What are the next steps for Kyle Hendricks, Chicago Cubs after another bad start? | CHGO Cubs

Kyle Hendricks failed to shut down a bad Miami Marlins lineup Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field, so what’s next? Corey Freedman and Brendan Miller break it down on their Sunday weekend recap edition of the CHGO Cubs Podcast.

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Kyle is part of a group of pitchers that
requires the Cubs to test and use to hit
extreme outcomes right now the Cubs are
projected to win 84 85 games right now
the Cubs have a group of pitchers who
can be considered quite volatile both in
starting rotation and in the back end of
the bullpen for example Javier saw
looked great I have confidence in thead
I love his stuff however he’s shown in
the early goings an inability to get to
the fifth and sixth inions Jordan Wicks
ecstatic about his development great
slider great cutter Cur balls developing
change Up’s phenomenal he too has had
difficulties in early going going deeper
into games now there’s a few different
perspectives here Kyle Hendrick should
be DFA right now that’s that’s that’s an
extreme uh decision now the intention or
the idea with that is well he’s giving
up home runs his ear ra 10 to 12 anyone
but Kyle Hendrick is going to be
better now the counter to that and DFA
in him now is well Kyle also presents
one of those extreme High outcome
possibilities if you remove Kyle
Hendricks from the equation what do you
lose you lose a potential outcome which
means your extreme outcomes are pulled
from a shrinking pool extreme outcomes
from Assad Wix the bullpen we’re talking
about yeni elonte Jose quas lighter
being extended so if Hendrick is removed
from this possible outcome list then
you’re moving aad up into the rotation
assuming he can go every fifth day or if
not every fifth day once every two weeks
you’re relying on him to be
predominantly a starting pitcher what is
that due to the back end of the bullpen
now early going Hendrick looks awful
he’s saying himself he’s not giving his
teammates a chance to win and it’s
killing him this is not sustainable he
knows it now if you look at what he did
today he himself said he executed his
command better it was baby steps but
it’s not where he wants to be
nevertheless there was progress now does
this mean the Cub Should Skip hris take
him out of the rotation right now well
that’s going to be a decision for the
pitching staff and Council but the
Alternatives don’t appear obvious if
we’re talking about projections and
trying to confidently say okay this
person is going to give the Cubs the
best chance to win both now and within
the next two months I don’t think you
can convincingly say that the next
alternative is going to do that given
the potential outcome for Kyle Hendricks
so as the next start or two starts go
we’re looking in on that dialed in
command and there may come a point soon
that you have to skip Hendrick of course
similar to what you did with tyion last
year skip them get them back right and
see if that’s the way forward but at the
very least what’s undeniable is that the
Cubs need to hit on the extremes to be a
playoff team by removing Hendricks it
would shrink down that pool of extremes
it would make probably the front office
uncomfortable and going forward it would
require differential roles that may be a
little bit ambitious for certain guys so
my pers perspective is it is a little
bit too early but I am not thrilled with
what I’m seeing at the same time I’m not
I’m not overly concerned about stuff
deterioration but I’m a little concerned
about the command of course there’s
encouraging and discouraging Trends and
of course last week you know Cody came
on and got a little hot I understand the
inks by it I understand the inks by Eli
and other people in the chat this is
it’s not acceptable like we need to have
deep starts and Kyle is definitely not
doing that right now so I understand it
but I’m trying try to get myself in the
mind of the pitching staff correct
counsel and everyone else and I’m trying
to understand the process and I can’t
personally argue against taking KY off
this roster because it is going to
create greater stresses and pressures on
certain other
pitchers yeah I I I hear you I mean and
I think part of it is trying to as usual
we’re trying to sort through what is the
logic between what they’re actually
doing because he keeps pitching so for
for everybody that’s like it’s so easy
just DFA him he should never be pitching
blah blah well Craig Council and Jed
Hoyer don’t seem to think so at least
right now so we’re trying to figure out
what is the reason that they think that
and and deeper deeper than that because
obviously the people getting paid you
know nine figure salaries to make those
decisions have not reached that
conclusion yet and some people will say
well it’s because they you know they
paid him 16 million so the rickets won’t
let them I don’t know I will say though
the 16 million is representative of what
they believe Kyle can do it’s a
significant amount of money pushes him
towards a luxury tax they were impressed
by his 2023 performance and believe
that’s enough reason to to think he can
retain that in
2024 yeah I don’t know I think if steel
was back tomorrow you couldn’t convince
me that letting Kyle keep one of those
spots was the right decision but he’s
not and so I I do understand the logic
of them not necessarily being super
confident that a rotation right now of
tyone shoda Wix Assad and Ben Brown is
the most reliable thing to trot out
there and I think they’re desperately
hoping Kyle can dial it in but yeah
nobody’s going to sugarcoat it he looks
awful these results are totally
unacceptable he’s killing the bullpen
not just him but he has in each of his
starts and when you see those mistakes
you saw it on the Sanchez Homer today
they’re not just taking advantage of
mistakes this is one of the worst teams
in the league hitting the ball 460 feet
some of the results speak for themselves
right like that that that tells you a
lot but the team continues at this
moment just not to be in the best
position to remove as you said some
potential options as frustrating as it
is
so like I said he’s lined up and I was
reading this again from friend of the
show Matt clap he’s lined up to face the
Red Sox the Mets the Padres who have
already knocked them around once and the
Atlanta Braves in his next four starts
if they give him those four starts good
luck you’re gonna have to figure it out
and figure it out quick because those
offenses are not going to do that again
what it’s an interesting discussion
because we did see some of this from
Kyle last year he figures it out he’s
notoriously a slow starter in April
throughout his career even in years that
he’s been really good but there there is
no there is no amount of sugar coating
going on here he looks bad the results
are bad and yeah I think um so Chicago
dude uh 8888 in the chat right now makes
a point that I saw floating around on
social media earlier uh he lowered his
erra almost uh a full run
after a four inning four run performance
baby steps Cory that’s the progress I’m
talking that is one way to look at that
yes
um yeah so a comment from friend of the
show Greg hus who uh is one of the best
Cubs Prospect guys out there if you are
unaware of Greg’s work do check it out
he says for what it worth it feels like
the anger directed at Hendrick is is
like something we’d see about a brand
new free agent not a guy who’s earned
second third and fourth chances because
of what he’s meant to this franchise so
I I do agree with that and I and I think
more than anything what Kyle has earned
is when you talk about
him it should be done so with respect
right instead of like this guy’s a bum
or etc etc he’s earned even if you don’t
want him pitching anymore he should have
your respect he he’s more than earned
that but I don’t know at at some point
you do have to kind of focus your your
current goals with the performance that
you’re seeing you can’t defer to past
performance all the time and what guys
have meant to the organization and
frankly the people in charge of this
organization don’t really act that way
they traded a lot of those guys like
they got rid of several of those players
that meant a lot to this organization so
I don’t again I think you you treat Kyle
with respect and how you discuss these
things and how you would handle these
things right but Kyle should not stick
in the rotation because he’s a World
Series hero and I don’t think that’s
what Greg meant but I think there’s a a
balance of those two things you you
shouldn’t speak of him in a way that
isn’t befitting of the World Series hero
but at the same time Cubs won the world
series eight years ago it it is very
much like this team is trying to do
certain things the Chicago Cubs won the
World Series uh 16 CS okay but at the
same time you got to go out there and
perform and when we’re talking about all
these Bullpen issues and all this other
stuff Kyle’s performances are part that
they play into that and so you can’t
just defer to the Past uh when these
things happen but it is a it’s a it’s a
nuanced issue like I said if it were up
to me and Justin steel was being
activated tomorrow to pitch tomorrow I
would stop starting Kyle Hendricks I
would Phantom ielm or I would let him go
work on stuff whether that’s in extended
spring or whatever whatever he wants if
he wants to go to Arizona go do that if
you want to go pitch in Iowa go do that
that that’s what he’s earned right
whatever you want but you got to get it
figured out before we keep doing this at
the MLB level steel is not back tomorrow
so I think they’re gonna give this
another few and see if they can kind of
keep moving on on some of the better
results that we saw today in terms of
more soft contact he didn’t walk anybody
he did strike out five same time though
this was the Marlins like the bar is
pretty low and they ended up doing some
damage so I don’t know it’s a it’s a
tough thing again I’ll I’ll end and
throw it to you and then we can end our
second ad break he was he obviously does
not look good nobody is going to pretend
otherwise in the past when pitchers of
Kyle’s age start to perform well it’s
due to stuff I’m not going to belabor
the points
but your guy John Lester at the tail end
of his career was throwing three miles
per hour slower still effective at times
but three miles per hour slower the
secondary stuff as a result was not as
sharp my former guy Jake Etta same story
came back over to the Cubs throwing four
mower slower cutter didn’t cut as much
as he used to different guy what I’m
trying to understand which is a question
that only the pitching staff and those
within the dugout address is why is Kyle
why is he getting blown up if his stuff
looks exactly the same if in fact the
velocity is higher which it is why is he
still getting eaten up if the change up
looks exactly like it was to left-handed
batters now compared to last year why is
it getting eaten up the Sinker command
of course is is the big culprit we saw
today on that 460 foot home run Sinker
was supposed to be off the plate it was
Center in it went above the uh the
second deck in the bleachers in center
field behind the Batters guy what is
causing that because it’s not similar to
what we’ve seen with older guys
deteriorating in years past and as a
result it does make me think that maybe
this can be fixed if it were a stuff
issue then I perhaps would be very
negative with this but to your point
given that steel is not back given that
this staff has a flurry of problems
right now in the bullpen and going
deeper into games I don’t see the best
next solution because I’m equally
concerned about the overall staff even
going into Triple A to fill this void so
I don’t know what to think about this I
do think a DFA as people are saying is
quite an streem interpretation given
that the stuff has not quite
deteriorated
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yet we all sitting like the mayor