for the past few years, for pure coincedence, I have bought the Athalon Sports Baseball Preview. It seems evertime I go on a flight, that mag is the only one in the stands, so I get it, really weird. Anyway, I actually went out and looked for it this year, bought it, read the Marlins page and to my dismay, Carlos Delgado didn't make the printing deadline.

 

Now, I enjoy reading these publications to get (sometimes) unbiased views and stats galore. But with a huge move like that, one would think deadlines can be changed if there are still big free agents on the market. For instance, last year, the ARod trade happened after the mag was published. I know it happend a little later into the offseason ( not sure of the date), but again, it makes the publication less interesting to me.

 

I know I should have looked through the mag prior to purchasing it, but I was in a rush and assumed it would be updated.

 

For the record though, they picked the Fish to come in 2nd, without Delgado :thumbup

I feel you, chefbob. I got Street & Smith's 2005 a few days ago, and Delgado wasn't signed at press time, either.

 

On it, our good friend -- South Florida's own Mike Berardino -- picked the Marlins 3rd in the NL East (behind Atlanta #1 and Philadelphia #2).

 

Also, since Ismael Valdez wasn't re-signed yet, they had Ben Howard as our 5th starter... Yikes! :zipper

 

But, on the plus side, it has a nice shot of Dontrelle Willis on the cover. :ok