What about Yusei Kikuchi?
The late-night/early-morning spot for Cubs fans asks you about free agent left-hander Yusei Kikuchi.
Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the grooviest gathering of night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Please come on in out of the autumn chill. There’s no cover charge this evening. We still have a few tables available. Let us know if we can do anything to make your stay more enjoyable. 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.
Last night, I asked you where you thought Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki would sign. I really admire your optimism around here, because 37 percent of you think he’ll be a Cub. That’s a lot more optimistic than I am. Another 31 percent thought he’d sign with the Dodgers, which is the general assumption of where he’s going to sign. Another 22 percent said the Padres, whom I think are the second favorites after the Dodgers.
On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t normally do a movie essay. But I always have time for jazz, so those of you who skip that can do so now. You won’t hurt my feelings.
Drummer Roy Haynes died earlier today at the age of 99. Haynes has been around so long that he played with Charlie Parker and he saw jazz go from bebop to cool to post-bob to fusion and beyond. Haynes was better known as a sideman than as a bandleader in his own right, which meant that he didn’t get as much fame as contemporaries like Max Roach and Art Blakey. But Haynes was always more about the music than the attention.
Here’s Haynes on David Letterman in 2013. Just remember, he’s 88 years old in this video and he’s still playing this energetically. Jaleel Shaw is on saxophone, Martin Bejerano (who posted this video) is on piano and David Wong is on bass. (I originally typed “on base.” We must be in extra innings.)
Jeff Passan posted this article previewing the Hot Stove (ESPN+ sub. req.) and while there is a lot of good stuff in there, I think some people online have been reading too much into some off-hand comments Passan threw in there. But he did make a comment that connected the Cubs to Yusei Kikuchi, the 33-year-old left-hander who turned his career around after a trade deadline deal to Houston this past season.
Now again, I don’t want to read too much into Passan’s comment. He just listed the Cubs as a team that “could” be interested in Kikuchi. He’s not reporting on any inside information he may have gotten. In any case, the Cubs, under current team president Jed Hoyer, have been awfully tight-lipped about who their offseason targets are. They were barely connected to Shōta Imanaga last year before the announcement of his signing and the Craig Counsell hiring came out of the blue. So this is speculation, not reporting.
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