BCB After Dark: A call to the bullpen

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the nightclub for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Bring your own beverage. There’s a two-drink minimum, although it can be water or coffee or whatever you have around your own place. So glad you could join us.

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 in to the afternoon.

So tonight’s Cubs game was pretty disheartening, so feel free to discuss the one measly hit the North Siders managed tonight. Or if you want to change the subject, music and movies are always welcome.

Last time I asked you which Cub would finish the season with the most home runs. The winner, with 31% of the vote, was Joc Pederson. Many of you seem to believe that the incredible power that Pederson showed during Spring Training is going to continue right on until October. Second place was Anthony Rizzo with 20% and Willson Contreras was third with 15%.

As I said last night, I’m not going to do the long essays on jazz and movies three nights a week. I just don’t have enough to say. I will give you a heads up that I’m planning on writing about High Noon on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, so if you want to prepare yourself on that Hollywood classic before then, feel free.

It doesn’t take much effort for me to find a good jazz clip, so here’s one from the Christian McBride Trio. I often listen to McBride’s show on SiriusXM while I make dinner, so I figured that I could thank him by sharing a clip of his trio playing back in 2012. [Video]

OK, now back to the Cubs.

The Cubs have played five games already and probably the thing to be the most optimistic about is the strong performance of closer Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel has not lived up to expectations since signing with the team in 2019, to put it mildly. But there’s little question that the Kimbrel that we’ve seen so far in 2021 is the guy we were hoping to see all along.

I’ve already asked one question about Kimbrel, so my question tonight is “Which Cubs reliever do you trust the most before the ninth inning?” Sure, a lot of that depends on matchups and who is rested, but all other things being equal, who is the guy you want coming out of the pen when the Cubs need an out? We used to call relievers “firemen” because they would come on with two on and one out in a close game. Which Cubs reliever do you want dousing that fire at the moment?

And yes, I realize that some of you are going to say “Put Kimbrel in that situation! It’s stupid to save a reliever for a save situation that may never happen!” While that may make sense in Strat-O-Matic, that’s not going to happen here. Modern relievers want to know what their “role” is. So tell me, who you want their “role” to be the primary fireman?

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll see you again tomorrow night with a regular Wednesday night meeting.