next, which means playoff chances are too. Consider this, the Minnesota Twins are perhaps the best team in baseball at manufacturing runs, playing “small ball”. They game much closer to the playoffs than the Marlins and did so scoring the 4th MOST runs in MLB. They also were 29th, or next to LAST, in home runs in the majors.

It is hard to accept, but the Marlins 2008 season is finally over. A season that started with a lot of promise saw the Fish lead the NL East throughout April and May. The team hung in the pennant race throughout June and July. In the end, the Marlins faded down the stretch and though they played themselves back into the fight in early September, they were done realistically after their August collapse. Now it is left to us to determine what went right and what went wrong for the Marlins this season, and it boils down to 8 reasons.

First off, what went right for the Marlins this season? Well, the Marlins made the following positive steps forward in 2008:

1. The most visible improvement was the Marlins record, 84-77, a 13 win improvement over last season. This season was the Marlins 1st winning season since 2005 and their record of 84-77 is the 3rd best finish in team history. The only better records belonged to the 1997 World Series team and 2003 World Series team.

2. Perhaps the biggest positive this season was the fact that the Marlins were never below .500 after the 3rd game of the season when they were 1-2. They didn’t even fall to .500 again until August.

3. The Marlins were tough in the clutch, never making it too easy for their opponents. They finished 24-19 in 1 run games and 9-5 in extra innings games. The Fish also had 42 comeback victories and 11 walk off wins.

4. Florida pitching was vastly improved this year. The team finished 30th (dead last) in ERA last season, but this season finished 14th in MLB.

For all the positives though, the Marlins still had weak spots that will need to be addressed to transform this team into a playoff team next year. Here are 4 things that will need to be improved:

1. The team’s defense was atrocious at times this season. Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu, and Mike Jacobs were among the worst in MLB at fielding their position. The team as a whole was 2nd to last in fielding percentage.

2. This team couldn’t get over hump. On July 20th the Fish were within 1/2 game of the NL East lead, but after falling out of the race for Manny Ramirez, the Marlins bats went cold in August and the Fish played themselves out of the playoff race with a terrible month of August.

3. The Marlins blew too many late leads. Even though Kevin Gregg was removed as closer in favor of Matt Lindstrom, the damage had been done. Gregg tied for the lead in the majors with 9 blown saves on the season, to go with 8 losses he picked up as well. Lindstrom took over at the end of the season and was an improvement, time will tell though if he can be durable throughout an entire season as closer.

4. Marlins batters created as much wind in South Florida as the hurricane season did. The Fish were 1st in MLB as a team with 1,371 Ks, 100 Ks higher than the next closest team. 6 Marlins’ batters finished with more than 100Ks each and a 7th was on his way were it not for 2 months out of the game.

Perhaps an extra weakness the team has is ownership. Jeffrey Loria should be ashamed of his cheapness, his payroll of just over $20 million was far and away the lowest in baseball. Alex Rodriguez makes in one season what the whole Marlins team makes in a year. Loria ,however, now has his coveted new stadium and promised to spend more money when a stadium was secured for the Marlins. Well mission accomplished, now pony up the dough Loria!

No team in baseball is ever perfect and every team has weaknesses that can be exploited. The true measure of a good team however is their ability to minimize their weakness and take advantage of their strengths. In the end many good things happened to the Marlins this season, good record, strong performance, and hey, we’ve got a new stadium coming our way in 2011. The future is bright for this team, stick around to see what happens!

On the final weekend of 2007, the New York Mets were holding onto slim hopes of entering the playoffs as the winners of the NL East division, all they had to do was beat the Florida Marlins. The Mets of course lost to the Marlins and missed the playoffs, capping one of the most unbelievable collapses in baseball having blown a 7 game division lead with 17 games to go.

This season despite confident comments from the Mets, it appeared as though they were en route to another collapse that would result in missing the playoffs again. Again this year the Mets welcomed the Marlins to Shea Stadium for 3 games to finish the season, their playoff hopes on the line. The Marlins beat the Mets Friday night, but Santana and the Mets bested the Marlins Saturday setting up a crucial final game on Sunday. If a shot at the playoffs weren’t enough motivation for the Mets, they were closing down Shea Stadium after 44 years.

None of that was enough however as the Marlins defeated the Mets 4-2 on Sunday, which combined with a 3-1 Milwaukee victory over Chicago left the Mets on the outside again, victims of their own inability to finish what they started. Scott Olsen saved his best for the end of the season, pitching 6 innings and allowing only 3H and 2ER while striking out 4. The Marlins had squandered a 2-0 lead, until pinch hitter Wes Helms hit a solo home run in the 8th and Dan Uggla hit another on the next pitch to put the Marlins ahead for good 4-2.

The Mets got a quality start from Oliver Perez who was pitching on short rest going 5 1/3 innings, but eventually handing the game over to the Mets awful bullpen and the game was sealed up from there by the Fish. The Mets again proved pitiful when the season matter most. They folded it in earlier this season, many believe in an attempt to get former manager Willie Randolph fired, but turned it around after the All Star break. In September though, when playoff spots are won and lost, the Mets fell apart again. All they had to do was sweep the Marlins, AT HOME, and they would have been in the playoffs. Instead the Mets sputtered their way through the month and in the end got what they deserved, time off in October to ponder all they lost and question their ability as a team.

The Marlins victory will be their last at Shea Stadium. Shea, the Mets home since 1964, will be torn down as next season the Mets will be moving into their brand new $850 million home at Citi Field. After 44 years as the home of the Mets, Shea Stadium was closed out on back to back years by the Marlins beating the Mets to keep them out of the playoffs. Shea was the 5th oldest stadium in MLB behind Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, and Fenway Park.

As for the Marlins, they take a positive note into their offseason. The Marlins finish the season 84-77 and have a very bright future. We saw in the past 2 weeks that the future of the Marlins lies quite securely in the hands of Cameron Maybin, Hanley Ramirez, Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson, and others. It is far too early, the 2008 season only over for 2 hours, to make predictions for 2009, but don’t be fooled…the Marlins are in good hands and with a few additions can and should be consider contenders in the NL East for 2009.

With their season and playoff hopes on the line, the New York Mets welcomed the Florida Marlins to Shea Stadium for a final 3 game series in the 2008 season. Last season it was the Marlins who finished off the Mets September collapse and knocked them from the playoffs. Well the Fish are back and hungry for more!

Friday night the Marlins went to Shea to face the Mets and Mike “The Mouth” Pelfrey. Pelfrey may wish he’d never talked smack about the Marlins back in August as it came back to bite him and his teammates in the ass tonight. Pelfrey lost for the 4th time this season against the Marlins, he is 0-4 in 5 starts this season against Florida.

The Marlins didn’t wait long to get after Pelfrey, they had a run in before Pelfrey had thrown his 5th pitch. Hanley Ramirez led off with a single, stole 2nd, and scored 2 pitches later on a John Baker single. Marlins’ rookie Chris Volstad went 6 strong innings allowing 5H, 1R(0ER), and striking out 4.

The loss dropped the Mets 2 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and 1 game behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card. The Mets found themselves blowing a large division lead last year to miss the playoffs. This year the Mets are in the midst of a similar swoon and the Marlins again enter the fray with 3 games left to go, 3 games in New York, and the Marlins are not shying away from having the stated goal of keeping the Mets out of the playoffs. Last week manager Fredi Gonzalez said that even though the Marlins are out of the playoff picture, he will not rest any starters in the final series of the season.

I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed, like most of America probably, in hopes that the Marlins can again spoil the party for the overrated Mets. A spot in October should be reserved for teams with the fortitude and determination to overcome adversity. The Mets lack most if not all of the qualities of a playoff team, they quit on their manager Willie Randolph (who wasn’t the one on the field underachieving), and they whined that they weren’t to blame. Here’s hoping the Marlins can crash the party again and keep the Mets out of the playoffs.

Well, the possibility of the playoffs has disappeared for the Marlins, but their manhood has not. Even when there is no grand prize to fight for, there are small victories still to be won, like not losing any more games to the 99 loss Washington Nationals. Josh Johnson pitched the Marlins past the Nationals Wednesday night for a 9-4 victory and improving his record to 7-1.

Johnson pitched 6 innings giving up 2ER. The night belonged to the Marlins’ future stars however as Cameron Maybin and Gaby Sanchez got starts in Wednesday nights game and drove the offense for the Marlins. Maybin went 3 for 3 on the evening and scoring a run before being removed from the game with an injury. Sanchez, making his first start for the Marlins, went 3 for 5 with an RBI.

With the victory tonight, the Marlins are assured of a winning record for the 2008 season, their 5th winning record in the franchises 16 year history. A winning season this year would be their first since 2005. As we saw Wednesday night, Marlins fans can hopefully get used to several winning seasons in a row after this season. Even if the Marlins should lose Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, and/or Jorge Cantu, we saw that with Cameron Maybin and Gaby Sanchez joining Hanley Ramirez, Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, and Chris Volstad the Fish have the ability to contend in the near future. A successful finish to this season can be rolled over into next season and beyond.

Well, it would have been nice to see the Marlins keep some drama in their season, keep a sense of anticipation. Tuesday night the Marlins were officially eliminated from the playoffs by the hapless Washington Nationals. A team just trying to avoid 100 losses on the season brought an early end, though an end that we all knew somewhere in the back of our minds would soon come, to the Marlins hunt for a playoff spot. The loss extends the Marlins current losing streak to 4 games.

Scott Olsen could not continue his recent good form, and in fact reverted to his previous shaky self. Olsen went 5 innings giving up 8H and allowing 4R(3ER) to the Nats. Olsen left the game with his team down 4-2. The Marlins hung around until Eulogio De La Cruz was brought in to pitch. De La Cruz lasted 1 2/3 innings giving up 4H and 4ER and effectively putting the game out of reach.

When the day is done, it was an outcome (the playoff elimination, not the loss) that we all knew was likely. The Mets did not lose, and the Marlins still had the Astros and Brewers in front of them to surpass as well. We all hoped the team could get hot and at least keep things interesting until the last day, but perhaps this is a good thing. Tonight was further proof that though talented, perhaps this team was not meant for the playoffs. Time and time again as the season wore on, the Marlins failed to perform at their best in pressure situations. As much as I’d prefer to have the Fish in the playoffs, I would hate for them to make the playoffs only to be swept out in the first round.

So my hat is off to the Marlins on a successful season. We found out what our young team was made of, what they could accomplish and what they could not. Lets hope they can finish strong this season and take a positive note into their offseason and come out firing next season.

Oh what could have been. Friday night things were looking good for the Marlins. They had kept their winning streak alive, defeating the NL East leading Philadelphia Phillies 14-8. Then the Marlins playoff chase came crashing back to Earth. Heartbreaking losses to the Phillies on Saturday and Sunday (3-2 & 5-2), compounded by today’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds (7-5 after blowing a 4-0 lead) in a make-up game has left the Marlins on a 3 game losing streak.

The Marlins are all but eliminated from the NL East pennant race as they are now 7 games out of 1st place in the division. The Wild Card just got near impossible to achieve as well. The only thing working in the Marlins favor during their current losing streak is the continued mediocre play by the Wild Card leading New York Mets who have lost 2 in a row, leaving the Marlins 5 1/2 games out of the Wild Card spot.

The Marlins have 6 games left in the 2008 season, 3 games at Washington and 3 games at the Mets. Theoretically the Wild Card is not out of the question, but the Marlins must sweep their remaining 6 games to even have a shot. In addition to a 6 game win streak, the Marlins need the Mets to be swept by the Chicago Cubs and then sweep the Mets themselves. There are also the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros in front of the Fish. It is possible, though not likely the Fish (with a 6 game win streak) could surpass the Brewers who face the Pirates and then Cubs. As for the Astros, they finish against Cincinnati and Atlanta.

The reality is though, the Marlins are more or less finished. The Chicago Cubs have locked up a playoff spot so are not likely to be playing their top talent, making it unlikely the Mets and Brewers will be swept in their meetings with the Cubs. It is also not a good thing when your playoff hopes rest on Pittsburgh actually winning baseball games. My advice, break out the Teal and Black, wear your jerseys, caps, and tshirts and cheer on your team for their final 6 games and hope they can make it interesting anyway. Then enjoy another South Florida winter and await the boys of summer when they return next March.

All good things must indeed come to an end. The Marlins are nearing the end of what has been a fantastic season for the team and its fans, but that too (playoffs or no playoffs) will eventually come to an end. Like all those things, the Marlins win streak was bound to come to an end at some point as well, that time came Saturday evening in a 3-2 loss to the Phillies.

The Marlins bats were uncharacteristically, at least as of late, quiet this evening and the Marlins 9 game win streak came to an end in front of 28,757 fans at Dolphin Stadium. Anibal Sanchez went 5 2/3 innings giving up 4H, 3R(2ER), and struck out 8. It was a solid outing for Sanchez, but again he was denied a victory. On fire rookie Cameron Maybin came back down to Earth going 1-5, scoring a run, but striking out 4 times.

Just like the win streak wasn’t able to fully get the Marlins back into the playoff picture, tonights loss doesn’t really count them out. All it does is make the next week, the final week, that much more critical for the Marlins. In all reality the Marlins have to win their last 8 games, and probably get some help, to make the playoffs. Aside from a long losing streak by the Phillies AND Mets, the NL East pennant will again elude the Fish. After losing tonight, they are 5 1/2 games back. The NL Wild Card however is still a possibility. The Brewers continue their slump, and the Mets currently hold the lead but the Marlins are 5 games back and the Mets are not playing their best baseball.

One last interesting note from the game was the attendance of 28,757. As the Marlins kept extending their win streak, the attendance numbers went up and up with each victory. I think some of the Florida fans still need a lesson in supporting their team. Florida fans don’t seem to fully appreciate what they have. In 16 years of existence the Marlins have won 2 World Series titles, the Cubs haven’t won even 1 World Series in the past 100 years. It shouldn’t take a win streak to convince South Florida residents that the Marlins are worth watching. Granted, there have been some BAD Marlins’ teams in those 16 years, but not recently. The Marlins have been competitive for part or all of each of the past 5 seasons and have been this season as well. So get out to the ballpark, now and in the future, and cheer on your team!

How ’bout them Fish?! Friday night the Marlins extended their hot streak, defeating the NL East leading Philadelphia Phillies in a wild one 14-8. The win ties a Marlins franchise record, set in 2006, of 9 consecutive victories. The team’s run of good form lately has made them a playoff contender again and is forcing the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies to exert their full energy to the last day in order to secure themselves a spot in the playoffs.

The Fish again jumped on a starting pitcher early and inevitably chased him from the game. Tonight the Fish chased Phillies’ starter Brett Myers in the 5th inning with no one out, Myers had given up 10ER by that point. The Marlins fell behind in the 1st inning 2-0 but quickly erased the deficit and jumped ahead 5-2. The Marlins remained in front until the 5th inning when the Phillies scored 2 runs to go ahead 6-5, but the lead didn’t last. Florida put up 6 runs in the bottom of the 5th to go ahead for good.

Rookie Cameron Maybin was on fire again tonight going 4-5, scoring 3 runs and stealing 2 bases. Maybin tied a franchise record by reaching base in 10 consecutive plate appearances. Josh Johnson got the win despite going 5 innings and giving up 7H and 5ER while striking out 7. Johnson improved his record to 6-1. Jorge Cantu went 3-5 with 2RBIs and knocked his 29th homerun of the season tonight. One more for Cantu, and all 4 of the Marlins infielders will have 30 or more homeruns apiece.

Florida improved its record to 81-72 and altered the playoff picture in the National League. The New York Mets, with their victory over the Atlanta Braves, move back into 1st in the NL East, and the Phillies go back to leading the Wild Card race. Florida is now 5 games back of 1st in the NL East and 4 1/2 games back of the Wild Card.

While I keep my fingers crossed that the magic can continue for the Marlins, they do have a hill left to climb. They left themselves with precious little time to make this playoff run and perfection is the name of the game if they hope to make it to October. Stranger things have happened, the Phillies erased a 7 game deficit last year to take the NL East crown from the Mets. Even stranger, the Colorado Rockies finished last season winning 14 of 15 games (including a Wild Card tie breaker) to make the playoffs where they swept through the Divisional and Championship rounds to make the World Series. Stranger things have indeed happened, maybe this Marlins squad can be the next to make a memorable run.