Cubs face major decisions with Kyle Hendricks as struggles continue

There are still fans cheering for him as he makes his walk through left field to the bullpen to make final preparations before the game. And more cheering while Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” plays as he heads to the mound to throw the afternoon’s first pitch. There are still, at times, the quick innings and masterful displays of his command. A lot about Kyle Hendricks’ starts still feels familiar.

But with a 12.00 ERA after five outings this season, much of watching Hendricks pitch has been very unfamiliar. A month into the 2024 campaign, the Cubs might soon be faced with making a hard decision about Hendricks’ future. 

“Obviously, his place in Cubs history is secure,” team president Jed Hoyer told reporters Friday. “I don’t think anything is going to change that. I mean, he’s struggling.”

Hendricks’ resume is a part of what makes a potential change an even heavier decision. Baseball is a business, yes, but Hendricks is the last member of the 2016 championship team still in the Cubs clubhouse. He’s a ten-year veteran who just last season posted a 3.74 ERA in 24 starts after coming back from a shoulder injury on May 25.

There are still flashes of the old Professor; in Sunday’s 6-3 loss to the Marlins, Hendricks had no walks and struck out five. Through the first three innings, minus a solo homer by Jesús Sánchez in the second, Hendricks looked in control. But in the fourth inning, the Marlins hit four straight singles to open up a 4-1 lead and ultimately chased him from the game.

In his assessment of that frame, Hendricks said he felt like he was executing his pitches well, but the Miami batters still put good swings on them. Hendricks faced seven batters that inning, all of whom swung at either the first or second pitch of the at-bat. There were a lot of positives to take away from Hendricks’ start, but that won’t be enough for much longer.

“We need better results, frankly,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.

The Cubs have managed a 13-9 start, but as expected, the National League Central is a tightly-packed division. Four of the five teams are at least .500, and the Brewers, Cubs, and Reds are all within 2 ½ games of each other. Obviously, it’s far too early to be doing any standings watching, but divisions can be lost in April more easily than they can be won. 

The team has not given any public indication of how long the leash will be for Hendricks. He’s a veteran who holds a special place in Cubs history, which makes any decision for his future heavier. The organization has to balance being patient with a guy who has a track record like Hendricks does with its immediate circumstances.

“You have to look at it as ‘What are the current needs of the Cubs right now?’ I think that’s how we have to look at it,” Counsell said. “I think that’s the right way to look at it. And then work as hard as we can to get Kyle going at the same time.”

In the meantime, figuring out just what’s not going right for Hendricks is a difficult puzzle. It’s a multi-faceted problem, and all parties – the front office, the manager, and the pitcher – are going to come at it from different angles. Hendricks said he felt earlier in the season that he was trying too hard to be perfect, too hard not to get beat, and that was throwing off his mental approach to his starts. He has felt better on that front lately, but the results aren’t coming quite yet.

“Mechanics feel good. It’s more intent-based,” Hendricks said. “It comes mentally, when I’m locked on the glove and aggressive, the mechanics sync up and they’re on time. When the thoughts aren’t like that, that’s when I’m missing.”

The front office sees some of the results that are good but other issues are still getting in his way.

“The velocity is actually the same if not a tick up from last year, just his location and his execution have been poor,” Hoyer said. “It’s a location and an execution thing, and it’s about us figuring out what things mechanically he needs to change to get back to that point, because clearly, it’s never been about ‘stuff’ with him. He’s always had an elite changeup, but it’s been about elite, elite-level command and execution of those pitches and sequencing, and we haven’t had that. 

“Without those things, he’s not going to get results, so he’s got to get back to that level.”

The timeline for a decision could be getting short. Justin Steele went down with a hamstring injury on opening day, but his return is looming. He threw a live bullpen session at Wrigley on Sunday, hours before Hendricks’ latest start. Counsell reported that Steele will head to extended spring training in Arizona to pitch in game action on Friday, April 26. Steele would likely have a rehab start or two after that, but when he is ready to return, he needs a spot in the rotation.

That spot will almost certainly come down to Hendricks. Jameson Taillon returned on April 18 from a back strain that sidelined him during spring training and held the Marlins to one run in five innings. Javier Assad has a 2.11 ERA through four starts. Shota Imanaga has arguably been the most dominant starter in baseball. Only Jordan Wicks has struggled some, but nowhere near as much as Hendricks. 

“It feels harder to explain or to figure out sometimes when a guy’s been good for this long. It’s a little harder to figure out, like the puzzle seems harder,” Counsell said. “I understand what Kyle’s meant to this organization, and most of all I respect his track record of what he’s accomplished. He’s gone through, maybe not this particular stretch, but stretches where you’re not pitching the way you want to and struggling, and you figure it out. And that’s what being a ten year major league pitcher is about.”

For now, the Cubs appear patient to let Hendricks continue trying to work things out. He’s earned that respect, and this is not the first bad stretch of starts he’s had in his career, so making an extreme decision like moving him to the bullpen – something he’s never really done in his major league career – or designated him for assignment is not going to come lightly. If the Cubs choose the latter, Hendricks would have to clear waivers unclaimed by another team and then agree to being optioned to Triple-A Iowa. 

Otherwise, designating him would spell the end of his Cubs tenure. As T.S. Eliot said, the world ends with a whimper, not a bang.