Craig Counsell, the Chicago Cubs’ manager, is relatively pleased with his team’s start in 2024. They are 26-22 this season, two games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the NL Central. However, some Chicago Cubs supporters must be wondering if they could have been in control if some of their important older players had performed better.
Starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks has fallen horribly short of expectations. Hendricks, the team’s longest-tenured starting pitcher, has had a disastrous season in 2024. He has made seven starts and has been struck hard in each of them. He has a horrific 10.57 ERA this season, prompting Craig Counsell to put him on notice.
“We certainly need better,” Counsell said after Hendricks’ start, according to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. “That’s not going to work. And that’s not going to be good enough.”
Patience seems to be running thin in Chicago. Hendricks has been a productive pitcher in his career, carrying a good ERA of 3.63. But, as someone who relies heavily on pinpoint control to make up for his lack of velocity, Hendricks isn’t getting the job done.
Playing on a $16.5 million club option this season, following a four-year, $55.5 extension signed in 2019, some changes could be made. Had the Chicago Cubs had other options to turn to, he may have lost his spot in the starting rotation by this point.
“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.”
The team will do what they can to help him get on track, but his role may no longer be as a starting pitcher. There currently isn’t a starting pitcher named for the game after Javier Assad and Justin Steele. That would normally be Hendricks’ spot, hinting at a change for Craig Counsell.
“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.”
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