By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
After Aaron Nola's first Spring Training start Sunday afternoon, rookie manager Gabe Kapler didn't waste any time telling the collective media that Nola will be the team's Opening Day starter. For his part, Nola didn't waste any time taking the advice that Kapler has preached to the team so far this spring: be bold.
Nola, who is coming off of a breakout season where he posted a 4.5 bWAR, says that he thinks the Phillies are past their rebuilding phase, and ready to start winning in 2018.
"Everybody still thinks we're in the rebuilding stage," Nola told the Associated Press. "I don't think any of us think that. I think we're going to compete this year and we're definitely going to be better than last year."
PECOTA projects that Phillies will win 78 games in 2018, which would be a 12-win improvement over the 66-96 mark that the Phillies posted in 2017. It would also be the most wins that the club has posted since 2012. It wouldn't, however, be enough for the Phillies to compete for one of the National League's two Wild Card spots.
The Phillies hope that with the addition of Carlos Santana – along with a full year of Rhys Hoskins, Nick Williams, J.P. Crawford and Jorge Alfaro – they will be able to put together a breakout season like the 2017 Minnesota Twins did when they made the playoffs a year after losing over 100 games. The addition of a free-agent pitcher like Jake Arrieta, in the minds of some, would push them closer to that goal.
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Nola isn't the first person to suggest that the Phillies feel they are closer to contending than the public may perceive.
Pat Neshek, who rejoined the Phillies on a two-year free-agent contract in December, compared the 2018 Phillies to the 2015 Houston Astros team that he was on, one that won 86 games and the second American League Wild Card.
"Last year was kind of messy, but I feel like we're way ahead of where Houston was [in 2015]," Neshek told MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince earlier this month. "I know they have the money to add if we start winning. And the National League East isn't that great this year."
And, of course, a culture like this starts at the top.
After Kapler explained what he thinks will lead to a sh*tload of wins in January, the first-year manager delivered a similar message to the team at the outset of Spring Training.
“Basically, the message is that we’re prepared to win," Kapler told Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The expectation is that we’re going to win on Opening Day and we’re going to win throughout the season and into September and October.
