Boyz Ii Aces

When he was called up to the Marlins from the Double A Portland Sea Dogs three seasons ago, Dempster got rocked, going 1-5 with a 7.08 ERA in 14 appearances, but Florida manager John Boles, then the VP of player development, was impressed by his mental toughness and unyielding intensity, not to mention a mid-90s fastball and a snaking slider. Last season, with veteran righthander Alex Fernandez out for all but eight starts with an injured shoulder (though still on the payroll, Fernandez isn't in Florida's immediate plans), Dempster emerged as the Marlins' ace (14-10, 3.66 ERA. 209 strikeouts in 226? innings) and the leader of their young staff. Throughout spring training Dempster has been taking 7 a.m. jogs with Beckett, the phenom who went 2-3 with a 2.12 ERA in 13 games for the Class A Kane County (Ill.) Cougars before missing most of the season with shoulder tendinitis. "Josh has a good head on his shoulders," says Dempster. "You just hope that the $7 million he got doesn't take away from his motivation."

Penny went 8-7 with a 4.81 ERA for Florida in 2000, while Burnett was 3-7 with a 4.79 ERA in an injury-shortened run. They also throw in the mid-90s. Penny, a hunter and fisherman from Broken Arrow, Okla., has become one of Boles's projects. Last season, Boles says, Penny turned after every pitch he threw in Pro Player Stadium and looked toward one of the scoreboards where the velocity of his pitch would be posted. Soon teammates started yelling the number before Penny could sneak a peak. "He can be great, but he has to stop thinking so much about how hard he throws," says Boles. "You learn in this game that location is much more important than heat."

Burnett would just like to stay healthy. He probably has the most ability of the youngsters—his fastball reaches 96 mph, and his knuckle-curve drops like Clinton's approval rating—but he misses lots of games because of injuries. In 1998 Burnett was out for six weeks with a broken right hand. Last year he missed three and a half months with a ruptured ligament in his right thumb. This spring Burnett suffered a stress fracture in his right foot. He's expected to miss one month. "I don't want to be known as injury-prone," he says, "because most of the time my injuries have been freak events. I just wish they'd stop." Like Dempster, Burnett is a character. He has four tattoos ("I'll probably get more," he says), including his wife's initials between his shoulder blades. His nipples are pierced, he occasionally dyes his sandy brown hair jet black, and he has named his bats after Marilyn Manson and Ozzy Osbourne.

Grilli, a star at Seton Hall and the son of former Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Steve Grilli, has performed well this spring and could fill in as the fifth starter until Burnett returns to action in mid-April. That means Florida will start the season with a rotation of Dempster, 31-year-old righthander Chuck Smith (6-6, 3.23 in 2000), Penny, 26-year-old lefthander Jesus Sanchez (9-12, 5.34) and Grilli or one of three veterans vying for the final spot. Anderson, Goetz, Neal and Vargas should all begin the year at Portland, with call-ups possible. Beckett will start with the Class A Brevard County ( Fla.) Manatees, but the Marlins expect him to perform well enough to earn a promotion to Portland during the season.

While growing up in Tampa, one of Goetz's next-door neighbors was a quiet blond kid. "Nick didn't hang out much, but I remember his telling me and my buddies, 'I'm going to be an actor,' " says Goetz. "We were, like, 'Yeah, whatever.' "

What are the odds? Nick Carter, member of the Backstreet Boys, living next to Geoff Goetz, member of the newest dreamy boy group: K-nine.