'What Joe Girardi's boys have done over the past five weeks has been nothing short of remarkable... Now the question becomes what is Marlins management going to do about it?
'Should the Marlins continue to ride the kids as long as they can and see just how many games a $15 million collection of scrappers can win? Or should Jeffrey Loria follow his own playbook and not only hold Dontrelle Willis but add a piece or two to the mix, even if it costs a couple of prospects and boosts the payroll?...
'(I)t is intriguing to consider what they might be able to accomplish with a few choice additions to an impressive young core.
'Of the eight teams ahead of the Marlins in the wild-card standings, just two have better run differentials. And the Padres (plus-9) and Giants (plus-5) were hardly blowing away the Marlins (plus-3). America hasn't seen this much mediocrity under one heading since the Backstreet Boys' farewell tour.
'This is also the first year of testing for amphetamines, which means youth should be served even more than usual once the dog days arrive.
'There's also the Marlins' farm system, which is rolling out top arms the way Honda does hybrids. Yankee-killer Anibal Sanchez is the latest, and more are on the way.
'But first, the Marlins should step up their search for an upgrade in center field, where their production ranks 13th in the league and they recently passed on Joey Gathright after an earlier flirtation...
'For some reason they have not used slugging Joe Borchard, who came up through the White Sox system as a center fielder and said Monday he is "very comfortable" at the position.' (SunSentinel)
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