It’s Tuesday night here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest afterparty for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in out of the cold. We’re so glad you decided to stop by. Your
name is on the guest list. We still have a few tables available. 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 about the idea of the Cubs signing free agent Max Scherzer to a one-year deal. You were pretty down about the Cubs adding a future Hall of Famer (Yeah, I know. His induction ceremony is closer than his last Cy Young Award.) with 63 percent of you saying it was a bad idea.
Here’s the time when we listen to jazz and talk movies. You’re free to skip that. You won’t hurt my feelings.
Tonight we’ve got some music to help you relax before going to bed (or heading out for the day). This is pianist Sonny Clark. This is “Deep in a Dream” from his final album before his unfortunate death at the age of 31 in 1963.
Ike Quebec is on tenor sax, Butch Warren plays bass and Billy Higgins is the drummer.
You still have time to vote in the BCB Winter Science Fiction Classic between Solaris (1972) and Seconds (1966). The winner will be announced tomorrow night.
Tomorrow you’ll have the chance to vote between the number-three seed in our “New Hollywood” bracket La Jetée (1962) and Alphaville (1965). This is our French New Wave matchup and it’s an interesting contrast between the “Left Bank” New Wave, as represented by director Chris Marker’s La Jetée, and the “Right Bank” New Wave Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville. Those distinctions refer to the different sides of the Seine in Paris. The “Right Bank” directors were people like Godard, François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette and others who came up through the extended film world. In particular, most of them wrote for the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma before becoming directors.
The “Left Bank” New Wave refers to directors like Agnès Varda, Jacques Demy, Alain Resnais and Marker who mainly came to film through other visual arts. To put in in American terms of directors from a similar era, Peter Bogdanovich would have been a “Right Bank” filmmaker and David Lynch would be a “Left Bank” filmmaker.
In any case, both of these films are quite different from the standard Hollywood fare, although Blade Runner certainly owes something to Alphaville and 12 Monkeys is a kind of remake of La Jetée.
Then, of course, the German synth-pop band Alphaville was named after the movie and they had a song called “Forever Young” which was famous at Wrigley Field for being David Ross’ walk-up music. So it all comes back around to the Cubs.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
The non-tender deadline is this Friday and the Cubs have some decisions to make. The one I’m asking you about tonight is right-handed reliever Eli Morgan, who is arbitration-eligible this year.
The Cubs traded promising outfield prospect Alfonsin Rosario to the Guardians last winter for Morgan with the idea that he could shore up the Cubs’ bullpen, which we all know was a big problem in 2024. There was hope that Morgan could be a setup man for whomever ended up closing. He was coming off a big year with the Guardians where he went 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 32 relief appearances. His peripheral numbers weren’t quite as strong as that sparkling ERA might suggest, but they still indicated that Morgan was a solid middle-relief option with the upside for a little more.
With the Cubs, however, Morgan was one of two things—bad or injured. He had a good outing against the Dodgers in Japan and then another solid one versus the Diamondbacks in Arizona in March. But then Morgan melted down later in that series against Arizona, getting the loss after giving up six runs in that game that the Diamondbacks came back to beat the Cubs 10-6 after the Cubs led 6-2 heading to the bottom of the eighth.
After three scoreless one-inning appearances in early April, Morgan fell apart again against the Padres on April 14, giving up four runs, including two home runs, in just two-thirds of an inning. After that game, it was revealed that Morgan had a right elbow impingement and he headed to the 15-day injured list—which eventually became the 60-day injured list.
That elbow injury sidelined Morgan for the rest of the season. He attempted to come back in June, but after two rehab appearances in the minors, Morgan suffered a setback and the Cubs shut him down again. Morgan started a second rehab in August and made two appearances for South Bend and eight for Iowa. He pitched well enough (a 2.25 ERA in September) but when Morgan’s minor-league rehab time ran out, the Cubs decided to option him back to Iowa rather than activate him in the majors for the stretch drive. That may have been a decision that was as much about the Cubs bullpen as it was about Morgan, but it did indicate that the Cubs didn’t feel that Morgan was better than anyone they had in the bullpen at the time. As the I-Cubs season was basically over when that happened, Morgan didn’t pitch again last season after being sent down.
So Morgan’s record last year in the majors was 0-1 with a 12.27 ERA. That’s terrible, but it’s also basically two disastrous outings and five good ones. But there’s also the issue of his elbow injury. The Cubs have better knowledge of Morgan’s medical prognosis than we do, but elbow injuries like that can be signs of bigger problems down the road like Tommy John surgery. Morgan also made two separate trips to the injured list in 2024 with the Guardians, although he came back from both of those IL stints and pitched well afterwards.
If it’s just a matter of money, offering arbitration to Morgan is a no-brainer. He’s only projected to make $1.1 million next year and that’s not much more than the major-league minimum. But he would take up a roster spot that could be used by a better or healthier pitcher. So basically, this comes down to whether or not you think Eli Morgan is worth keeping around.
Thanks for stopping by this evening. We’re always glad to have you. Don’t be a stranger. Get home safely. Stay warm. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow evening for more BCB After Dark.
