In 2021, Jed Hoyer traded away many of the core pieces from the 2016 World Series team. In the last 5 minutes of the trade deadline while standing at Lollapalooza, I got the notification that Javy, Kris Bryant, and Anthony Rizzo were all on the move for a bunch of 18-20 year old prospects that wouldn't be making an impact at the MLB level for years to come. It was a sad day. It wasn't necessarily because we were losing talented players but it was because these guys were links to the greatest team the Cubs have ever had. The team that broke a century long curse on the Northside of Chicago.
Flash forward to 2024 and after the departure of manager David Ross, there's just 1 link left to that World Series team, Kyle Hendricks. Hendricks came to Chicago in 2012 in a trade that sent Ryan Dempster to the Texas Rangers. Kyle made his debut for the Cubs in 2014 at 24 years old and has been an anchor in the rotation since. His stoic demeaner on the mound was always comforting for Cubs fans. You knew what you were going to get when Kyle took the mound...command and soft contact.
However, that's not the Kyle we're seeing in 2024 at the age of 34. His command isn't there and his ERA through 4 games is an eye popping 12.70. He ranks dead last in the MLB amongst all starting pitchers for weighted on-base average (wOBA)
You want more red than blue in the above. You can see the stark difference between 2016 Kyle and 2024 Kyle. And look, we don't need 2016 Kyle and that's not what I expected going into the season. But we can't have worst starting pitcher in baseball Kyle.
With the emergence of Ben Brown and Javier Assad, Kyle's time in Chicago is coming to an end. You can't continue to trot a guy out there who needs 8+ runs from the offense to win a ballgame. But while we begin to say our goodbyes, it's important to remember the good times that The Professor gave us...
Kyle pitched in Game 6 of the NLCS in 2016 going 7.1 innings only giving up 2 hits and allowing 0 runs. That was the greatest sporting event I've ever witnessed as Hendricks propelled the Cubs to their first World Series since 1945. He also started Game 7 of the World Series which is arguably the best World Series of all-time and one of the greatest baseball games of all-time with an average viewership of over 40M people - the most since 1991.
The memories will last a lifetime and we thank you for that Kyle. But it's time. It's time to move on to younger and more exciting arms.