Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re so glad to see you. Come on in out of the cold. There’s no cover charge this evening. There are still 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 proposed “Golden At-Bat” rule that was leaked to Jayson Stark of The Athletic (sub. req.) on Monday. Ninety-five percent of you hate the rule, as well you should. I imagine the other five percent are just contrarians.

Here’s the part where I talk about jazz and cinema. I will have some updates from our BCB Hitchcock Winter Classic tonight, so stay tuned for that. But if you want to skip ahead, you can do so. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Tonight we’re featuring the late jazz organist Joey DeFrancesco and his 2014 Christmas album. This is “We Three Kings.”

I said that I’d give you an extra day to vote in the first matchup of the BCB Winter Hitchcock Classic. So today I’m proud to announce that the 24-seed Foreign Correspondent has upset the 9-seed, Rebecca. So the only film of Hitchcock’s to win the Academy Award for Best Picture is the first one to go down. Of course, Oscar isn’t always the greatest judge of quality and frankly, The Grapes of Wrath is a better movie and should have won that year. (John Ford did win Best Director over Hitchcock.) And of course, Foreign Correspondent was also nominated for a Best Picture Oscar that year, so it’s not like the Academy didn’t like both films. They are both very good movies.

You still have until tomorrow to vote in the second contest, To Catch a Thief versus Lifeboat.

Up next tomorrow is the number-11 seed Shadow of a Doubt (1943) versus the 22-seed Marnie (1964). I try to keep my personal opinions out of the matchups. But if it were up to me, Shadow of a Doubt would have been seeded higher and Marnie would have been left out for Family Plot or the first The Man Who Knew Too Much. (Excuse, me, wasn’t it actually up to you? You drew up the bracket.) Yes, but I tried to use many other rankings of Hitchcock films to draw up the field and there are many fans of Marnie out there, some of who even rate it as a top-ten Hitchcock film. I’ve read a lot of defenses of Marnie and I have to admit, I can sometimes see their points. But to me, Marnie is two hours of Sean Connery psychologically torturing Tippi Hedren on-screen while Hitchcock tortured Hedren off-screen. It’s not my place to tell Hedren’s story. Tippi is still alive and can tell it herself—and she has. But I do think it’s something that we have to acknowledge that Hitchcock was a flawed human being, even if we still love most of his movies.

However, I promise to make my best case for Marnie tomorrow. And I should have no problem making a case for Shadow of a Doubt, which I think is terrific.

Welcome back to those who skip the music and the movies.

Last week on Black Friday, ESPN’s David Schoenfield published an article entitled “One big move for every team.” (ESPN+ sub. req.) For the Cubs, he killed three birds with one stone and proposed a three-way deal between the Cubs, Mariners and Phillies.

The trade proposal was:

The Mariners get third baseman Alec Bohm from the Phillies and second baseman Nico Hoerner from the Cubs

The Cubs get right-handed pitcher Luis Castillo and catcher Harry Ford from the Mariners.

The Phillies get outfielder Cody Bellinger from the Cubs.

Schoenfield admits the Cubs might have to send some cash or a prospect to Philadelphia to account for Bellinger’s salary. But nothing that would greatly change the balance of the deal.

So what’s in this for the Cubs? The Cubs give up two starting position players at positions where they have ready or almost-ready prospects. They also drop some salary (depending on how much money they have to send to Philadelphia) and get a quality starting pitcher under contract through 2027 for a little under $25 million a year. They also get a very highly-regarded catching prospect. Unfortunately, Ford isn’t major-league ready for 2025, so that presents a bit of a problem for the Cubs.

The Mariners have an excess of starting pitching, but really struggled to find quality infielders. They get Hoerner—who would be a big upgrade over second baseman Jose Polanco, and Alec Bohm, who would be an upgrade over Josh Rojas at third. Losing Ford would hurt, but the Mariners have Cal Raleigh, arguably the best catcher in the American League, under team control through the 2027 season. Seattle would also doubtlessly like to sign Raleigh to an extension, so Ford could be expendable.

For the Phillies, the deal is simple. Bohm for Bellinger. Even if he’s lost a step, Bellinger would be a huge upgrade over Johan Rojas or whomever the Phillies choose to drag out to center field. Losing Bohm would create a hole at third base, but they could either sign Alex Bregman as a free agent or sign a stopgap third baseman until Top 100 prospect Aidan Miller is ready.

So, if you’re running the Cubs, do you agree to this deal? And who says no? If you think that two or three teams would say “no” to this proposed trade, vote for the team you think would object the most to the deal.

Which team is the most likely to say no?

Thank you all for stopping by. We hope you were able to warm up a bit and have some fun. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.