MLB Bullets Can't Drive A Shift

I'm going to save everyone some time until spring training starts. _____ _____ is in the best shape of his life. Just fill in the name of any player you want in the blanks. That's the last "best shape of his life" story I'm going to report.

• It might be much ado about nothing at this point, but the big story still seems to be Commissioner Rob Manfred's comments about banning defensive shifts. You'd expect that the sabermetric community would come out against it, but when a mainline, reasonably old-school baseball writer like Buster Olney calls it a "really, really bad idea,"(ESPN Insider) you know this idea is going nowhere fast. Olney's point is that teams will adjust to the shift like they have to every other innovation in the game.
• Grant Brisbee isn't in favor of banning shifts, but he's more worried about the thought process that Rob Manfred put in to say something like that. Brisbee calls such a "sledgehammer" approach to the game that looked bad on Manfred's first day.
• Rob Neyer is opposed to banning defensive shifts, but he defends Manfred somewhat by saying it's absurd to not even discuss banning shifts. He also highlights a statement by Manfred that's been overlooked when the new commissioner said that advertising on uniforms is something that "I don't foresee. I really don't." This is in sharp contrast to new NBA commissioner Adam Silver who announced that advertising on uniforms was "inevitable."
• Will Leitch takes a similar tack to Neyer, in which he decries banning shifts but notes some encouraging things that Manfred said in a different interview. In particular, while acknowledging the aging population of baseball's TV audience, Manfred noted that nearly 6 million people use the MLB At Bat app each day and their average age is 30.
• Lindsay Berra talks to players and managers about their opinion of the shift. Fredi Gonzalez thinks they should be banned. Joe Maddon, often credited with starting the modern revolution of the shift, wants to keep them. I sure am glad the right one of those two managers is the Cubs manager.
• AJ Cassavell makes the case for keeping the shift.
• In any case, this is likely much ado about nothing as Manfred walked back those comments on the shift somewhat in an interview with Ken Rosenthal.
• If you want to read that "other interview" that Manfred gave that Neyer and Leitch referred to, here's Tyler Kepner's piece with Manfred from the New York Times.
• In that interview, Manfred said that baseball's return to Montreal was "possible" and helped by the city's recent attendance in exhibition games.
• And Bud Selig's "Blue Ribbon Panel" that was to discuss options for how the Athletics could move to San Jose has been disbanded.
• In another interview with MLB Network Radio, Manfred said that he was unconcerned by the difference over the DH rule between the AL and NL. So those expecting Manfred to force the DH on the NL are likely to be disappointed. Or elated, depending on your point of view.
• Tom Verducci praises Manfred for being a forward-thinker. Of course, Verducci was the one leading the drumbeat to ban the shift.
• CJ Nitkowski doesn't think baseball has a problem with a lack of offense. Of course, he was a pitcher. He'd think one run a game is too much.
• But Dave Cameron agrees. He doesn't think baseball has a problem with a lack of offense and that the current game's offensive totals are in line with historic norms.
• The Blue Jays/Dan Duquette saga is over as Toronto announced that team president Paul Beeston has signed a contract to stay at that position through 2015 and that he would retire at the end of the year.
• Ken Rosenthal calls for a plague on both houses with the Blue Jays and the Orioles over the Duquette mess.
• This stuff on Yoan Moncada is reasonably complicated and you should read it yourself. But Ben Badler points out that it is MLB that is holding up Moncada's free agency and not the Office of Foreign Assets Control by requiring a specific clearance rather than a general clearance as they had in the past.
• And Jeff Passan notes that this all is likely moot as sources tell him that with the opening of relations with Cuba by the Obama administration, the OFAC will no longer issue specific clearances to people who are eligible for a general clearance. The good news here, and what you probably are most interested in, is that Passan says that Moncada is willing to wait until July 2 to "officially" sign if he decides to sign with the Cubs or the Rangers, who are forbidden from signing anyone before then.
• James Shields is still unsigned. Ken Rosenthal explains why he's having so much trouble getting a big contract.
• Some minor trades. The Red Sox sent Anthony Ranaudo to the Rangers for Robbie Ross.
• And the Pirates sent Travis Snider to the Orioles.
• The Phillies are still trying to trade Jonathan Papelbon and the Blue Jays have emerged as a possible suitor.
• Rockies GM Jeff Bridich said it is "highly, highly unlikely" that the team will trade either Troy Tulowitzki or Carlos Gonzalez.
• The Reds signed Devin Mesoraco to a four-year extension.
• David Schoenfield believes that Mesoraco's breakout 2014 campaign was no fluke.
• Bill Monbouquette, who pitched for the Red Sox in the late fifties and early sixties, has died at age 78.
• Red Sox beat writer Gordon Edes remembers one of his favorite Red Sox players of his childhood.
• A recent ranking of GM's put Giants GM Brian Sabean as the 14th greatest GM in the history of the game. Grant Brisbee asks "Really?" Andy MacPhail checked in at #25 on that list. We know how you feel, Grant.
• David Schoenfield ranks all nine teams that won three World Series in five seasons.
• Bill Petti explains how teams can make the best use of analytics.
• The Bad Baseball Card Tournament is over. We have a winner! Or loser, I guess.
• And finally, Jeff Katz looks back at the acting career of Ron Cey. Somehow, no one ever asked him to play The Penguin in any of the Batman movies. Really, you need to watch the trailer for that film.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.