Getty Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell.
The Chicago Cubs have enjoyed a dominant debut for rookie pitcher Shota Imanaga, who leads all of the big leagues so far with a 0.84 ERA. But it’s been a different story for their longest-tenured starter, Kyle Hendricks, who is in his 11th season with the club.
Hendricks has been hit for a 10.57 ERA in seven starts, including a rout at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates in his most recent start. Cubs manager Craig Counsell made it clear Hendricks needs to improve.
“We certainly need better,” Counsell said after Hendricks’ start on May 17, according to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. “That’s not going to work. And that’s not going to be good enough.”
Chicago Cubs Could Move on From Kyle Hendricks
Across his MLB career, Hendricks has averaged a 3.63 ERA with 1,197 strikeouts in more than 250 career starts. He is the sole remaining member of the Cubs team that won a World Series championship in 2016, a campaign that saw Hendricks lead all of MLB with a 2.13 ERA, earning 16 wins in the process.
Now, Hendricks is earning $16.5 million on a club option, following a four-year, $55.5 million extension signed in 2019 and he might have lost his spot in the rotation already if the Cubs had more options.
“We got to look at the start a little closer and see what’s going on,” Counsell added, per Mooney. “We’re in a tough stretch right now. We’ve got eight pitchers on the injured list. We’ve got to keep doing our best to help Kyle turn the corner. I think that’s going to be really important here. In the stretch we’re in, we’re going to need innings.”
According to national Cubs reporter Taylor McGregor, the team has not yet decided who will make the next start following Javier Assad and Justin Steele, adding more uncertainty to Hendricks’ near-term future. He had just returned from the injured list — where he’d landed on April 23 with “lower back pain” — before his most recent start and it might be hard for the Cubs to envision him as an effective member of the bullpen given his struggles and apparent lack of high-velocity pitches.
Even though the team is in need of inning length, that lack of options might ultimately force the end to Hendricks’ tenure with the Cubs.
“This has all the makings of an abrupt end to Hendricks’ Cubs career, similar to what we saw with Jake Arrieta a few years ago,” Jake Misener noted for Cubbies Crib. “Chicago has given him as long a leash as possible, but with no major improvements seen, it’s hard to envision him playing a role on his team deep into the summer.”
Kyle Hendricks Is Staying Positive Amid Struggles for the Chicago Cubs
Hendricks seems optimistic that he’ll still be able to deliver solid innings if given the chance.
“My starts in the beginning, the stuff was up,” the pitcher said after his last start, according to Mooney. “The focus wasn’t quite there. But these last two, I’ve felt more like myself, down in the zone executing.”
Hendricks said he appreciates the “honest discourse” and “everything they’re trying to do for me and help me out,” Mooney wrote. “My focus is just on what I’m doing right now, my process (and everything) I normally do. And the results gotta come,” Hendricks told The Athletic.