Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re so glad you decided to stop in tonight. We hope you’re having a great week. Come on in out of the cold. There’s no cover charge. We have a few tables available. The show will start shortly. 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 which recently non-tendered closer would you most like the Cubs to sign. I guess you weren’t too excited, since “None of them” ran away with the vote with 35 percent. Another 25 percent said the Cubs should sign Jordan Romano and 22 percent picked Kyle Finnegan. José Leclerc got 18 percent of the vote.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t normally do any movie stuff. But I will remind you that the BCB Winter Hitchcock Classic will start soon—either tomorrow or Monday. But I always have time for jazz, so those of you who skip that can do so now. You won’t hurt my feelings.

To get you started with the Christmas jazz, I’m going to start you out easy with a live performance of “My Favorite Things” by saxophonist John Coltrane in Belgium in 1965. Heck, “My Favorite Things” wasn’t even considered a Christmas song in 1965. McCoy Tyner is on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music.

So this happened yesterday.

Kikuchi was someone we discussed around here as a possible Cubs signing and I estimated that Kikuchi would get a deal of around three years and $56 million. That’s reasonably close to what he got, but I was low by $7 million. In any case, 44 percent of you were “meh” on Kikuchi two weeks ago.

So tonight I’m just going to ask you “Should the Cubs have beaten the Angels offer?” Now you can say “No, Kikuchi isn’t worth that” but the Cubs seem determined to add a starter this winter and as Heyman writes, Kikuchi’s three-year, $63 million deal is setting the market. If you don’t overpay for a free agent, you don’t get any free agents. That’s called the “winner’s curse.”

While we don’t know for sure, Kikuchi is considered to be in the same free agent bucket as Nathan Eovaldi. Jack Flaherty might get a little more and Walker Buehler a lot less (at least in terms of years) because of his injury issues. Sean Manaea will probably get about the same, but only because his market is depressed by a qualifying offer. Nick Pivetta and Luis Severino would likely cost less, but only because they have qualifying offers attached. It doesn’t sound like the Cubs want to sacrifice their second- and fifth-round picks to sign someone with a QO.

So should the Cubs have gone harder after Kikuchi, with the understanding that many of the other free agent pitchers either have qualifying offers or injury issues? Should they have beaten the Angels offer.

Thank you for stopping by. We’re all getting in the holiday spirit around here and you helped make it special. Get home safely. Stay warm. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.