BCB After Dark: Polar Bear Plunge?

It’s the first night of the postseason here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re so glad to see you on this lovely autumn evening. Please come in. The dress code is casual. There are still a few tables available. Bring your own beverage.

CB 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 playoffs started today with the Wild Card round and in case you missed it, the day started with the Rangers shutting out the Rays, 4-0. Next up, the Twins broke their record 18-game playoff losing streak (which dates back to 2004) by thumping the Blue Jays 3-1. All three Minnesota runs scored on two home runs by DH Royce Lewis.

The National League went in the evening and the Diamondbacks staged their biggest postseason comeback ever. (OK, they don’t have that many playoff games in their history.) But after falling behind the Brew Crew 3-0 after two innings, Arizona stormed back to win 6-3.

Phinally, the Phillies phinished off the Marlins, 4-1. More amazingly, even with the longer commercial breaks for the playoffs, only the Brewers/Diamondbacks game was over three hours long. (And admittedly, that one went 3:36.)

Last night, I asked you who would represent the National League in the World Series this year. Your runaway choice, with 79 percent of the vote, was the Atlanta Braves.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t normally do a movie essay. But I always have time for tunes, so those of you who skip that can do so now. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Tonight we’re featuring a music video with vocalist Samara Joy singing “Stardust” from her first album. Pasquale Grasso is on guitar, Ari Roland is on bass and Kenny Washington plays the drums. I don’t think we’ve featured Samara much since she took home all those Grammys earlier this year.

Last night, I said if no news broke today, I’d just ask you who was going to win the American League pennant this year. Well, no news broke. but a big whopping rumor did. So maybe I’ll ask tomorrow about the AL and maybe I won’t.

The rumor that broke came from Bruce Levine, who reported that “the Cubs are going to do everything they can to trade for Pete Alonso from the Mets.” Well, that’s a bombshell if true, although it was previously reported that the Cubs and Brewers did inquire about Alonso’s availability at the trade deadline. (The Athletic sub. req.) No deal was ever close, according to Ken Rosenthal. But he did speculate at the time that the talks could be revisited during the off-season.

There are some reasons why the Mets might be willing to deal Alonso, even though the incoming president of baseball operations for the Mets, David Stearns, said that he “expected” Alonso to be the Mets’ Opening Day starter at first base in 2024.

The first reason the Mets might be willing to deal Alonso is that they’re coming off a terrible season in a tough division and they already traded many of their better players at the trade deadline. Alonso is eligible to become a free agent at the end of this upcoming season, and while the Mets have all the money they need to re-sign him, they may not think it’s the wisest choice for a rebuilding team.

Then there is the possibility that Alonso just doesn’t want to remain in Queens. There’s a new boss for the Mets and Alonso was reportedly not a fan of his first decision in charge.

Then there is the report from Jesse Rogers that came out today that Alonso actually wants to play for the Cubs. If Alonso has his heart set on playing at Wrigley, then the Mets might want to at least get something for that other than a draft pick when he leaves in a year.

A deal for Alonso would not be cheap, although it also would not be something that would gut the farm system. For one, Alonso only has one year left of team control and while the Cubs would only trade for him on the hope that he would re-sign, there would be no guarantee of that. But Alonso has also been one of the premiere power hitters of the National League over the past five seasons with 192 career home runs. Teams don’t give away a player like that for nothing.

If the Cubs try to put together a trade package for Alonso, I’m going to assume that Pete Crow-Armstrong and Cade Horton would be off-limits. I’m sure the Mets would ask for them and I’m pretty sure Jed Hoyer would say “no.” I’m also going to say that Jordan Wicks would be a non-starter for the Cubs as he seems to have pitched his way into the middle of the Cubs’ rotation for next year. Matt Shaw is probably also a “no” as far as the Cubs are concerned.

I think everyone else, however, would be fair game. Christopher Morel, Javier Assad and Alexander Canario would be those with major league experience that could go to the Mets in trade. Other than Crow-Armstrong, Shaw and Horton, I think everyone in the minors would be on the table. That includes Owen Caissie, Kevin Alcántara, James Triantos, Ben Brown, Jackson Ferris, Moises Ballesteros, BJ Murray and everyone else in the system. No, the Mets wouldn’t get all of those players, but they’d likely get one major leaguer and two more prospects. They might also want a first baseman back like Matt Mervis on top of all that.

I don’t know how new boss David Stearns is going to run the Mets, but traditionally, the Mets would want players closer to the majors than players in the low minors. So they might want two of Caissie, Alcántara or Brown plus Morel and maybe a high-upside pitcher like Ferris. Maybe the Cubs agree to that and maybe they don’t. Maybe it only takes one of those better prospects and a package like Triantos, Ballesteros and Murray. But as far as Caissie and Alcántara go, the Cubs have more quality outfield prospects than they have spots in the outfield. But losing either one would still hurt.

Now would Alonso be worth all that? His power is incredible, but the rest of his game isn’t as special. He’s also coming off a season where he hit .217 with a .318 on-base percentage. A fair chunk of that OBP came from a league-leading 21 hit-by-pitches. Still, that was a down year for him. His career batting average is .251 with a .342 OBP and anyone would take that with Alonso’s power. Defensively, Alonso is probably a below-average first baseman. Alonso also turns 29 this December.

So taking all that into consideration, would you make a deal for Pete Alonso?

Thank you so very much for stopping by this evening. It was wonderful having you around. Please recycle any cans or bottles. Get home safely. Tip your waitstaff. Let’s do this again tomorrow night when we have another BCB After Dark.