The Marlins

So, after dealing the last two pieces of their 2003 World Series championship team, the Marlin payroll for 2008 is projected to be $8 million. Goodbye, M-Cab and D-Train, hello Andrew Miller, Cameron Mayben, and Mike Rabelo! How do you market this team?

"Come see the future stars of some other team! And it might rain, too!"

The following players made more during the 2007 season than the projected 8 million dollar payroll that the Marlins will employ this season (courtesy of USA Today):
Yankees: Jason Giambi, A-Rod, Jeter, Posada, Abreu, Damon, Matsui, Mussina, Pavano, Pettitte, Clemens, Rivera = 12
Red Sox: Papi, Manny, Drew, Clement (!!!!!), Lowell, Lugo, Schilling, Varitek. As a wild card, I will include Dice-K, since the Sox spent $51 million just to speak to him. Interestingly, Beckett did not make $8 million. 9 Red Sox.
Mets: Beltran, Delgado, Pedro, S. Green, Wagner = 5
Angels: Anderson, Vlad, Cabrera, Colon, Escobar = 5
White Sox: Buehrle, Contreras, Garland, Konerko, Thome, Vazquez = 6
Dodgers: Furcal, Nomar, Kent, Lowe, Schmidt = 5
Mariners: Sexson, Beltre, Ichiro, Washburn (LOL!!), Jeff Weaver (double LOL) = 5
Cubs: Lee, A. Ramirez, Soriano, Zambrano = 4
Tigers: Ordonez, Pudge, Sheffield = 3
Orioles: Tejada = 1 (it should be noted that these guys made more than 5+: Danys Baez, Kris Benson, Gibbons and Ramon Hernandez. Oy!)
Cards: Carpenter, Edmonds, Isringhausen, Pujols, Rolen = 5
Giants: Bonds, Zito, Matt Morris = 3
Phils: Burrell, Garcia, Rollins = 3
Astros: Berkman, Lee, Oswalt = 3
Braves: Hudson, A. Jones, C. Jones, Hampton (14 million), Renteria, Smoltz = 6
Blue Jays: Glaus, Burnett, Wells, Halladay = 4
A's: Kendall, Kotsay, Piazza = 3 (3 shitty players, too)
Twins: Hunter, Johan = 2
Brewers: Sheets = 1
Reds: Dunn, Griffey, Milton = 3 (seriously, eric milton)
Rangers: Millwood, Padilla, Texeira = 3
Royals: M. Sweeney = 1
Indians: Sabathia = 1
Padres: B. Giles, Maddux = 2
Rockies: Helton = 1
D Backs: R. Johnson = 1
Pirates: No one
Nationals: No one - but, Nick Johnson managed to make 5.5 million.
Devil Rays: No one

In total, the grand total of individuals who made more than the projected 2008 Marlin payroll: 97

What did I learn here? I learned there are a lot of shitty general managers in baseball who spend a ton of money on shitty players. No team spent better than the Indians and Diamondbacks last season. When your payroll is 60 million, you can't afford to have 20-30% of your payroll be dead weight.