WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Sure wish the Marlins had Miguel Cabrera back to make a serious postseason run of this thing, and Josh Beckett, too.
It's all part of the dull ache that comes with thinking about how much talent this franchise has shed through the years while cutting the budget to the bone. That's the business side of it, no more fickle than this peculiar sports market always has been.
But what of the baseball side? Is the product on the field today many times worse than it would have been if Jeffrey Loria had somehow rolled out the mountain of money needed to keep every productive player under long-term contract here, and if Larry Beinfest had never been forced to make a single disadvantaged trade?
The answer is surprising, because the answer is no.
Now you can drive yourself batty quibbling over which player got traded for which and what sort of impact those transactions have on the ultimate equation. Let's keep it as simple as possible instead, measuring the 2009 Marlins roster against all those who were with the team in the promising early primes of their careers and, in a perfect world, still could be.
Take Beckett, a former World Series MVP who, at 29, is among the American League leaders in wins and strikeouts at Boston. Josh Johnson of the current Marlins can't quite cancel that all that out, but his mid-season numbers are close and he's on a similar strikeout pace.
What's more, J.J. is only 25.
Settle down now. We admit the folly of trying to make this comparison purely scientific. It's one of those unanswerable baseball debates, with lots of funny hops included. For instance, there's no telling how many more titles the Marlins might have contended for or won after 2003 if they'd stubbornly stockpiled the best of the best.
Just for 2009, though, would the Marlins be guaranteed of getting more from Cabrera than they're getting from Hanley Ramirez? Both are stupendous talents, maybe even future Hall of Famers, with Miggy, a career .300 hitter, just one year older at 26.
Hanley, however, has pushed his 2009 average to a career-high and is driving in more runs than Cabrera, too. It's less of a stretch than you would think to call this matchup a wash, at least in the moment.
Position by position, it starts looking stronger for the former Fish.
Luis Castillo has won three Gold Gloves at second base as opposed to the slumping Dan Uggla, who can be just plain ugly out there and may soon be trade bait anyway. Pudge Rodriguez is better, too, than anyone the Marlins have had behind the plate since he left for a free-agent bonanza in Detroit.
Mike Lowell is another former World Series MVP and represents an upgrade over Emilio Bonifacio at third base.
At first base, Derrek Lee, a former batting champion, has been on a real tear lately for the Cubs and he's a terrific fielder. On the other hand, he's only a few RBI ahead of Jorge Cantu. Cabrera and Cantu, meanwhile, are neck and neck in run production. As for Carlos Delgado, he's 37 and has missed a bunch of games for the Mets.
Juan Pierre, a personal favorite, is having a dynamite season in the Dodgers' outfield, ranking among the league leaders in batting and stolen bases. Has nobody noticed, however, that Cody Ross is on pace for something like 30 homers and 100 RBI and has joined Cantu in the league's top 10 for doubles?
A.J. Burnett and Brad Penny would make any rotation stronger, which is a boost for the case of the former Marlins. Dontrelle Willis, Scott Olsen and Carl Pavano? No thanks.
Out in the bullpen, Matt Lindstrom has been a disappointment as the Marlins' closer, but no more so than Kevin Gregg has been for the Cubs, and at 10 times the price.
Overall, the sum of all the trophy Fish that got away represents a better lineup than the Marlins are fielding today, but it's not a blowout, and it's nearly not as much better as the imaginary payroll would demand.
When Loria hired the crafty Beinfest in 2002 to run his personnel department, it was the one major move that continues to matter to a franchise that still got its new stadium and continues to win, in spite of everything.
Dave George writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: dave(underscore)george(at)pbpost.com.