BCB After Dark: Looking over the market

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the night spot for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Thanks for stopping by during these turbulent times. I hope we can be your shelter in the storm. It’s bring your own bottle, but we’ll waive the corkage fee. Please have a seat and make yourself at home.

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.

Maybe the Cubs let the thin Denver air get to them tonight as they got hammered by the Rockies, 13-6. I guess you could talk about that game here if you want to. Ian Happ homered, so that’s good. Frank Schwindel got his first Cubs hit. Trevor Megill pitched well.

Last time I asked you to grade the trades that the Cubs’ front office made last week. I expected to see a wide variety of scores, but I was surprised to see that fully 54% of the voters said that the Cubs deserved a “B” for their trades. For what it’s worth, that’s probably what I would have given them as well. Second place was “C” with 18% and 15% of you gave the Cubs an “A.” Only 7% of you gave the Cubs an “F,” which indicates to me that a lot of you aren’t on Twitter. (That’s a joke about the negative reactions on Twitter. I have to say that or someone is going to get mad.)

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning is when I have an abbreviated version of BCBAD, but I can always find a time to slip in a jazz track.

In 1956, Miles Davis had assembled a pretty terrific quintet. He had the young John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Columbia Records wanted to sign Davis that year, but he was still under contract with Prestige Records and he still owed Prestige four more albums. So the five of them went into the studio and banged out four albums over two sessions—one in May and one in September. Those four records were released over the next four years by Prestige as Walkin’; Cookin’; Relaxin’ and Workin’. Of course, it’s Miles, so they’re great despite being “contractual obligation” albums. Maybe not at the level of his greatest works, but still quite good.

Here’s the opening track from Workin’, the Rogers and Hart tune “It Never Entered My Mind.” This is a piece of music I turn to again and when I’m angry and agitated and I need to calm myself down. I can just put on my headphones, close my eyes and pretty soon whatever was bothering me just doesn’t matter anymore.

Now for the baseball question of the night. I hope everyone read Al’s story on the why the Cubs will “retool” rather than “rebuild” and the free agents they could sign to return to contention quickly. It is an interesting piece and when you consider that the Cubs only have about $40 million in contract obligations for next year, they certainly have enough money this winter to sign at least two major free agents and a few lesser ones.

So today I’m going to ask you to tell me which one of the top ten free agents you most want the Cubs to sign this winter. I’m going off of this list of top free agents from June in MLB Trade Rumors, with a few modifications. One player on that list is Trevor Bauer, and he’s obviously not an option at the moment. His entire major league career may be in jeopardy over his legal issues and the assault allegations. I’m also leaving off another Dodgers pitcher because I don’t see how Clayton Kershaw leaves the Dodgers to go to the Cubs. He might sign with the Rangers to finish his career at home, but he’s not leaving LA for Chicago.

So which of the following free agents would you most like to see with the Cubs next season? There are eight choices here and two of them are pretty familiar. But they may not be the best choices. Who should the Cubs open the wallet for this winter?

Remember, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the only free agent the Cubs sign. But it’s the one whom you think should be the top priority.

Please explain your choice in the comments.

The candidates are in the ranking that MLB Trade Rumors listed them as. So Corey Seager is their top free agent this winter. Of course, that was in June and it may not be true now.

Thanks again for stopping by. We’ll be back tomorrow night with a slightly-longer version of BCB After Dark.