BCB After Darkish: Are you interested by Chris Bassitt?

[ad_1] It’s Wednesday night right here at BCB After Darkish: the best spot for evening owls, early risers, new dad and mom and Cubs followers overseas. We’re so glad you determined to cease by. Come on in out of the chilly. There’s no cowl cost this night. We nonetheless have a number of tables out there. The hostess can lead you to your desk. Convey your individual beverage.

BCB After Darkish is the place so that you can speak baseball, music, films, or the rest it is advisable get off your chest, so long as it's throughout the guidelines of the positioning. The late-nighters are inspired to get the celebration began, however everybody else is invited to hitch in as you get up the subsequent morning and into the afternoon.

Commercial

Final evening I requested you about infielder/left fielder Miguel Andujar, who was linked to the Cubs in at the least one report. I used to be fairly skeptical about signing him (regardless that I believe he’s a stable participant) as a result of I didn’t see the match. Nearly all of you agreed, as 68 p.c of you had been in opposition to the thought.

Right here’s the half with the music and the films. The second spherical of the BCB Winter Science Fiction Traditional is coming to an in depth. However as at all times, you’re free to skip forward to the baseball stuff on the finish. We’re OK with that.

For these of you who like showtunes, tonight we've got vocalist Jordan Fisher performing “Pure Creativeness” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Manufacturing facility. Emmet Cohen is on piano. Peter Martin performs keyboards, Tivon Pennicott is on tenor sax, Yasushi Nakamura is the bassist and Joe Farnsworth is on drums.

(Enjoyable reality: My spouse hates that film. She hated it as a toddler and she or he hates it immediately. Her well-meaning sister gave her a blu-ray copy of it for Christmas one yr and she or he needed to fake that she favored it.)

Commercial

It is a model new video launched simply yesterday.

You voted within the BCB Winter Science Fiction Traditional and there are a variety of Star Trek followers amongst my readers. I suppose there are a variety of Star Trek followers amongst individuals who write right here as effectively. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan superior over the number-one seed, Blade Runner. As I had written, Blade Runner is the one movie that will get talked about most frequently as one of the best science fiction movie of all time should you don’t choose 2001: A Area Odyssey. However you want Kirk, Spock, McCoy and particularly Ricardo Montalban as Khan.

Tonight we're going to the ultimate quadrant of our tourney, the “trendy” bracket, to complete out the second spherical. Quantity-two seed Brazil (1985) goes up in opposition to Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

Commercial

2. Brazil. (1985) Directed by Terry Gilliam. Starring Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro and Katherine Helmond.

Right here’s what I wrote final time about Brazil.

3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Directed by James Cameron. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Robert Patrick.

Right here’s what I wrote final time about Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Each movies are terrifying in their very own means. Brazil scares me with its portrait of a totalitarian world the place the wealthy dwell lives of pointless conspicuous consumption. The remainder of us dwell in a world desensitized to the capricious violence and cruelty of the state and that the one solution to survive is to stay as nameless as doable.

Commercial

Whereas I’m not nervous about time-traveling killer robots, I certain as heck am nervous in regards to the synthetic intelligence future that created the nightmare way forward for Terminator 2.

So now it’s time to vote.

You've gotten till Monday to vote. Arising on Monday is the ultimate matchup of the second spherical, the place The Matrix takes on Again to the Future.

Welcome again to everybody who skips the music and films.

Earlier this week I requested you should you thought the Cubs ought to enhance their pitching depth by signing Zac Gallen. I suppose it’s not fairly proper to say that Gallen would “enhance depth” as a result of he’d most likely be one of many higher pitchers within the rotation. However it will imply that different pitchers would transfer down the pecking order and supply extra depth.

Commercial

One pitcher on the free agent market who would enhance the Cubs’ depth however has gotten little or no consideration for some purpose is right-hander Chris Bassitt. Bassitt has been as stable of a pitcher over the previous 5 years that you could possibly ask for. He simply completed a three-year, $63 million cope with the Blue Jays the place he revamped 30 begins yearly and pitched over 170 innings yearly. He posted a Fangraphs WAR of between 2.3 and a pair of.6 in all three seasons with the Blue Jays. In truth, based on Fangraphs, Bassitt has had a WAR above two in each season since 2019, not counting the shortened 2020 season. However he pitched effectively in 2020 too.

I haven’t heard the Cubs related to Bassitt in any respect, however I've heard folks arguing that Bassitt is a greater pitcher than Zac Gallen. He did certainly have a greater 2025 season than Gallen, though we’ve been over that 2025 could also be an outlier dangerous yr for Gallen. Bassitt is also a extra excessive floor ball pitcher, which performs in to the Cubs sturdy infield protection. He most likely would additionally value rather a lot lower than Gallen.

I’ll add that Bassitt pitched very effectively within the postseason final yr for the Blue Jays as effectively.

So why is Gallen a lot extra extremely regarded that Bassitt? For one, age is a large issue. Bassitt is heading into his age 37 season whereas Gallen goes into his age 30 season. As he ages, Bassitt’s fastball velocity is dropping. He solely averaged 91.4 miles per hour on his fastball final season, which is down from 92.7 the yr earlier than and undoubtedly down from the 94 mph or so he threw when he was younger.

Commercial

Bassitt additionally struggles with left-handed pitching much more than Gallen does. Whereas their total outcomes are comparable, Bassitt is the kind of pitcher you may wish to skip in opposition to a lefty-heavy lineup. Nevertheless, because the Cubs have a number of good left-handers, that may not be as massive of an issue for the Cubs.

Bassitt additionally has some expertise pitching out of the pen, so if he’s not one of many high 5 - 6 starters on the Cubs, he might grow to be an extended man within the bullpen.

So mainly, Bassitt would function an improve on Colin Rea, should you suppose he’s higher than Colin Rea.

Bassitt’s age really performs in effectively for the Cubs in that he’s most likely not going to get greater than a one-year deal at this level. I’m proposing a one-year, $17 million deal for Chris Bassitt? In the event you had been working the Cubs, would you make that provide?

Commercial

Thanks for stopping by tonight and all week. We actually admire your patronage. Please get house safely. Keep heat on the market. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And be a part of us once more subsequent week for extra BCB After Darkish.