Cubs BCB After Dark: Should the Cubs bring back Michael Soroka?

Welcome to another evening here at BCB After Dark: the hot place for hepcats, night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in out of the cold. Our fireplace is warm. We’re just getting started here. There’s no cover charge. 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 if the Cubs still needed to add a “proven” closer this winter. A majority of 63 percent thought that the Cubs should do that, while 37 percent of you think Daniel Palencia can do the job without a net. Or you think someone without “closer experience” can be the net.

I don’t normally talk movies on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, but you still have time to vote in the BCB Winter Science Fiction Classic matchup between Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Up tomorrow, Alien (1979) will face off against The Thing (1982) in our sci-fi/horror mashup matchup.

I always have time for jazz, so you can skip ahead now if you want.

I guess it’s December and I guess that means it is time for Christmas jazz. So tonight we’re featuring the great vocalist Gregory Porter singing “Everything’s Not Lost” from his Christmas Wish album in 2023.

If you like soul music more than jazz, you might well like this. Porter very much straddles the line between those two genres.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the music. You missed some great singing.

The Cubs made a controversial trade at the deadline this past July when they picked up Michael Soroka from the Nationals. It was controversial because 1) Cub fans were hoping for a more prominent starter and 2) Soroka immediately got hurt in his first start for the Cubs. That’s not that surprising, since what has kept Soroka from repeating his All-Star season as a rookie for the Braves in 2019 is injuries.

But in what little time Soroka did pitch for the Cubs, he pitched pretty well. His ERA in Chicago was 1.08, albeit in a very small sample size of 8.1 innings. He did have four unearned runs in one game and I do think that sometimes the difference between earned and unearned runs isn’t as great as we are led to believe. But in this case, I don’t think Soroka pitched all that badly. It was September 23 against the Mets and Soroka was starting his second inning of relif. If Dansby Swanson doesn’t make a rare error, Soroka gets out of the inning with no damage. Two of the unearned runs charged to Soroka came after he left the game when Taylor Rogers gave up a three-run home run.

The Cubs did apparently tinker with Soroka’s pitch mix. The Cubs had Soroka throw his fastball and changeup less and his curve and sinker more. His fastball averaged half a mile per hour more in Chicago than it did with Washington. Obviously this is all in a very small sample size.

The Cubs wouldn’t want Soroka to be one of their top five starting pitchers, presumably. Instead, his role would be as a swingman who would pitch out of the bullpen but be available to move back into the rotation when injuries happen. We all know that injuries happen.

So basically, he would be a second Colin Rea, although one with considerably more upside should he return to his pre-pandemic form with the Braves. Soroka is also just 28 years old, which is prime for most pitchers. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN ranked Soroka as the 35th-best free agent this winter, although other rankings tend to leave him off their top 50. MLB Trade Rumors gave him an “honorable mention” after their top 50 free agents.

With Soroka’s injury history, I don’t think anyone will offer him anything more than a one-year deal. Maybe a one-year deal with a team option for a second. The Nationals signed Soroka last year to a one-year, $9 million deal. I don’t know that with his 2025 season that he can get can get that much.

So I’m proposing a one-year, $6 million offer for Soroka. ESPN’s put a two-year, $23 million estimate on him, which only makes sense if you think he’s the 35th-best free agent this winter. No one else seems to think he’ll get that much and even McDaniel at ESPN said it was more likely he’d sign a one-year deal as he tries to establish value for a longer-term deal next winer.

So would you offer Michael Soroka a one-year, $6 millon deal?

Thanks for coming by tonight. Get home safely. Stay warm. Have a hot cocoa for us. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tipyour waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.