BCB After Dark: Trade for Paul Skenes?

spIt’s Wednesday evening here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest spot for night owls, early risers new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and join us. There are still a few tables available. Let us know if you need anything. There’s no cover charge, but there is a two-drink minimum. However, it’s 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.

The Cubs beat the Rockies tonight 2-1 behind a strong pitching effort from Matthew Boyd and the bullpen. Oh, and Seiya Suzuki had an RBI single and Pete Crow-Armstrong hit his 15th home run of the year. Could he hit 30 this year? I mean, he’s halfway there and it’s not yet June.

Last night I asked you how the Cubs should cover for Miguel Amaya while he’s out injured. A huge majority of 88 percent agreed with what the Cubs are doing—using Reese McGuire as the backup and leaving Moisés Ballesteros in Iowa.

Here’s the part where we listen to music and talk movies. You don’t have to join in if you don’t want. We won’t be offended.

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Tonight we are fortunate enough to feature the great vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater alongside pianist Bill Charlap playing “I’m Beginning to See the Light.” This is from the 2023 International Jazz Day.

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I’ve made it clear that I’m pretty squeamish when it comes to gore on the screen, which limits my enjoyment of a lot of modern horror. But I’ve been trying to watch the Italian giallo genre, which can be a little bloody for my tastes but it also tends to be very stylish in a way that appeals to me. There also tends to be quite a bit of Hitchcockian suspense in these films. I loved director Mario Bava’s Black Sunday (1960), which has the advantage (to me) of being in black-and-white. Director Dario Argento’s Deep Red (1975) was a bit bloody for me, but it was also really stylish and cool when people weren’t getting decapitated. Argento’s Suspiria (1977) wasn’t quite as stylish but it was a touch less bloody, so I enjoyed most of that too. I really liked director Luciano Ercoli’s Death Walks at Midnight (1972) because despite its gore, it was really over-the-top silly. Oh, and it also looked great too.

There are some giallo films I liked less, and then there’s director Aldo Lado’s Who Saw Her Die? (1972), starring George Lazenby and Anita Strindberg as estranged parents of a little girl who is the victim of a serial killer who hunts the canals of Venice. And all I can think of when I watched this movie is “GEORGE LAZENBY QUIT BEING JAMES BOND FOR THIS?”

Not only did Lazenby make this film instead of playing Bond, we don’t even get to hear his voice as he got dubbed into Italian. Even the English language version dubbed him! Lazenby is also trying to look as un-Bond as he possibly can with a silly seventies-style mustache. He’s certainly trying to put distance between himself and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service here.

(OK, technically Lazenby just didn’t want to get tied down as Bond and wanted to do other things. He didn’t specifically want to make this movie. But since this was the second film Lazenby made after On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, I think we can assume this was the quality of film that Lazenby was being offered when he turned down a chance to reprise his Bond role.)

You’ve got most of the plot already. Lazenby plays Franco Serpieri, a Venetian sculptor who has a child with a Dutch model (Strindberg). Their daughter Roberta lives with the mother in Amsterdam and she comes to Venice for a visitation with her father. There, she plays with the neighborhood children and is stalked by a mysterious man who turns out to be a serial killer.

After Roberta goes missing, Serpieri goes crazy looking for her. Of course the mother flies down to Venice to help look for her. When she’s finally found dead, Serpieri makes it his mission to bring her killer to justice. Sounds normal, right? The people of Venice don’t think so! They keep telling him to leave his daughter’s death alone and move on. What’s worse is that the girl’s mother starts to agree and thinks they should just forget about their daughter’s death.

There are a lot of similarities between Who Saw Her Die? and Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1973), including two parents struggling with the death of a child and the hunt for a serial killer in Venice. But while Who Saw Her Die? came out first, Don’t Look Now did it better. Certainly Don’t Look Now had a bigger budget and was able to capture the beauty of Venice a lot better. Still, there are some nice shots of Venice in Who Saw Her Die?, just not enough of them.

The one thing I did love about Who Saw Her Die? is the Ennio Morricone score. It’s not at the same level as the scores he did for the Sergio Leone Westerns, but it’s haunting and pulsating in a way that gets your heart racing at the right moments. But a score can’t save a movie.

Who Saw Her Die? is not nearly as gruesome as a lot of giallo films, so that’s a point in its favor in my book. It has the nice setting of Venice and the great Morricone music. But the plot is just mediocre and the reveal of the killer is just dumb. It’s not even dumb enough where the director could lean into that and make it stylish camp like Death Walks at Midnight.

The trailer for Who Saw Her Die?

I watched the Italian version with subtitles, but if I haven’t dissuaded you from watching the movie, the dubbed English version is on YouTube. I mean, both versions are dubbed, but you know what I mean.

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Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.

I hate to quote Jim Bowden, who somehow has a job at The Athletic after he got fired (or resigned before he was fired) as general manager of the Nationals for stealing bonus money from 16-year-old kids in Latin America. (OK, allegedly.) But I’m stuck for a topic, so I found Bowden’s article on possible trades for Pirates ace Paul Skenes. (sub. req.)

Everyone knows who Paul Skenes is. He’s arguably the best pitcher on the planet at the moment. Were it not for the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal, I wouldn’t even have to say “arguably.” Skenes has a fastball that averages over 98 mile per hour and touches 100 often. He’s also got a mid-80s slider that grades out as a 70 on the 20-to-80 scale (the fastball is an 80) and what he calls a “splinker,” which is a nasty combination of a splitter and a sinker.

You also know that the Pirates are a terrible team and owner Bob Nutting seems to have no intention of spending any money to build a good team around their superstar pitcher. It’s also a foregone conclusion that Skenes is leaving Pittsburgh when he becomes a free agent in 2030, if he isn’t traded before then.

So in Skenes, you’ve got maybe the best pitcher in the game under team control for 4 ¹⁄₂ seasons. If Pirates GM Ben Cherington wants to win with the tiny budget Nutting gives him, he may need to deal Skenes for several cost-controlled players that would fill several holes instead of just one.

So Bowden’s proposal to trade Paul Skenes to the Cubs is:

3B Matt Shaw

RHP Cade Horton

OF Kevin Alcántara

SS Juan Tomas

So yeah, that’s a lot. I don’t think I have to explain to you who the first three names on that list are, but Tomas is a 17-year-old with big upside that the Cubs signed for $1.1 million in this year’s international free agent class. He’s yet to make his Dominican Summer League debut, so he’s a bit of an unknown, but he gets rave reviews from the scouts.

So would you make that deal? The Cubs would upgrade from Horton to Skenes, but the cost would be Matt Shaw. I think most of you would be willing to part with Alcántara and Tomas for a talent like Skenes, but giving up Shaw would hurt. It would leave the Cubs with a big hole at third base which would have to be addressed at the trade deadline.

On the other hand, if the Cubs make the World Series this year, wouldn’t you love to have Paul Skenes starting games one and five? I’m not saying those would be guaranteed wins, but boy, I’d like the Cubs chances in a game that Skenes started no matter who he was facing.

And remember, the Cubs wouldn’t just get Skenes for 2025. They’d also get him for 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029.

I know that some of you are going to say “make that offer but take Shaw out of it.” But c’mon. You’re not going to acquire Paul Skenes in a trade that isn’t going to hurt. I suppose you could substitute Pete Crow-Armstrong for Shaw, but that makes the deal even worse from a Cubs perspective.

(By the way, Bowden’s Mets’ package for Skenes is laughably weak.)

So if you were Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherington offered you this deal, would you take it?

It’s too bad the Cubs don’t still have Daniel Vogelbach, because dealing him straight up for Skenes would be a good deal for both sides. (That’s an old joke on this site for our newer readers.)

Thanks for stopping by this week. I hope you’ve had a good time. I know the Cubs enjoyed this past three days. Please get home safely. Check around to make sure you haven’t forgotten any valuables. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next time for more BCB After Dark.

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