So, the Marlins pulled the trigger on a trade – with another familiar franchise the Boston Red Sox. In return, the Marlins received Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez, both lefties from the Red Sox farm system.

After making 2.2M this past season, Hermida was up for arbitration and could stand to make more money heading into 2010. Not a valuable move for the Fish considering they have options for the outfield position. Perhaps the Marlins will keep Cody Ross around as a result; they could just go with Brett Carroll who has shown great defensive prowess as well as grit on offense.

This is a move about the future though. Hermida was not going to be a part of it. It is debateable what role Jones and Alvarez play though, too. Still, this is a typical Beinfest move – get pitching in return to continue to build up the assets you have on hand.

With young talent like Josh Johnson, Andrew Miller, Chris Volstad, and Sean West all standing over 6′7″, there is a high ceiling for these pitchers. Mark Wiley has been a steady hand – he was able to reshape Dontrelle Willis’ career and it was evident that his touch was needed for this Marlins’ staff after the Joe Girardi era ended with dumping Rick Kranitz on our hands for another year. So, Wiley came back and the Marlins pitching staff took some steps forward. This season, however, it seemed that Wiley had run his course despite the Marlins finishing 2nd in the NL East (87-75) with the lowest payroll in baseball. Wiley was shocked seeing as the team had performed well, but he did leave a clue about why he may have been dismissed:

“I felt like I did what I could do. I felt like I didn’t want to put too much pressure on young kids early in their career.”

Perhaps there wasn’t enough accountability on the young pitchers? Volstad did allow far too many home runs despite having a strong start to the season, it just was an unbearable problem and he was sent down.

Don’t get upset for Wiley though, he has accepted that special assitant position within the front office staff and will stay employed by the Marlins. This is a classy move for the Fish as they retain a guy who has helped their rotation out immensley over the years. The question remains, what will Randy St. Claire bring to the position? What kind of things will he do in order to help this young staff?

“I just think it’s communicating, whether working with young or old pitchers, and being open to what they feel,” he said. “It’s trying to get them comfortable and confident.”

That doesn’t sound a whole lot different than the laidback approach Mark Wiley prefers. The question has to be, why was Wiley let go? St. Claire did work with this current ownership group when they were working in Montreal together, so they know what to expect from him. He was sacked by the Nationals earlier in the year when the pitching staff was not showing much progress. It would have been nice, however, to have some talent on that staff to see what could be done. Should Marlins fans be alarmed?

It seems that worst case, we have a younger version of Wiley in house now with St. Claire. It also should be noted that St. Claire was not necessarily the top choice of the Marlins brass as other candidates were snatched up. Wiley also gets to linger as he takes a cushy job upstairs. St. Claire will now have to find a way to tap the potential of the forest of pitchers that is Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad, Sean West and Andrew Miller. If his tenure this year in Washington is any indication of what is to come, we may be in for more misses than hits.

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Is this still a realistic possibility?

There are 26 games left for the Fish. That means they will have to win 18 of them to hit that 90 win plateau, making them have to go 18-8 the rest of the way. That would then mean the Rockies would have to go 13-13 just to force things into a tie to end the season (the Rockies also have 26 games remaining). For a team 17 games over .500, that doesn’t seem to be a likely expectation at this point of the season.

There is still a chance for the Marlins to creep into the wildcard, but yesterday’s blown opportunity by Leo Nunez certainly didn’t help matters.

Yet, what about the division itself? The Phillies are 6 games ahead of the Marlins and at one point, as recent as a few weeks ago, they were looking like the team of destiny from the NL East. All of a sudden, they have lost a few games and the Marlins were able to make up ground. Remember, these two teams have unfinished business at the end of the season – they square off 6 times to end the season. If the Marlins can make up a few more games, say, get it down to a 3 game deficit, they could win 5 of those games and take the lead.

In order for the Marlins to have any chance for the postseason, they have to win each series they play and pick up a few sweeps. A series win each time out would mean 16 wins to end the season. They need to somehow get 18 to hit the 90 win mark, which is usually where the wildcard leader ends up with. The fact that they play the Mets and Nationals a few more times (Mets twice, Nats once) helps. Also, the Marlins may get help from the Cardinals as their success may have them start shutting it down at the end of the season – which increases the Marlins’ chances for a series win there, too.

It’s a tall order, but that is to be expected of a playoff run. The Rockies and Giants also have their work cut out for them, too. The Marlins need a few breaks and really haven’t gotten any yet. They have played their way into the chase but the distance seems to be growing quickly.

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