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FanGraphs | Rian Watt: The Astros are already facing questions as to how much they’ll spend in free agency, or whether they’ll go after Gerrit Cole, but another standing issue is the bullpen, where four of their relievers who logged a third of their innings are departing in free agency. They could maybe replace one, like Will Harris, but they will also need to rely on shrewd internal options to piece it together.
Baseball Prospectus | JP Breen: While we may think that all salary decisions are decided by the almighty Market, in fact teams and the league make very conscious choices to reduce risk in a way that can depress the Market and reduce competition, in the same way of, say, a robber baron of the late 19th century.
The Athletic | Eno Sarris ($): If we used average of all the WARs to think about award season, we would find that it’s pretty clustered in almost every category. Mike Soroka is in fact a better candidate for Rookie of the Year than expected; Alex Bregman is basically dead-even with Mike Trout; and, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole are basically equal.