Goodbye, Kyle Hendricks: A letter from a Cubs fan

On November 6, 2024, it was reported that Kyle Hendricks would be signing a deal with the reshuffling Los Angeles Angels, who previously traded pitcher Griffin Canning for outfielder Jorge Soler.

The Angels are coming off a wildly disappointing season that featured 99 losses and a last-place finish in the AL West. They lost Shohei Ohtani in free agency to their crosstown rival, Mike Trout played in a career-low 29 games, and they finished 26th in team ERA (4.56). Considering the Los Angeles Dodgers and Ohtani won the World Series, suffice to say that the outlook is bleak for L.A's "other team".

Nevertheless, their offseason strategy of adding former Cubs to the roster continued with the addition of Hendricks, who was the last remaining vestige of the 2016 team that ended the 108-year championship drought for the North Siders. The slow-tossing right-hander has struggled pretty badly since the abbreviated 2020 season, with a 4.80 ERA in 533 innings over the last four years.

However, he adds a wise, veteran presence to a young and unstable pitching staff, and as a native of Orange County, this represents something of a homecoming for the Chicagoland legend. He's a proven innings eater and should have no problem slotting into the backend of the Angels' rotation in 2025. It's a sensible move for all parties involved, but it doesn't make it sting any less for Cubs fans.

Thank You, Kyle Hendricks

As a Cubs fan, it's easy to say that the story of the franchise can't be written without Hendricks featuring prominently. Originally acquired in 2012 as a throw-in part of the Ryan Dempster trade with the Texas Ranges, Hendricks quickly rose through the Cubs' farm system and made a stunning debut in 2014, finishing with a 2.46 ERA in 80 1/3 innings.

Over the next five seasons, Hendricks averaged 177 innings pitched, with a 56-41 record and 3.20 ERA. On a team with Jon Lester, prime Jake Arrieta, John Lackey, and later Yu Darvish, Hendricks routinely pitched as though he was the ace of the staff. His fastball rarely touched even 90 MPH, but his devastating changeup and pinpoint accuracy was quick to remind Cubs fans of another slow-throwing franchise legend, Greg Maddux. Like the Hall of Famer, Hendricks' methodical approach on the mound earned him the nickname of "The Professor".

Of course, it was the 2016 season where Hendricks sealed his legacy, leading the National League with a 2.13 ERA and finishing third in Cy Young voting, one spot behind Lester. In the postseason, Hendricks allowed just four earned runs in 25 1/3 innings, including a shutout outing to wrap up the NL pennant, and a brilliant World Series Game 7 performance in the greatest game of all time.

It's not a stretch to call Hendricks one of the ten most important Chicago Cubs of all time, which is wild to say for a franchise that has baseball luminaries like Ernie Banks and Billy Williams in its past. His style on the mound was that of a dying breed, and yet the control-over-velocity methodology remained as effective for Hendricks as it did for the many great pitchers of past eras.

The Cubs were always going to move on from Hendricks this offseason, with Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga penciled in atop the rotation, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad assuming starting gigs behind them, and a cache of young arms ready to compete for the fifth spot on the staff. Following a capsular tear in his right shoulder in 2022, Hendricks just hasn't been the same pitcher as he was earlier in his career, with every tick that drops from his fastball lowering his already-narrow margin for error.

Still, it's going to be weird to watch yet another hero from that 2016 team ply their trade in another uniform. This current iteration of the Cubs have a long way to go to reaching the heights that that core did, but it's hard to say goodbye to Hendricks, even if it was the right move.

So, with a heartbroken wave, from all Cubs fans: thank you, Kyle. For everything.

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