Just One Day After The Election, Legendary Chicago Athlete Kyle Hendricks Is Headed To Los Angeles

Author's Note: This actually has nothing to do with the election. More of a timing thing so let's just jump right in.

First off I want to blame Brandon Johnson because that's easy to do 1 day after an election. That guy is a terrible mayor and it's almost impossible to say if the Cubs would be better off with a different leader. So I think it's only fair to open this up by pointing my finger at Chicago's systemic failures.

Next order of business: I would like to THANK Kyle Hendricks for being The People's Pitcher. On any given start at Wrigley Field, there's maybe 15-20 spectators that have more raw arm talent and strength than Kyle. There's a guy in the 300 level with a better 4-seam fastball. There's a couple JUCO dropouts in the bleachers with sharper sliders. There's absolutely more tools attending nearly any game he's every played and that's just a simple fact. In the words of my college pitching, throwing 90mph isn't unique enough for me to give a fuck. One step further, he often guaranteed there's more talented players in our campus fraternities who simply don't have the time or structure to be good at the sport. It was his way of reminding me that the success is in two things: giving a fuck about losing, and giving a fuck about the details.

In that spirit, there is maybe no greater National League pitcher in my adulthood that best embodies the competitive spirit and executing details. Here's just a short list of his plus/plus-plus skills:

- Changeup movement

- Changeup command

- Sinker movement

- Sinker command

- Breaking ball behind in the count command

- Fielding bunts

- Covering 1st base

- Controlling the running game

- Runners in scoring position, less than two outs

- Playoff success

- Being a good fuckin teammate.

- Taking a fair extension when everyone on the 2016 team wanted blank checks

- Being good to fans

- Being good to his dad/family

- Always having a smile on his face

- Maximum accountability

And honestly I'm just scratching the surface when I talk about Kyle Hendricks.

For diehards, we know this guy inside and out. There's really nothing for me to repeat here that's going to make you feel any better about his career, or worse that he's headed to another team. You know the story too well: overlooked ivy leaguer that Theo got in a Ryan Dempster trade with the Texas Rangers. A guy who regularly pitched 88-90 with masterful control and two different change-ups. And arguably the most overlooked of the big Theo rebuild names that created the core: Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javy Baez, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber, Jake Arrieta and so many others.

It's not until he's multiple years into his career that Cubs fans could finally calm down and find a collective confidence that his stuff was good enough. It took like 50 starts for us to feel good with someone who closely resembles a Sunday Men's League #2 out of the Merionnete Park firefighters league. For so long, so many assumed this was a Randy Wells level trajectory where the wheels could fall off at any moment.

And as I type this, I'm happy to report that Kyle Hendricks is probably one of the best Cubs pitchers of my life. Certainly one of the most durable, productive, clutch and even enviable. That's because given a choice, most of us would see ourselves succeeding in a similar fashion. For example: Paul Skenese is awesome but you don't daydream of his skillset because it's literally impossible. So instead you identify with someone a little more realistic. A Matt Duffy style hitter or an undersized hitter with unique stuff and polish. To me that's where a lot of baseball-fan sentiment aligns and I think Kyle Hendricks was the poster boy for that sentiment across his entire Cubs career.

The fact he gutted out multiple dogshit seasons after brilliant-club success only makes me like him more. He was integral to 3 straight NLCS appearances and he obviously dragged his balls throughout the 2016 postseason. But then mix in the cataclysmic nosedive following 2017 and your respect only magnifies. He never bitched about Tom Ricketts being cheap during/after COVID. He didn't complain about losing every single one of his peers, or Jed Hoyer's abject failure at adding any notable firepower to the lineup. He didn't throw the rebuild players under the buss or make people uncomfortable with how obviously bad things had become. He really didn't do anything but be his complete authentic self throughout objectively difficult and embarrasing times with the Cubs. Particularly considering just how good things were when they started.

So for these reasons - all of these reasons - my respect for him as a man is nearly indescribable.

It would have been great to see him finish as a Cub but that's just not realistic. Not when he can go back home and play for the Angels and get taxed 55% to live in near-perfect weather. Honestly at this point in his career you'd have to be a complete bonehead dick face to be salty towards Kyle so just don't. Be happy for the guy because when it mattered most, he gave the Cubs everything he had.

It's a damn shame things are officially over. But it's also an opportunity to remember how much he meant for so long to us. So let's focus on that before Jed opens up the checkbook and commits $600-700M in new contracts to guys I'll soon hate.

Right now I love Kyle and that's all that matters.

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