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FanGraphs | Devan Fink: It’s obviously early, but the Phillies looked to have seriously improved. With Maikel Franco’s and Andrew McCutchen’s home runs on Opening Day, it showed that the addition of Cutch, Bryce Harper, JT Realmuto, and Jean Segura they should have enough offense to put them in the run-scoring company of their last contention squad.
The Ringer | Ben Lindbergh: We really are watching the best players, and Adam Ottavino is right: he could strike out Babe Ruth. Pitchers are the best control variable, and they keep getting worse over time, and even if you lump together age 26-29 players in year n and see how they play in year n+1, they get worse because the talent pool expands.
Bill James Online | Dave Fleming: The team that could very well surprise in 2019 are the Minnesota Twins. The crux of the argument is that they were decent in 2017 and 2018, have a decent farm system; they have a breakout candidate in Byron Buxton; an ace in Jose Berrios; and, Willians Astudillo has been a revelation.