Since 1997 only one National League East team has managed to win multiple World Series titles. That team is the Florida Marlins. Despite existing in a league that features the high spending New York Mets, the consistent Atlanta Braves, and the offensive juggernaut known as the Philadelphia Phillies, Florida has managed to remain competitive and successful.
The Florida Marlins are a remarkable story not because they win but because of how they win. The Florida Marlins operate with the knowledge of two incontrovertible facts. First, the team will not spend a tremendous amount of money in the free agent market or on payroll, period. Second, low attendance at home games does not present a financial problem due to league revenue sharing and a low payroll. Thus, it is possible to still make money as a business despite the fact that no one really wants to buy your product.
However, simply having a low payroll does not necessarily equal success. The key to the Marlins success is that the Marlins maintain the team’s low payroll by combining young players still playing out their rookie contracts and questionable veterans who are willing to play for short, minimum contracts. The inherent quality in both of these types of players is that they have the need to prove themselves. Young players know that the Marlins have no desire to pay top dollar for a valuable player, but the organization is more than willing to either flip that player for prospects or let the player leave during free agency and recoup draft picks. Thus, it is in the player’s personal interest to perform at his highest possible level to ensure continued, gainful employment as a professional baseball player. The same can be said about veteran players. Guys brought in on one or two year deals for about the league minimum know that if they want to continue playing and/or get paid more money, they have to take the opportunity given by the Marlins to show that they can produce.
For example, players such as Miguel Cabrera (traded to the Detroit Tigers, signed to 8yr/$153.5 million), Dontrelle Willis (traded to Detroit Tigers, signed for 3yr/$29 million), Josh Beckett (traded to Boston Red Sox, signed for 3yr/$30 million), Mike Lowell (traded to Boston Red Sox 3yr/$37.5 million), Cliff Floyd (traded to Expos for package of prospects including Carl Pavano), Luis Castillo (traded to Minnesota Twins, signed by New York Mets for 4yr/$25 million), Preston Wilson (traded to Colorado Rockies for Juan Pierre and Mike Hampton), and Derek Lee  (traded to Chicago Cubs, signed 5 yr/$65 million) all represent the Marlins’ plan to allow young players to develop and then trade them when they are at or near peak value. These players have then received more valuable contracts than the Marlins would have ever been willing to offer. In addition, players such as Ivan Rodriguez, Armando Benitez, and Todd Jones are examples of veterans who used their time as Marlins to procure more lucrative long-term deals.
Admittedly, the ability to continue to find successful and talented young players is vital for this type of organizational approach. However, to simply say that the Marlins have a talented scouting department dismisses the fact that when the Marlins trade talented players, they usually receive numerous prospects in return; thereby increasing the chance that at least one of those prospects will turn out to be talented. Prior to the 2002 season, the Marlins traded Matt Clement and Antonio Alfonseca to the Chicago Cubs for Julian Tavarez, Dontrelle Willis, Jose Cueto, and Ryan Jorgensen. Only Dontrelle Willis developed into an upper echelon player, albeit for a limited amount of time. Further, that same season, Cliff Floyd was traded back to the Expos for Carl Pavano, Justin Wayne, Mike Mordecai, Graeme Lloyd, Don Levinski, and Wilton Guerrero. Ryan Dempster was also traded for Juan Encarnacion and Ryan Snare. The point of this is to demonstrate that the Marlins turned 4 players into 12 players, but only two or three of those players turned out to be valuable. By trading valuable young talent at the right time, the Marlins were able to increase the quality and quantity of the talent they received in return, thus minimizing the impact of failed prospects.
This is one of the reasons that differentiate the Marlins from the Royals, Pirates, and Orioles. These organizations wring their hands when it comes to trading players away for fear of angering their fanbase. Thus, players are held onto longer and the team loses leverage when dealing with other teams. Another major reason these organizations have not found the success that the Marlins have is that they attempt to sign high priced free agents to give hope to their beleaguered fan bases. Without analyzing the moves of each organization, suffice to say that by paying someone drastically more than the rest of your team does not fuel the players desire to prove themselves, but rather creates questions like, “If they have the money to pay Player X, why am I not getting mine?” Not to mention that by allocating valuable resources of a small market team into such a limited asset the organization is prevented from investing throughout the team. Lastly, the Marlins traditionally do not trade for established talent by giving up prospects but vice versa. This way, the farm system of the Marlins is constantly infused with young players.
Now, this is not to say that the Marlins have not signed a high priced free agent, ex. Carlos Delgado, or that they will trade away every promising player. It is simply a unique organizational approach that may or may not change with the building of a new stadium and higher expectations. Thus, it should come as no surprise when the Marlins find success despite a meager payroll. Its not that the Marlins win, but how they win that makes them an organization that should be emulated by small market teams in both the National and American leagues.

After being swept in four games by the Cubs on Sunday, the Nationals designated Julian Tavarez for assignment according to the Nationals Journal in the Washington Post.  He will be replaced by Logan Kensing from AAA Syracuse.

Phillips propels Reds

Brandon Phillips helped the Reds try to put a demoralizing loss on Monday behind them.  Phillips went 2-3 with three RBI, two runs scored and even had a key sacrifice in the ninth inning to lead the Reds to a 4-3 win in Philly.  Ageless David Weathers(1-1) got the win while pitching a scoreless bottom of the eighth only allowing a walk and Francisco Cordero worked the ninth for his 21st save of the year.

The Phillies had an early 3-0 lead in this game on two home runs by Howard and Werth and a double by Chase Utley, but squandered the lead by the sixth inning.  Brad Lidge(0-4) took the loss in the ninth while giving up two hits and a walk after having a great weekend versus the Mets.  The two teams play game three of a four game set tonight in Philly.  Check out Phillies Phandom to get more insight on the defending champs.

Josh Johnson with only his 2nd loss

Josh Johnson fell victim to a classic Barry Zito gem last night in San Francisco, which we haven’t seen much since he signed with the Giants.  Barry Zito(5-8) worked until one out in the ninth inning before being pulled while pitching a shutout and only allowing four hits and a walk to the Marlins in a 3-0 victory.  After Brian Wilson had a tough outing on Monday night, Sergio Romo worked the ninth to receive his first save of the year for the Giants.

Josh Johnson(7-2) worked seven strong innings but three runs, two on a home run by Juan Uribe in the fifth inning sent him to only his second loss of the season.  The Marlins offense sputtered off a San Francisco starter for the second straight game and this was the second straight game without all-star Hanley Ramirez.  The Marlins will look to salvage a game of the series tonight in San Francisco with Chris Volstad taking on Ryan Sadowski.

Vazquz pitches the Braves to a win

Javier Vazquez must have heard the rumors that some teams were looking into trading for him this week.  He responded by proving he wants to be a Brave, or auditioning for other teams, depending on how you want to look at it.  Vazquez(6-7) went seven innings only allowing five hits and a single earned run while the Braves beat the Cubs 2-1 on Tuesday night.  Rafael Soriano worked the ninth for his ninth save while Mike Gonzalez worked the eighth to get his eighth holf of the season.  Brian McCann provided all of the offense for the Braves with a run scoring single in the first and a run scoring double in the third inning.  For more info on the Braves, check out The Braves Baseball Blog.

Carlos Zambrano(4-4) pitched on short rest after a terrible outing and went six strong innings only giving up those two runs, but his offense couldn’t help him out on this night.  Koyie Hill got the only RBI for the Cubs while driving in Michael Hoffpauir in the second inning.

The series finale will be a matinee game in Chicago, starting at 2:20PM EST today.

Pelf can't do it again

In what appears to be a normal occurance these days for the Mets, they did not score any runs.  The Mets were shutout for the second straight game by the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers 8-0.  Mike Pelfrey allowed three in the second and two more in the fourth before being pulled for the game.  The Mets bats managed only four hits against Dodger pitching in the game as well.  Newly demoted to the bullpen Tim Redding even gave up a solo home run in his two innings of bullpen work on this day.  Check out The Real Dirty Mets Blog if you want more Mets information.

Young lefty Clayton Kershaw(6-5) went six strong innings and only allowed three hits and two walks while striking out seven batters in getting the win.  Manny Ramirez contributed three RBI in the first four innings, but was thrown out of the game in the fifth after striking out for the second time.

The two teams match back up tonight with Oliver Perez making his first start since May for the Mets.

Tavarez takes the loss...again

The Nationals ruined a golden chance to steal one from the Rockies in Colorado last night with sloppy defense.  The Natioanls made three errors including one in the eighth that led to the winning run scoring on a sacrifice fly for the Rockies, leading them to a 5-4 win.  Julian Tavarez(3-7) got the loss while only allowing two walks in one third of an inning, Joe Beimel relieved him and helped the Rockies with a throwing error.  Rookie Jordan Zimmermann only went four innings in this game while giving up two earned runs and four total, but throwing 94 pitches.  CenterfieldGate has all the Nats info you need.

Clint Barmes got the final two RBI for the Rockies to send them to the win over the Nats last night.  39 year old Alan Embree(2-2) worked one third of an innings for the win and Huston Street got his 21st save of the season and second in a row.  The series finale is at 3:10PM EST today with Detwiler facing De La Rosa.

Jurrjens loses no-no in the 7th

Wednesday night was another tough one for the Phillies, but it was almost a whole lot worse for them as Jair Jurrjens(6-6) of the Braves went seven innings while only giving up a single hit, in his last inning of work.  He had the no hitter going into the seventh despite giving up an unearned run in the fourth inning on the way to one of his best pitched games in his short career.  The Braves supported him with plenty of offense starting in the fourth inning with Tuesday night’s hero Martin Prado getting two RBI and scoring a run in the third inning, and adding another two runs scored later in the game.  The Braves racked up seven runs on nine hits against Philly ace Cole Hamels(4-5) and got fourteen hits and eleven runs overall in winning the game 11-1.  Additional Braves information can be found at The Braves Baseball Blog.

There wasn’t much going for the Phillies on this night both on the offensive and defensive side of the game.  Cole Hamels couldn’t get through the fifth inning and the only reliever to pitch a perfect inning was Sergio Escalona in the seventh.  Greg Dobbs hit a sacrifice fly to get the only run in and struggling Shortstop Jimmy Rollins went 0-3 again and is now only batting .205 for the season.  To get more news and info on the Phillies, be sure to check out our new Phillies Phandom Blog here at NLEC.

The two teams meet again tonight at 7PM with the Phillies sending J.A. Happ to the hill against Javier Vazquez as the Phillies try to avoid a sweep and keep their divisional lead over the Marlins.

Marlins sweep the Nats

On a day when Marlins ace Josh Johnson didn’t have his best stuff, the Marlins offense was able to pick him up.  Josh Johnson was only able to last one out into the fourth inning, giving up five hits and four walks but surprisingly only one earned run.  The Marlins offense got him off the hook, but relief pitching almost gave the game right back to the Nationals when Renyel Pinto blew a save in the seventh inning.  Late in the game though, the Marlins offense was able to come through against the Nationals reliever Julian Tavarez(3-6) who gave up two runs without recording an out in the eighth inning taking the loss.  Dan Meyer(2-0) worked the final two outs of the eighth for the Marlins and Leo Nunez worked a perfect ninth to get his fourth save of the season.  Hanley Ramirez was able to record his 10th straight game with an RBI when he doubled in Chris Coghlan and Emilio Bonifacio home in the third inning of this game.

One of the bright spots for the Nationals in this game was that young pitcher Jordan Zimmermann pitched another quality game, going six innings giving up only six hits and two earned runs while striking out six in the no decision.  He also drove in a run in the first inning with a single.  You can get more Nationals info over at CenterfieldGate.

Both teams have the day off on Thursday and check back tomorrow for their series preview of the weekend as the Marlins welcome in the Pirates and the Nationals return home for the Braves to come in.

Pelf balked, but it didn't cost him!

Mike Pelfrey(6-3) was exactly what the Mets needed yesterday, going 7.2 Innings of shutout ball against the power hitting Milwaukee Brewers yesterday.  A day after the Mets had a closed door 25 minute meeting and all were required to get on the bus to the park, it was must win game for them.  The final score of the game was 1-0 on a Ryan Church single, scoring Luis Castillo from second base in the top of the sixth inning.  Francisco Rodriguez came in and got the save in the ninth for the Mets while only allowing one hit for his 21st save of the season.  Pelfrey even balked during the game, but thanks for a base running error by Prince Fielder, it did not cost him a run.  Get more Mets news and info at The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

Yovani Gallardo pitched another gem against the Mets, but gave up the single run in seven innings.  He had twelve strikeouts during those innings only allowing five hits and two walks, but is now 0-1 against the Mets this year in two sterlings starts.

The Mets head to Pittsburgh for one game this afternoon as Tim Redding will hope to get the Mets on a streak before a matchup with their rival Phillies this weekend in Philadelphia.

Chase Utley hits his 16th of the season

The Phillies got back on track temporarily reliving some World Series magic in Tampa.  Helped by home runs by rookie John Mayberry and Chase Utley and innings of 6 and 4 runs, they broke their 6 game losing streak.  Phenom David Price(1-2) worked 4.1 very tough innings giving up 7 hits and 10 runs, but only 5 earned runs because of errors behind him.  The ageless wonder Jamie Moyer(5-6) worked 6 solid innings to get the win in this game.  The Phillies will hope to continue their road success tonight with Joe Blanton taking the mound against the Rays’ Matt Garza at 7:08PM.

Joel Pineiro helps with his bat too

The Mets injuries may have finally caught up to them, either that or Joel Pineiro is making a bid for the Cy Young by playing the Mets for all his starts.  Joel Pineiro(6-8) pitched a complete game shutout of the Mets, while only allowing 2 hits, one walk and one hit by pitch, while going 2 for 4 at the plate and scoring what turned out to be the only run that mattered for the Cardinals.  Pineiro is now 2-0 against the Mets this season with only 2 earned runs allowed in 17 innings pitched.  Livan Hernandez took a tough loss for the Mets, going 7 innings and giving up 3 runs, 2 earned on 8 hits, and 3 walks.  The series continues tonight with Brad Thompson taking on Fernando Nieve at 7:10pm.  Head to The Real Dirty Mets Blog for more information.

Jorge Cantu celebrates with Bonifacio

The Marlins have now won 3 of their past 4 games after Jorge Cantu singled home the games winning run in the 12th inning of a 7-6 win against the Baltimore Orioles.  Matt Lindstrom should be buying Cantu a steak dinner, as he was rescued from headlines after he gave up 3 runs in just 0.2 innings pitched as the Orioles got 5 straight hits to tie the game in the 9th.  The actual blown save was credited to Brian Sanches, but the runs were all charged to Lindstrom.  Burke Badenhop(5-2) got the win in relief,  and Brian Bass(4-2) took the loss for the Orioles who lost for the first time in their last 6 games.  The Orioles will try to rebound and continue their hot play sending Jason Berken to the mound against Ricky Nolasco tonight in South Florida.

McCann has a big night

Brian McCann had a big night against the New York Yankees last night in Atlanta with 3 hits and 2 RBI including a solo home run in the 8th inning.  Braves rookie phenom Tommy Hanson also appears to be living up to the hype as he won his third straight decision and stayed undefeated.  Hanson(3-0) went 5.1 IP and only gave up 4 hits, but walked 5 and struck out 4 while Chien-Ming Wang(0-6) lasted 5 innings giving up 6 hits and 3 earned runs and a walk, his ERA is down to 11.20.  The Yankees will send Joba Chamberlain to the mound against Kenshin Kawakami tonight in hopes of ending their 6 game losing streak.  The Braves Baseball Blog should be the next place you visit for more Braves info.

Another solid start for Lannon

John Lannon put together another solid start against a tough AL East opponent last night, but this time it wasn’t enough.  John Lannon put together 6.1 IP and only gave up 3 runs on 9 hits and left with a no decision against the Boston Red Sox last night.  Unfortunately the Nationals bullpen gave up 8 runs in the final 2.2 innings and it handed the Nationals an 11-3 loss.  Julian Tavarez(3-5) was charged with the loss while giving up a run on one hit and a walk while only recording one out.  Manny Delcarmen(2-1) got the win in relief for the Sox also in only 1/3rd of an inning.  The two teams match up tonight with Jon Lester facing off against Craig Stammen.  Check out CenterfieldGate for more information about the Nationals.

Howard Hits a 3 run home run

6-20-09:In the 7th inning on Saturday night, Ryan Howard hit a pinch hit three run home run off Oriole reliever Danys Baez after being hospitalized with flu symptoms.  It looked like Philly may have finally found the magic they had in 2008, but this was before the 9th inning.  Still filling in as the closer for Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson(2-3) blew yet another save while giving up a solo home run to Greg Zaun and a 2 run shot to Brian Roberts which proved to be the game winner.  Mark Hendrickson(2-4) pitched the final 2 outs of the 8th and got the win while George Sherill pitched a perfect 9th for his 14th save.

Brian Roberts hurts the Phils again

6-21-09: Sunday did not bring much relief for the Phillies and their home woes.  Cole Hamels(4-3) was the victim of a lack of offense as he went 8 strong innings, giving up only 2 runs on 9 hits including 10 strike outs.  Jeremy Guthrie(5-7) was just a bit better, going 7 strong innings only giving up 3 hits, one being a solo home run and the only run he surrendered for the win.  The phaithful have resorted to booing 2007 MVP Jimmy Rollins.  The Phillies have now lost 8 of their last 9 and will be happy to travel to Tampa Bay for a World Series rematch this week.

Mets fans have that same look

6-20-09: Johan Santana(8-5) pitched 7.1 innings on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Citi Field, giving up only 2 runs.  The problem was that James Shields(6-5) went 7 innings while only giving up one run, including setting down his final 14 who faced him on route to the win.  The Mets can be happy that Santana had a nice bounce back start, but it is bittersweet since they still lost the game 3-1.  J.P. Howell got his 4th save in the 9th inning of the game.

Schneider with another 3 run HR

6-21-09: On Sunday, The Mets offense came to play, the problem was that the pitching decided to stay home.  Seven Mets pitchers stumbled through the game, giving up leads two separate times en route to a 10-6 loss.  The loss gets pinned on Bobby Parnell(2-3) who looks to be worn out lately after a blazing start to the season.  The Rays relief pitching wasn’t up to par either, but the hitting bailed them out.  Joe Nelson(2-0) got the win while giving up an earned run on a 3 run home run to Schneider in the 6th with two men on.  The Mets will now welcome in the NL Central Division leading Cardinals for a four game set.  For all Mets info, visit The Real Dirty Mets Blog.

Josh Johnson stifles another NY team

6-20-09: The Marlins rebounded from a loss to the empire on Friday night with a lights out performance from Josh Johnson.  Johnson(7-1) went 7 innings giving up just 3 hits in earning another victory against a team hailing from New York.  A.J. Burnett(5-4) was hurt by bad play in the field by Johnny Damon and was collared with a tough loss.  Matt Lindstrom worked the 9th inning on only 6 pitches for his 13th save of the season.

Girardi argues a double switch

6-21-09: Sunday brought another 35,827 (Yankee) fans to Land Shark Stadium in Florida, hoping to see their former home town Yankees win with the ace on the mound.  They saw nothing like that, including Sabathia leaving after only 1.1 IP and giving up 1 earned run with tightness in his left biceps.  The bullpen managed to piece it together pretty well for the rest of the game, except for Brett Tomko(0-2) who gave up 3 runs in two innings to take the loss.  The Marlins and starter Chris Volstad(5-7) who got the win, took advantage of a rough day for Yankee pitching and took 2 out of 3 this weekend.  Matt Lindstrom got his 14th save of the season, but he left the tying and go ahead runs on base when Derek Jeter made the final out.  The Yankees are protesting the game though because of a lineup mixup in the 8th inning, so we will keep an eye on that, odds are nothing changes.  The Marlins will welcome in the suddenly hot Orioles to Miami this weekend, after the O’s have won 5 in a row against the Mets and Phillies.

Lowe gets a nice ovation, and a loss

6-20-09: Fresh off a great start by Kawakami on Friday night, the Braves hoped to have another top notch performance by their ace, Derek Lowe.  Unfortunately, they saw another masterful performance by a former NL East foe, Josh Beckett.  Josh Beckett(8-3) continued his resurgence this season with a complete game 5-hit shutout of the Braves on Saturday night while striking out 7 and giving up 11 hits.  Derek Lowe pitched into the seventh inning while being charged with all 3 runs but received a great ovation by the Boston faithful when he left the mound.

Bobby Cox gets tossed...again

6-21-09: Sunday brought a common site to Brave fans, as Bobby Cox was tossed yet again.  The Boston Red Sox won in walk off fashion on a Nick Green hit an unexpected home run in the bottom of the 9th.  Jonathan Papelbon(1-1) got the win in teh back and forth game, as Braves reliever Jeff Bennett(2-4) gave up the homerun to Green for the loss.  The tough loss gave the Red Sox the series victory and the Braves missed another chance to gain ground on both the Mets and the Phillies in the NL East.  The Braves return home to face the Yankees on Tuesday night, and visit The Braves Baseball Blog for more Braves news and info

Alberto Gonzalez reacts to another walk off

6-20-09: The Washington Nationals are getting used to this walk off thing and this winning thing!  The Nats won their second straight game in walk off fashion and the fourth overall.  In the bottom of the 12th inning, after failing to move Alberto Gonzalez over on a sacrifice bunt, Willie Harris decided to end the game himself.  Harris hit his 2nd home run of the year, and sent Scott Richmond(5-4) to the loss in the 12th inning.  Julian Tavarez (3-4) got the win after pitching 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for the Nationals.

Acta is still the manager!

6-21-09: Over a week after reports surfaced that his job was in jeopardy, Manny Acta was managing and going for a series sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays at home.  He should just be glad he still has a job, as the Blue Jays were able to manage a win and avoid the sweep of the last place Nationals.   Behind 9 runs and 5 RBI from Lyle Overbay, Ricky Romero(4-3) got the win on 7 strong innings of 2 run ball.  Nationals rookie Sharon Martis(5-2) took only his second loss of the year, despite an ERA over 5.  The Nats welcome in another big task as the Boston Red Sox come to town this Tuesday night.  Check out CenterfieldGate for more information on the Nats.

For more information on the National League East this week, stop back for the NL East Series preview later today.