Florida Marlins

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The trade deadline (July 31) is closing in fast and still, the Marlins haven’t expressed their intentions. They are eight games back in the division trailing the Braves, Mets, and Phillies and six games back in the wild-card race trailing seven teams.

They embody mediocrity. As of Sunday afternoon, they stand with a 49-49 record and have major league rankings of 12th in ERA and 20th in batting average.

Josh Johnson makes history each time he takes the mound.

Since he plays for the Florida Marlins, however, media outlets fail to mention him in the NL Cy Young race as often as Ubaldo Jimenez and Adam Wainwright.

Jimenez, whose 15-2 record comes thanks to a hot start in April and May, fares much better with his team's run support.

Over his first 17 starts, the Colorado Rockies pitcher went 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA. In Jimenez's last six starts, he is 2-1 with a 7.64 ERA.

About a week ago, it may not have seemed as though the Florida Marlins had much life left in them. They were four games under .500 and seven out of the Wild Card lead with a losing series away from becoming instant sellers at the trade deadline.
Flash forward a week later, surprise! The Marlins have reached their first goal of getting to .500 now comes the Wild Card.

The Yankees have had scouts watching the Marlins lately as the two teams have discussed a couple of players, but OF Cody Ross is one name that keeps coming up in the papers.

As the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline approaches, the question is, will the Marlins ultimately become buyers or sellers? The team is currently 10.5 games out of first place in the National League East Division with the Braves, Mets, and Phillies ahead of them.

Fredi Gonzalez is gone, but the Florida Marlins keep losing ground.

As the Atlanta Braves slowly walk away with the National League East, the Fish remain 10 games out of first, and four games below .500.

With the Midsummer Classic in a few days, Larry Beinfest and Co. must decide whether to become a buyer or seller.

Can the team pull off a win streak and stay in the race?

At this point in time, it appears to be the latter.

I've been thinking about writing some MLB articles, and this is the first one of what I hope to be many.

So far this MLB season, when I hear about the best pitchers in the game, I hear about Roy Halladay (Phillies), Johan Santana (Mets), Felix Hernandez, and Cliff Lee (Mariners), but let me bring up the guy who I think is the best pitcher in baseball, Josh Johnson.

Don't get me wrong.

Ubaldo Jimenez' no-hitter counts for something. So do his major league-leading 14 wins. Same goes for Roy Halladay's perfect game and major league-leading seven complete games.

But the pitcher who deserves the starting nod for the National League All-Star team plays for the Florida Marlins.

That's right, the same team that rarely captures national attention unless the manager gets fired or it trades away a star player. 

As we reach the midpoint of the season, the Florida Marlins have put themselves in an awkward position.

They are currently 38-43, fourth in the NL East division, and 9.5 games out of first place.

The record they have leaves them in a selling position, or does it?

Before we declare the Marlins sellers at this point in the season, we must ask ourselves these two questions:

Is the offense producing?

Yes.

Are the starting pitchers going deep into games?

Yes.