4/10 Cubs (Hendricks) @ Padres (Cease) 5:40 PM

[ToolDRT]

3 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I’m still pissed about Monday. This game should just be gravy

Exactly! The scary part is it could have happened in the Rockies finale too. Gotten tighten up with those big leads. 

[JHBulls]

Good thing is we only have about 6 months left of Hendricks’ contract and aren’t in “contract expiry” watch for 6+ years like most Cubs fans were for Heyward. 

[Jason Ross]

16 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Right, I’m not saying Hendricks deserves 0 ER, though you could argue the only 3 well struck balls being in consecutive PA is at least a little unfortunate.  It’s that the perception that Hendricks is pitching badly(his 9.00 ERA today) is a function of misfortune rather than him actually getting battered around for 4 innings.

I think it's a little of column A and a little of column B, personally. I don't think he's been horrible but I also think we're starting to see a bit of a tipping point with Hendricks right now as the command just hasn't been there like it was when he as younger.

Through four innings, Hendricks has two swings and misses. Entering, he was at an ~8% in-zone-whiff%, a 6.5% drop from last year. The reality of guys who don't get whiffs is that they're going to see more pitches hit in the line of play and more of those low xBA hits are just going to drop as a matter of sample size, as well. 

I'm not so worried about the 9.00 ERA, but the severe lack of whiffs is a red flag. He's really been leaving pitches up in the zone a lot more and he's just not getting as many off the plate. Not a panic-mode-post, but not a great start for a pitcher I think is kind of running closer and closer to the margins as well. Hopefully there's a mechanical change that can get the pitches back to that off-corner like he had in 2023, and less like he was at in 2021-2022

(sorry to take this post in a bit of a different direction. I went to respond...then thought "Hey I should peep TruMedia!"...then...well...this is where my ADHD brain ended and wanted to share regardless of the initial direction of the post because I thought it was interesting)

[chibears55]

KABOOM....

Only reason he still in there now is because the pen is gassed

[WhyCantWeWin]

Might as well just keep him in there and save the bullpen a bit. He’s just doesn’t have it anymore

[Chicago Al]

28 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

I still feel Hendricks better suited for the pen..

Keep Brown in rotation when Taillon returns and move Hendricks to pen/spot starter

What good would Hendricks provide out of the bullpen? He doesn’t have swing and miss stuff, he doesn’t throw hard, sure he might not walk guys but he’s not a shut down arm you want to rely on coming out of the bullpen holding a 1 or 2 run lead. 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I wonder if Kyle has considered just pitching like he did in 2016.

[Cubs420psd]

107 MPH lolz

 

Yeah no at this point save the pen and just let him get teed off on

 

 

[Rex Buckingham]

and now the game is out of reach

[KCCub]

Oof

[WhyCantWeWin]

Well this is getting real bad now, he’s just toast

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Just now, Rex Buckingham said:

and now the game is out of reach

That’s what Padres fans said Monday

[gflore34]

Just now, Chicago Al said:

What good would Hendricks provide out of the bullpen? He doesn’t have swing and miss stuff, he doesn’t throw hard, sure he might not walk guys but he’s not a shut down arm you want to rely on coming out of the bullpen holding a 1 or 2 run lead. 

Mop up, either the Cubs are way ahead or way down, you can't bring him in for any high leverage situations, he's got no chance.

[Jason Ross]

[JHBulls]

We have to suffer a Kyle Hendricks start because he won a World Series 8 years ago. 

[ToolDRT]

He appears to be toast. 

[Cubs420psd]

The Professor is now the janitor.

[gflore34]

Seriously you know are done when poor hitter like Profar is 3-3, all of them rockets, against you.

[chibears55]

3 minutes ago, Ding Dong Johnson said:

I wonder if Kyle has considered just pitching like he did in 2016.

If he can be 8 yrs younger then maybe

[Cubs420psd]

I'm not as locked in on MLB as I used to be, but was there really nothing the Cubs could have done better with that 16.5 million  then just giving it to the burnt toast that just walked off the mound?

 

Why are you giving that kind of money to Kyle Hendricks? Were you not confident enough in that great young pitching that you've been bragging about for the last 2 years?

 

 

[UMFan83]

I still think it was defensible and still am not 100% convinced he is washed but certainly feeling less confident in that as more datapoints are added

[chibears55]

5 minutes ago, Chicago Al said:

What good would Hendricks provide out of the bullpen? He doesn’t have swing and miss stuff, he doesn’t throw hard, sure he might not walk guys but he’s not a shut down arm you want to rely on coming out of the bullpen holding a 1 or 2 run lead. 

You bring him into a clean inning to where he can give you an inning or two in early/mid relief and you give him the blowout games, or when pen is taxed like tonight.

 

[Jason Ross]

5 minutes ago, Cubs420psd said:

I'm not as locked in on MLB as I used to be, but was there really nothing the Cubs could have done better with that 16.5 million  then just giving it to the burnt toast that just walked off the mound?

 

Why are you giving that kind of money to Kyle Hendricks? Were you not confident enough in that great young pitching that you've been bragging about for the last 2 years?

 

 

Hendricks hasn't been good in 2024, but I think the narrative that Hendricks was somehow a known quantity of being bad is just wrong. He was quite good in 2023. The xFIP was unimpressive, but he's been an xFIP beater his career. He was worth 2.8 fWAR. And the Cubs had to make the Hendricks option choice pretty early - they really didn't know the market was going to go how it ended up. It gave the Cubs a reasonable pitcher (2.5 fWAR) on a reasonable 1 year contract. It gave them options in the rotation next season. Once we lost Stroman, there wasn't much of a choice, I don't think. It was a very defensible move at the time.

It sucks he's been rough these three starts. I think there's probably some tweaks to fix this. There's no discernable velocity drop. There is a command issue, and it's possible that with some mechanical fixes, the control seen more in 2023 can return. He's also gotten saddled with facing Texas, San Diego and LA to start the season. With worse competition, and a bit better command, there's still the potential of a decent starting pitcher. With that said, it's probably fair to start asking ourselves what rope Hendricks has and when the line comes that tough conversations need to be had.

[JD94]

I didn’t want to keep Hendricks this year. I’m thankful for the World Series and his part in it, but I’d be 100% perfectly fine if I never watched Kyle throw another pitch in a Cubs uniform again. He just doesn’t have it anymore. We are almost conceding the game when he starts and that’s unacceptable. 

[Chicago Al]

4 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

You bring him into a clean inning to where he can give you an inning or two in early/mid relief and you give him the blowout games, or when pen is taxed like tonight.

 

I love the guy but Hendricks to me just isn’t that guy anymore. We don’t need another Cuas coming out of the bullpen.