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It's a good thing George Steinbrenner doesn't monitor opposing teams' rosters too closely. He might be chapped over paying Carl Pavano $39.95 million to soak in the whirlpool while the Florida Marlins' rotation includes four starters with a 32-20 record and a combined salary of $1.3 million.

Their names are Josh Johnson, Scott Olsen, Ricky Nolasco and Anibal Sanchez, and they're all in the 22-23 age bracket. As they assume their places behind the rotation's resident veteran -- 24-year-old Dontrelle Willis -- they're linked by a common competitive streak and distinguished by their backgrounds and temperaments.

Time will tell if Florida's kid pitchers can cultivate a nice little Barry Zito-Tim Hudson-Mark Mulder dynamic, plus two. But the maturation process should be fun to watch.

Johnson, a soft-spoken Mormon from Oklahoma, is a human solar eclipse at 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds. To borrow a southern-fried aphorism from former Cincinnati Reds scout Julian Mock, Johnson is so big, "He could hunt bear with a switch."

Olsen, the only lefty in the group, has a terrific slider and a brashness that tends to stir the pot. During one fun-filled stretch this season, Olsen took a punch in the eye from teammate Randy Messenger in a late-night scuffle, got in an animated dugout discussion with manager Joe Girardi that was captured on television, and endangered his well-being by confronting third baseman Miguel Cabrera over a double down the line.

Olsen's friends and family back home in Illinois just smiled and shrugged, because they'd seen it before in his high school and American Legion ball days.

"Off the field, I'm the calmest person you'll find," Olsen said. "When I get between the lines, it's a whole different world for me. I want to win as bad as anybody in the entire world. I hate losing. That just sets me off."

Sanchez, the son of a Venezuelan trucking magnate, and Nolasco, who was described in one South Florida newspaper profile as a chapel-going "computer nerd," are hard workers who seem unfazed by high stakes. Marlins executives still marvel at the way Sanchez walked into Yankee Stadium before his big league debut and stared in for the sign against Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez as if he'd been doing it for a decade.

In Miami, the concept of a learning curve is passé. Florida's starting pitchers rank fourth in the majors with a 4.28 ERA, and the kids make you forget that Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett and Pavano formed the nucleus of the team's 2003 world championship staff before leaving for the American League East through free agency or trades.

Partly because of that exodus, the Marlins were expected to lose 100-plus games this season as Dade County's answer to the Kansas City Royals.

Yet here it is, the middle of August, and the Marlins are still thinking wild-card push. Washington Nationals assistant general manager Mike Rizzo, one of baseball's most respected talent evaluators, thinks general manager Larry Beinfest deserves some Executive of the Year votes for building a competitive team on a $15 million Opening Day payroll.

"When there's a track record of success, you never chalk it up to luck or good fortune," Rizzo said. "When you can turn over a club like they have and you're competing successfully at that payroll level, it's not an accident."

"Cost efficiency," a watchword in big business, is a euphemism for making the best of a bad situation in baseball, and no one is more adept at adjusting than Beinfest, top assistants Michael Hill and Dan Jennings and the rest of Florida's front-office staff. Even when they don't have a dime, they can sure change course on one.

When the Marlins' stadium problems prompted owner Jeffrey Loria to gut the payroll last winter, Beinfest traded Beckett and Mike Lowell to Boston, Carlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca to the Mets, Juan Pierre to the Cubs, Luis Castillo to Minnesota and Ron Villone to the Yankees.

All told, Florida acquired 15 young players in return in those deals. Of that total, 11 were pitchers. "That was definitely by design," Beinfest said.

There's a difference, of course, between rushing young pitchers to the majors and creating the type of environment that allows them to thrive. How hard does a team push kids to fight through challenges while simultaneously limiting their exposure to psyche-bruising setbacks?

It's a delicate balance, and one that Marlins management frets over daily. As Girardi tries to let his kids work out of jams, he also makes sure to monitor their workload. As a result, Florida's rotation ranks 15th in the majors in innings pitched.

Rick Kranitz, Florida's new pitching coach, is a stickler for preparation -- watching videotape, reading scouting reports and conveying information while giving the young pitchers the freedom to be themselves.

"Kranny has drilled into these kids' heads the importance of strike one," Jennings said. "They all came to him with stuff, and he took the stuff and made it usable."

Relievers Joe Borowski and Matt Herges, along with Willis, play a supporting role in the nurturing process. By virtue of his World Series ring and his 22 victories and second-place finish in the Cy Young Award race last year, Willis is a natural stabilizer.

"He's not just another peer," Beinfest said. "The other pitchers listen to Dontrelle and look at him and say, 'How did this guy do all these things at 24?' There's a lot of credibility with Dontrelle beyond the million-dollar smile and the bubbly personality."

Like Willis, the rookies have thrived by embracing pitching subtleties. Johnson throws his fastball anywhere from 92 to 95 mph, but the Florida brass is even more impressed with the way he works the corners. Johnson has used that skill to beat Pedro Martinez, Livan Hernandez, Roy Halladay and John Smoltz head-to-head this season.

While Olsen has a reputation as stubborn, he was coachable enough to listen when minor league pitching coordinator Wayne Rosenthal altered his stiff-legged delivery and helped him to incorporate more of his body into his motion.

Here's the scariest part: The Marlins are absolutely loaded with pitching in the minors. They have hard throwers, finesse types, former Mets prospects (Yusmeiro Petit and Gaby Hernandez) and erstwhile Red Sox (Harvey Garcia and Jesus Delgado) and Cubs (Renyel Pinto). They even have an Australian prospect in left-hander Paul Mildren.

This spring, Jennings was watching the Greensboro Grasshoppers, a South Atlantic League club populated by Florida's top draft picks in 2005, and a veteran scout turned to him with his jaw open and a glazed look in his eyes.

"He told me, 'D.J., I've been doing this for 30 years, and I've never seen a collection of arms like this in A ball,'" Jennings recalled.

The hardest part might be finding room for everyone. The Marlins had no desire to trade Willis this season, and they continue to take that line even though his salary is $4.35 million and climbing. While we're at it, they have no plans to trade Cabrera, either.

"You never want to say never to anything," Beinfest said. "We definitely have our challenges in this market. But we know what we have with these two guys. The rumors that were flying around this spring about Dontrelle … that's all they were. Rumors."

At least the contract talks will be streamlined. San Francisco-based agents Matt Sosnick and Paul Cobbe represent Willis, Olsen, Johnson and Nolasco -- 80 percent of the Marlins' rotation. Another Sosnick-Cobbe client, Sergio Mitre, began the season as a Florida starter before suffering a shoulder injury in May.

"Matt must be on the phone with our general manager three times a day," Olsen said.

Pretty soon other baseball executives will be calling, too, wondering whether Beinfest might be interested in trading some of his young arms. Wish them luck. The Marlins took their lumps and followed a plan in stockpiling the most valued commodity in baseball. They're not about to give it back.

Jerry Crasnick covers baseball for ESPN Insider. His book "License To Deal" was published by Rodale. Click here to order a copy. Jerry can be reached via e-mail.