Who Are Those Marlins?

You can tell the Florida Marlins had another "cleansing" this off-season when, behind Miguel Cabrera, Wes Helms and Pokey Reese, their most experienced batter is probably Dontrelle Willis. If Florida's fans like young players, this year should be their nirvana.

The Fan has to wonder how the loss of all those experienced players will affect Cabrera. The young star has improved every year in homers, runs batted it, average, on-base percentage and slugging and last year blossomed into a full-fledged star. Will anyone pitch to him this year? And if not, will Cabrera lose the patience that he has steadily gained over the past two years?

The Marlins have an incredible 17 rookies on their 40 man roster and eight others have three years of major league service or less. Two of those eight are viable stars in Willis and Cabrera. The rest are a collection of young players that are unproven. It could be a fun year for Marlin fans...or it could be a very long one.