BCB After Dark: Goodbye, Hello

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the relaxing club for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. It’s been a long day, so come on in and rest for a spell. We’ve still got a few tables available. Please tell us if we can doing anything for you this evening. Bring your own beverage. The show will start shortly.

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 lost to the Cardinals tonight, 6-0, but the game wasn’t as close as the score would indicate.

Last night I asked you how many players the Cubs would trade away on August 2, the trade deadline. The answer ended up being “just two,” and “2 or 3” was the choice of 42 percent of you. But “3 or 4” got 43 percent.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I do an abbreviated After Dark. And with things as busy as they are tonight, it’s going to be real abbreviated. But I always have time for some jazz, so those of you who skip that can do so now.

Since I’ve been preparing for a massive sell off for the past few weeks that didn’t end up arriving (save for the gutting of the bullpen), I suppose we ought to have some sort of a mea culpa song tonight. So after all the songs about saying goodbye, tonight we’ve got saxophonist Bud Shank and trumpeter Chet Baker playing The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye.” So it’s hello again to Ian Happ and Willson Contreras, but a sad goodbye to Chris Martin, Scott Effross, David Robertson and Mychal Givens. And as far as those premature goodbyes to Happ and Conteras? Never mind.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the jazz.

Well, that was a surprise. For the past few months Cubs fans have been bracing themselves for the departure of both of their 2022 All-Stars, catcher Willson Contreras and outfielder Ian Happ. In the end, they are both still Cubs.

So tonight we’re so busy that we are just going to ask you how you feel about that. And by that, I’m not asking how you feel about Happ and Contreras personally, but about how you feel about the front office not trading them before the deadline, presumably for players who could help in the future.

Although we have no idea whom the Cubs were offered for those two players or whom team president Jed Hoyer was asking for, assume that whatever was offered was an underwhelming return for the two, although “underwhelming” is in the eye of the beholder. Otherwise they would have been dealt. But you can assume that the Cubs would have gotten at least something for both of them.

So tell us, how are you feeling about Contreras and Happ still being Cubs, knowing that they could leave as free agents after this year and next respectively? We will do two polls for this one, one for each player. And please keep any comments civil.

Thank you so very much for stopping by. I hope you were able to relax after a long day of refreshing social media. Please drive home safely. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for another edition of BCB After Dark.