Dodgers (Miller) vs Cubs (Hendricks): 4/5/24, 1:20pm, Marquee

[Rob]

2 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Wouldn't surprise me if Hendricks ends up in the bullpen this season,  he seems to be a 1 time through the order guy now.

I don't think judging anybody on what they've done against the Dodgers is fair.

[mfcubs22]

2 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Wouldn't surprise me if Hendricks ends up in the bullpen this season,  he seems to be a 1 time through the order guy now.

More like 0 time. But we’re paying him so he’ll pitch. He can still get good results against bad hitters, but he basically has no chance against a lineup like this, Rangers, Braves, etc. 

[WhyCantWeWin]

Smyly just dominates the Dodgers all the time 

[KCCub]

Good horsefeathers Smyly. I wouldn't of hated it if Counsel decided to start him in the 5th against Ohtani/Freeman instead of letting them get a third look at Hendricks. 

[UMFan83]

Starting to get a little concerned, would be interesting if one of you smart people could try to figure out whats happening under the hood with Hendricks.  He wasn't horrible last year.  

It's still just 2 starts though.  People don't seem to have patience so i'd like to understand if its just 2 bad starts against really good offenses or what.

Edited April 5, 2024 by UMFan83

[Irrelevant Dude]

1 minute ago, mfcubs22 said:

More like 0 time. But we’re paying him so he’ll pitch. He can still get good results against bad hitters, but he basically has no chance against a lineup like this, Rangers, Braves, etc. 

I know Hendricks is only 34 and probably thinks he can still pitch a few more years, but I really hope he survives t his season with a semi-respectable performance and then calls it quits.  I don't want to see him go somewhere else next year and continue to get beat up.

[Rcal10]

11 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Wouldn't surprise me if Hendricks ends up in the bullpen this season,  he seems to be a 1 time through the order guy now.

It would shock me if Hendricks ended up in the pen except for an extreme emergency situation. 

And in fairness to Hendricks he should have been through 4 with no runs allowed and probably 60 to 65 pitches. His defense didn’t help him. He got into trouble the 3rd time around. And, this is the dodgers. 

Edited April 5, 2024 by Rcal10

[Cubs420psd]

Words can not describe how much I hate that Hendricks is still in this rotation.

 

It's not 2018 anymore. Dude is throwing straight batting practice.

[chibears55]

Just now, Rcal10 said:

It would shock me if Hendricks ended up in the pen except for an extreme emergency situation. 

I'm sure he'll get a long benefit,  but dang how many times do you have to see him get lit up before you say enough. 

It's not like they don't have arms to replace him in the rotation. 

[Bull]

4 minutes ago, Cubs420psd said:

Words can not describe how much I hate that Hendricks is still in this rotation.

 

It's not 2018 anymore. Dude is throwing straight batting practice.

I feel like early season “dead arm period” performance against the World Series champs and the bugs bunny all-star line up might not be the best way to judge a guy.

[Rob]

2 minutes ago, Cubs420psd said:

Words can not describe how much I hate that Hendricks is still in this rotation.

 

It's not 2018 anymore. Dude is throwing straight batting practice.

In 2023, Hendricks posted the second highest fWAR on the pitching staff. 2.8. Higher than everybody but Steele. Pretty much tied with Stroman (0.1 fWAR higher in 0.1 more IP).

He's not as good as he once was, but he's a fine 4th starter. The problem is that with Steele out, we need too much out of him. But that's a Hoyer problem, not a Hendricks problem.

[UMFan83]

1 minute ago, Cubs420psd said:

Words can not describe how much I hate that Hendricks is still in this rotation.

 

It's not 2018 anymore. Dude is throwing straight batting practice.

But again he wasn't bad last year.  In fact in a number of areas his numbers were the best they've been since 2020.  The Cubs didn't pick up his $16.5m option for lack of better options. (at least I don't think so)

2 starts against elite offensive teams is not enough for me to suggest he should be a mop up guy just yet.

[Jason Ross]

7 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Starting to get a little concerned, would be interesting if one of you smart people could try to figure out whats happening under the hood with Hendricks.  He wasn't horrible last year.  

It's still just 2 starts though.  People don't seem to have patience so i'd like to understand if its just 2 bad starts against really good offenses or what.

I'll do some digging with TruMedia after the game! If it's really fascinating stuff it might have to wait a few days for a full article...but let me see what I can find.

[Banedon]

Another angle...
 

 

[Rob]

1 minute ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Forget HoF, Mookie is going for GOAT. There’s a reality he is a 3x MVP already

Mookie has to put up another 100 fWAR to be in the discussion for GOAT.

If you want to put money on it, I'd give you some good odds.

[JBears79]

Mookie is a sure fire HoFer. He's that good and he's incredibly fun to watch. I hate that hes on the Dodgers but having a guy like him as one of the faces of baseball is good for the sport. He's super likeable

[UMFan83]

Drew Smyly all the sudden turning into a lockdown reliever will never not surprise me.  He went from getting shelled as a starter last year to immediately being an effective bullpen arm.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

13 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Starting to get a little concerned, would be interesting if one of you smart people could try to figure out whats happening under the hood with Hendricks.  He wasn't horrible last year.  

It's still just 2 starts though.  People don't seem to have patience so i'd like to understand if its just 2 bad starts against really good offenses or what.

I would characterize today as having unlucky defense cost him 2 runs in the first, and then several really good hitters squaring him up the 3rd time through the order.  I don't think there's anything particularly problematic about that, those guys either won't be in other lineups or Hendricks will have a little better endurance to hit spots later in the year and mitigate some of that.  Against Texas he got beat around more, but that also was an excellent lineup.  

[SOFNR]

 

11 minutes ago, Cubs420psd said:

Words can not describe how much I hate that Hendricks is still in this rotation.

 

It's not 2018 anymore. Dude is throwing straight batting practice.

It was the right decision to start the season. He performed well last year.  When Steele and Tailon get back, maybe you look at how Assad and Hendricks have performed and reevaluate that fifth spot. But I'm not sure i'm digging his grave after 2 starts against the Rangers and Dodgers either.

[Crusader]

Aside from the bad defense causing him to have his pitch count elevated, The ump behind the plate wasn’t giving the low strike to either team, Hendericks needs that to be effective.

 

Consequently, the ball was elevated and the Dodgers did Dodger things against elevated high 80s fastballs.

Edited April 5, 2024 by Crusader

[Transmogrified Tiger]

1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

Drew Smyly all the sudden turning into a lockdown reliever will never not surprise me.  He went from getting shelled as a starter last year to immediately being an effective bullpen arm.

The thing that I forgot about Smyly last year until recently is that he wasn't Shawn Estes the whole year until he got moved to the pen, on June 27th he had a 3.38 ERA in a half-season's worth of starts.  So I think we should be open to the idea that he got out of sync in some way(e.g. minor injury that begat mechanical issues) and the move to the pen ended up being the scenery change that got him back on track.

[UMFan83]

Could really use this run Happ

[Jason Ross]

Happer! 

[UMFan83]

2 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

The thing that I forgot about Smyly last year until recently is that he wasn't Shawn Estes the whole year until he got moved to the pen, on June 27th he had a 3.38 ERA in a half-season's worth of starts.  So I think we should be open to the idea that he got out of sync in some way(e.g. minor injury that begat mechanical issues) and the move to the pen ended up being the scenery change that got him back on track.

Yeah I remember him being really solid in April/May (like the game against the Dodgers).  That's not a bad theory.  I think he even had a spot start in September when he wasn't bad.

 

HAPP!

Edited April 5, 2024 by UMFan83

[SOFNR]

Happ is killing it right now. Keep piling on.