Best comments on eliminating the shift: Gabe Kapler’s much-needed nuance

There were two big themes to the week that seemed to permeate through every discussion and tweet. The first comes from a recent article by Jayson Stark that exposed the rising interest, from owners, to eliminate shifts. Naturally, this is a polarizing idea and the #WINTERMEETINGS was hot about it. It was rare to see a nuanced take, which is why I like what Gabe Kapler said. Kapler, a very progressive manager that happily tries new things if it can possibly give his team an edge, seemed to treat the idea of eliminating the shift as an opportunity to get creative in other ways.

There are a lot of ways to maintain creativity even if the rule changes. - Gabe Kapler, via Jayson Stark

A simple quote that doesn’t show any of the anger that was so common this week.

Best Comments on Harold Baines Hall of Fame Induction: “Weak-Ass superficial bullshit”

The other big piece of news was also not a transaction, but the election of Harold Baines to the Hall of Fame by means of the suddenly relevant “Today’s Game Committee” (a committee designed to give immense induction power to 16 people who get to vote in players that didn’t get inducted via the normal election method). I won’t waste your time going over all the reasons why his inclusion is a complete joke, Ben Lindbergh does that best anyway.

This induction really spiced up the early hours of the Winter Meetings and after days of hearing himself be partially blamed for this farce, committee member, Tony La Russa popped off on MLB network and secured the award for Best Comment on Harold Baines.