Kyle Hendricks to the....bullpen?!

[Bertz]

 

[KCCub]

Excellent. 

[PackLandVA]

Somebody had to take Adbert's role - up by a bunch or down by a bunch.

[chibears55]

27 minutes ago, Bertz said:

 

He'll be there til guys get healthy and return,  then he'll be released ..

My opinion 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Saw this mentioned a couple places on Twitter, but Kyle is 5-6 weeks away from hitting 10 years of service time, which is a pretty important marker for a lot of players.  If they are thinking about demoting or releasing him in his current state, I wouldn't be surprised if they make every effort to get him to that line, and this decision is probably along that path.

[WhyCantWeWin]

He’s on his way out soon, this is basically the last chance for him. When he got decimated by the worst offense in the league you knew it was going to happen sooner or later. 

[Bertz]

34 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Saw this mentioned a couple places on Twitter, but Kyle is 5-6 weeks away from hitting 10 years of service time, which is a pretty important marker for a lot of players.  If they are thinking about demoting or releasing him in his current state, I wouldn't be surprised if they make every effort to get him to that line, and this decision is probably along that path.

This feels right, wasn't the situation with Heyward similarly based around a milestone?  

I mentioned in my comment on one of the articles I think yesterday that I do hold out hope that Kyle's usable once through the order at least.  If you wanted to get nuts, 3-4 innings each from Wesneski and Brown, 2-3 from Kyle, and maybe a couple outs from Cuas/Little to make sure the bulk guys can start their appearances clean is not the worst pitching plan on a given day.  Not something I'd wanna do long term but a couple times through the rotation until Wicks is back?

[Irrelevant Dude]

58 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

He'll be there til guys get healthy and return,  then he'll be released .. 

That assumes everyone getting healthy, which is a rarity.  If he continues to get hit hard in the bullpen, that will be the end, but if he can come in and throw a respectable 2-3 innings when needed, there is room for him on the roster as a low leverage/long reliever.

[chibears55]

20 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

That assumes everyone getting healthy, which is a rarity.  If he continues to get hit hard in the bullpen, that will be the end, but if he can come in and throw a respectable 2-3 innings when needed, there is room for him on the roster as a low leverage/long reliever.

I think at the start we probably will see him get the bottom part of order at most, 6-9 guys.  So 4 to 6 outs at best to start with.

[chopsx9]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Saw this mentioned a couple places on Twitter, but Kyle is 5-6 weeks away from hitting 10 years of service time, which is a pretty important marker for a lot of players.  If they are thinking about demoting or releasing him in his current state, I wouldn't be surprised if they make every effort to get him to that line, and this decision is probably along that path.

Poor JD - he's mentioned - or responded to prompts - at least  couple of times about falling just short of 10 years service time. He's probably pulling for Kyle.

[Rcal10]

33 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

I think at the start we probably will see him get the bottom part of order at most, 6-9 guys.  So 4 to 6 outs at best to start with.

Agreed. And/or in mop up duty in games they are down by a lot. 

[Bote McBoteface]

I thought MLB pensions started at 9 years of service time. Whats the 10 year milestone about?

[Andy]

1 hour ago, Bote McBoteface said:

I thought MLB pensions started at 9 years of service time. Whats the 10 year milestone about?

Players reach the max pension amount at 10 years of service time.

[Billy62]

You watch this game long enough, and the ones that you really rooted for will succumb to age and degraded abilities. There is a reason why Fergie Jenkins doesn't pitch for us any longer, and why Billy Williams does not patrol left field. These men were the icons of my youth. You knew as long as Fergie was pitching you had a pretty good chance of seeing the Cubs win, and at any moment Billy could launch one. So it is with Kyle Hendricks. The pitches that hitters could not square up before and resulted in weak contact, are now being tattooed big time all over and out of the ballpark. Does this degrade what he has meant to the Cubs? Absolutely not! His name should be mentioned with reverence in a class with the greater talents of old. But here in 2024, he is not helping this team at all. Perhaps it is just a glitch, but smart money says it is not. Maybe if he can't turn it around and be effective the Cubs can bring him in as a minor league pitching coach. He deserves that, and has things he could impart on younger and evolving talent.

[Derwood]

Players also get full 10/5 rights

[Rcal10]

18 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Players also get full 10/5 rights

That right does not include the right to not accept being dfa. So no idea what having a full 10/5 does in this situation. 

[Rcal10]

I think Kyle to the one is just temporary. I think if/when all are healthy (July) there is not a place for Kyle. IMO, Alzolay will be out for the year. With that in mind this is the 13 I would have on the staff: Steele, Imanaga, Taillion, Assad, Wicks, Leiter, Neris, Merryweather, Wesneski, Brown, Smyly, Miller, & Almonte. The only 2 with options left are Brown and Wesneski. They lack a closer. That would be what I would look for at the deadline. That would push everyone back a spot in their role. Kind of what the Dbacks did when they got Seward last year.
If/when they change anyone out either Brown or Wesneski would have to be sent down. None of the others could be without clearing waivers. For now, they Cubs can mess around with that 4th and 5th spot. Mainly go Assad and Wicks, but if you want to limit a few innings you can skip them and plug in Brown or Wesneski once or twice. You can also start one of Brown or Wesneski to give the entire rotation an extra day. 

[Rob]

14 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

That right does not include the right to not accept being dfa. So no idea what having a full 10/5 does in this situation. 

His 10/5 rights could be relevant around the deadline.

If we are adding (and we ought to be), we will probably need to cut salary somewhere. With Hendricks looking awful so far, he'd be a prime candidate to get moved away.

Trade A brings in a couple relievers that take us over the luxury tax threshold.

Trade B has us sending Hendricks to a team willing to eat his salary, alongside a couple solid prospects enticing them to do so. But it brings us back under the luxury tax threshold. Or in a bigger deal, he could just be included in the main deal to offset salaries.

Hendricks may well get DFA'd immediately on getting to his new team. But he's looking like a guy who could be on the move.

[Rcal10]

9 minutes ago, Rob said:

His 10/5 rights could be relevant around the deadline.

If we are adding (and we ought to be), we will probably need to cut salary somewhere. With Hendricks looking awful so far, he'd be a prime candidate to get moved away.

Trade A brings in a couple relievers that take us over the luxury tax threshold.

Trade B has us sending Hendricks to a team willing to eat his salary, alongside a couple solid prospects enticing them to do so. But it brings us back under the luxury tax threshold. Or in a bigger deal, he could just be included in the main deal to offset salaries.

Hendricks may well get DFA'd immediately on getting to his new team. But he's looking like a guy who could be on the move.

Didn’t think of that. But I don’t think the Cubs should lose a prospect so that they can dump Kyle’s contract. I firmly believe they will go over the first threshold, if they need to do so, to get help. I would be shocked if they basically gave away a prospect so that someone can eat Kyle’s contract. 
I also don’t think the Cubs need to add “a couple” of relievers. In fact, I don’t think they need to add any middle relief pen arms. If they are going to add a pen arm, IMO, it has to be a closer. Scott, Miller, Helsley, Bednar. Someone like that.

Edited May 22, 2024 by Rcal10

[Irrelevant Dude]

1 hour ago, Rob said:

Trade B has us sending Hendricks to a team willing to eat his salary, alongside a couple solid prospects enticing them to do so. But it brings us back under the luxury tax threshold.

If the Cubs are giving away prospects simply to avoid paying the luxury tax, they are doing this all wrong.

[CubinNY]

TDIL that the 10 year mark also applied to managers, coaches, and trainers for getting fully vested in a pension program. 

I wonder if Dusty gets a double pension. 

Edited May 22, 2024 by CubinNY

[Stratos]

I wonder if the sticky stuff crackdown had an impact on his command.  June 1st 2021 was when the sticky ban started, and would fall in line roughly with his decline, though not perfectly has he had a good June/July in 2021.

I looked at the spin rates on his pitches on BB Savant and i'm not sure that spin was much affected pre and post 2021, but maybe feel was?  I can see that his extension has slightly decreased as well post-2021, which could just be aging.

I didn't look at the movement of his pitches.