Out of all the teams in the major leagues, the team that most resembles a minor league franchise has got to be the Florida Marlins. They completely dismantled their team this past offseason and will be starting fresh with a bunch of unproven prospects. Cepicky, Abercrombie and Hermida will have the daunting task of replacing Encarnacion, Pierre and Conine in the outfield, while names like Hanley, Uggla and Willingham could find themselves everydays on the lineup card. It’s legitimately possible, the Fish will have a prospect starting in every position in the field with the exception of Miguel Cabrera at third base and Dontrelle Willis every five days on the hill. They are officially the NL version of the Kansas City Royals now, but could provide a handful of sleepers in your fantasy draft this season.

Below is a list of some of the guys that left the Marlins this offseason. It’s basically their entire roster. A lot of these guys are going to do some damage this season in another uniform.

C Paul Lo Duca – New York Mets
1B Carlos Delgado – New York Mets
2B Luis Castillo – Minnesota Twins
SS Alex Gonzalez – Boston Red Sox
3B Mike Lowell – Boston Red Sox
LF Jeff Conine – Baltimore Orioles
CF Juan Pierre – Chicago Cubs
RF Juan Encarnacion – St. Louis Cardinals
SP Josh Beckett – Boston Red Sox
SP A.J. Burnett – Toronto Blue Jays
RP Guillermo Mota – Cleveland Indians
RP Antonio Alfonseca – Texas Rangers
C Todd Jones – Detroit Tigers

It’s sad when the old mighty dollar is the reason a franchise must take a drastic move like this, but it’s inevitable in today’s game. South Florida is a melting pot of people from other places. You go to a game and you’ll meet more people from New York than you will from Miami. It’s impossible to build a loyal fan base when fire sales like this happen. And this is not the first time the young franchise has gone through an Extreme Home Makeover. We all remember what happened after they won it in 1997. Guys like Leiter, Alou, Sheffield, Brown and Renteria were unloaded right afterwards because the team just couldn’t afford them. Even when they were winning, they still couldn’t afford to pay the bills.

Well, if they unload the guys that are making the seven figures and fill them with players that make the league minimum, is it conceivable they could become profitable? That’s what we’ll find out this year…

Here’s the unproven prospects that will be vying for regular roles next season with Florida:

C Miguel Olivo, Josh Willingham
1B Mike Jacobs, Jason Stokes
2B Dan Uggla, Alfredo Amezaga
3B – (Miguel Cabrera)
SS Hanley Ramirez, Robert Andino
LF Mathew Cepicky, Chris Aguila
CF Reggie Abercrombie, Eric Reed
RF Jeremy Hermida
SP Jason Vargas, Scott Olsen
C Travis Bowyer

Bowyer throws in the upper 90’s and is expected to be groomed into the team’s closer of the future. He could start the season in a setup role until he gets some confidence. Jacobs went on a tear with the Mets when he was called up, and proved he can perform at the highest level. In his first four games, he went 7-for-13 with four home runs, nine RBI, eight runs and three walks. Before that, he smacked 25 home runs for 93 RBI in just 117 games at Double-A Binghamton. The guy is a strong late sleeper and keeper prospect. Jeremy Hermida caught headlines last season when he drilled a grand slam in his first at-bat on September 1st becoming the first player in the modern day to accomplish the feat. Jason Stokes is somebody to keep an eye on – the guy can flat out destroy a baseball. He’s one of those all or nothing type power hitters. A thumb injury sidelined him all but 13 games last season, but he racked up 68 homers in the previous three seasons. However, he also fanned 135 times in 121 games in 2003 and 124 times in 109 games the following year. Uggla tore up the D-Backs minor league system last year, finishing with a .297 average, 21 home runs, 87 RBI, 88 runs and 15 stolen bases. He’s expected to land the everyday second base job after Castillo finally left after a 10-year tenure. Ramirez came over from Boston and will likely man the everyday shortstop job. He’s smooth in the field and has good speed. He’ll likely land a job at the top of the lineup as a table setter.