The Miami Marlins made it pretty clear they believe they have a strong core and are just a few players away from division and playoff contention. Their stated reasoning for it is simple:
"The record, in our mind, doesn’t change the evaluation," [team president David Samson] said. "It’s hard not to believe [you have a playoff-contending core when] you have one of the top three pitchers and one of the top three position players in baseball on one team. That’s hard to find. We may be the only team that has that."
The club thinks that having two of the best players in baseball is more than enough to start up a fantastic team ready for contention.