BCB After Dark: Those who remain

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the swinging-est afterparty for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. So glad you could join us. Please let us take your hat and coat for you. Make yourself at home. You’re probably home anyway. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Congratulations to the Atlanta Braves, who beat the Astros 7-0 to win their first World Series title since 1995. I was kind of hoping for a closer game, but I’m certainly glad to see former Cubs Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson and Jesse Chavez win a World Series title. I guess Carl Edwards Jr. will get another ring for the third of an inning that he threw for the Braves this season. I believe that Soler and Edwards (probably) are the first two members of the 2016 Cubs to get another ring after the 2016 one. There’s also William Contreras, Willson’s little brother, getting a ring as well.

Soler was also named the Series MVP, so that’s a nice added bonus for him. Feel free to discuss the World Series here if you so wish.

Last time I asked you if you thought that the Cubs should pursue former Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager as a free agent. In the end, 39% of you were against the idea with only 28% of you thinking that it was a good idea. The rest of you voted “meh.” I also think that many more of you would have voted “meh,” except that you were so ambivalent about the whole thing you couldn’t be bothered to click on it.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday mornings, I don’t have a full edition of After Dark. Go back and read what I wrote yesterday about 1932’s Vampyr if you want a movie essay to digest. But I always have time for a jazz track, so those of you who want to skip that can do so now.

One of the things that I like about jazz is that it isn’t age-oriented. Teenagers and septuagenarians can make equally great pieces of music. And some of those older musicians have been perfecting their craft for decades.

Of course, the downside of listening to music being made by older musicians is that eventually, they’re going to die. Just like the rest of us. Sure, rock and country stars die too, but unless they died young, we can be pretty sure that their best work was behind them. That’s not such a certainty in jazz.

We lost guitarist Pat Martino yesterday after a long illness. I wasn’t real familiar with Martino, although I did know the works of organist Charles Earland, who went to high school with Martino and played in an early jazz combo together with him. Martino also toured with rock/R&B legend Lloyd Price (“Stagger Lee,” “Personality”) in the early sixties.

But upon reading Martino’s obituaries, I found his career to be fascinating. Modeling his playing after Wes Montgomery, Martino had a solid career in the sixties and seventies, releasing several albums, before having a seizure in 1980. The surgeons had to remove a part of his brain’s left frontal lobe, with left him with amnesia and no memory of his music career or even how to play the guitar. Martino had to teach himself how to play guitar a second time after the surgery. He went on to have a solid second career and he was a giant in the Philadelphia jazz scene.

Here’s a tribute video to Martino that someone posted on Monday. It has Martino playing with pianist Dave Frank.

And yes, it’s amazing he can play that well after not being able to remember any music he made before he turned 36.

Welcome back to people who skip the jazz and the obituaries. Watching the Braves and Jorge Soler win the World Series tonight reminded me that it was exactly five years ago on that day that the Cubs won the World Series in Cleveland. Of course, I couldn’t forget that since everyone in my Twitter timeline reminded me of the anniversary.

But I also realized that since the “purge” at the trade deadline, only three Cubs remain from the 2016 team: Jason Heyward, Willson Contreras and Kyle Hendricks. So I’m going to ask you which one of those three will be the final member of that Cubs World Series title team remaining?

Sure, I wouldn’t be surprised if a member of the 2016 team returned to the Cubs, much as Jake Arrieta did earlier in 2021, but the question I’m asking tonight is which one will be the last one continuously on the team.

It’s been well-discussed around here that catcher Willson Contreras is a free agent after the 2022 season and that the Cubs would like to sign him to a contact extension. Outfielder Jason Heyward’s contract runs through the 2023 season as does the contract of pitcher of Kyle Hendricks, although Hendricks has a vesting option for 2024 if he finishes in the Top 3 of Cy Young Award voting. It seems unlikely, although not impossible, that Hendricks will finish that high in Cy Young voting over the next two years.

So who is it going to be? If you think the Cubs will be able to sign either Contreras or Hendrick to extensions, then it’s probably going to be one of them. If they can’t, both will probably get dealt and Jason Heyward may be the last man standing.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I’ll have someone bring your car around. I hope we see you again tomorrow night at BCB After Dark. Please tip the waitstaff.