Win Now -- or Else

    When Loria fired Redmond after a slow start, he showed he was desperate to win this year. Here's why: He's mortgaged the future.
    Yes, we have Stanton signed for a (theoretical?) 13 years and Yelich for seven, but we have Latos (our most costly player this year at $9.4 million) for a mere one year, having given up a young pitcher who will be with the Reds for years.
    We have Dan Haren for one year, trading away another young pitcher. We might have Dee Gordon until he becomes a free agent in 2019, at ever-increasing arbitration rates. We're paying Morse $16 million for two years (alas) at first base and to many scouts it's not year clear whether Bour is the long-term answer. We have Prado for two years, and I'm not sure that his weak power numbers are what a championship team needs at 3B.
    What's more, this year's team is on the cheap, designed to build a quick competitor. Stanton gets $6.5 million this year and next. The Dodgers are paying all the salaries this year for Gordon and Haren ($12.5 million) and Yankees are paying $3 million of Prado's $11 million this year and next, according to spotrac.com. (These savings are off-set by the $7 million Marlins pay for Salty to play for Dbacks.)
    At some point, Marlins payroll will skyrocket and fans aren't paying for it (See earlier blog "We are the enemy").
    Michael Jong at Fishstripes.com has a disturbing analysis of all this: "Marlins' lack of organizational depth makes unique roster situation."
    Jong points out two young prospects -- Jake Marisnick and Colin Moran -- went to Astros last season to get Cosart. He says one minor league expert has the Marlins right now 29th in terms of  prospects.
    So at the moment it's looking like now or never.