BCB After Dark: Someone has to start

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the out-of-the-way hangout for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Glad to see you again tonight. Or tomorrow morning, we’re not picky. Please seat yourself tonight. We’ve relaxed the dress code. 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.

The Cubs had their seven-game winning streak snapped with a 4-3 loss to the Reds tonight. But even though the boys in blue lost tonight, they were really in this game the whole way. They could have folded after Adrian Sampson gave up home runs to Jonathan India and Nick Castellanos in the first inning, but they didn’t. These guys have a lot of spirit. A lot more spirit than talent, to be sure, but at least even when they’re losing they’re not embarrassing us.

Last night I asked you about the Cubs sensation of 2021, Frank “The Tank” Schwindel and whether you thought that he was the Cubs first baseman of the future. The future being just 2022. The question was who did you think would get the most time at first base in 2021 and 76% of you are willing to ride The Tank all the way through next season. Alfonso Rivas got the second most votes with 13% and 9% thought the Cubs would sign a free agent first baseman for next year.

We also had a really nice discussion of concert films. Thanks for that.

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning is the edition where I leave out the movie talk, but you’re free to continue yesterday’s discussion if you’d like. I also always have time to track down a jazz video on YouTube, so I’ll do that now. You don’t have to press play if you don’t want.

Today’s jazz clip is from Seattle Public Radio show in 2015 that matched up two of the current superstar acts of today’s jazz scene, saxophonist Joshua Redmond with the Minneapolis-based trio The Bad Plus. This is before pianist Ethan Iverson left that trio, so it features him along with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King.

Here’s “As This Moment Slips Away,” written by Reid Anderson.

Welcome back to those who skip the jazz. Today’s topic comes from this article by Sahadev Sharma in The Athletic about the pitchers who are auditioning for a spot in the 2022 starting rotation. (The Athletic sub. req.) The three rookie pitchers that Sharma discusses are Adbert Alzolay, Keegan Thompson and Justin Steele. He says that while none of them are guaranteed to make the rotation in 2022, the Cubs are really hoping at least one of them steps up over the last month and makes a case for the front office pencil them in for next year. After all, as it stands now, the Cubs rotation for next year consists of Kyle Hendricks and Alec Mills and I don’t think any team has gone with a two-man starting rotation in over 100 years.

Along with the three pitchers Sharma mentioned, I’m adding Adrian Sampson to the mix. Sampson didn’t come up through the Cubs system and he’s not a rookie, having made 15 starts and 20 relief appearances for the Rangers in 2019. But Sampson is a second-year pitcher (he pitched in Korea last year), he certainly isn’t an established major leaguer and he’s definitely wants to be considered for a spot in the Cubs rotation next year.

So who do you think is passing the audition? Which one of those four pitchers do you think is most likely to make 25 starts for the Cubs next year? Put your reasoning down in the comments.

Thank you again for stopping by. We’ll have the valet bring your car around. We’ll be back again tomorrow with a full edition of BCB After Dark.