NEWSLETTER
My RB1, RB2, and WR1 are all out this week – injuries, not bye – so congrats on the freebie, Jim. At least now it’s a doubly chill Sunday, I guess, with no Bears to tick me off and no expectations for fantasy …
• The ESPN crew did a roundtable on all kinds of offseason topics, which is always interesting to me for teeing up national perspectives on teams/players I don’t follow as closely as the Cubs. When asked about pitchers who might get traded this offseason, though, I don’t think I can agree with Jesse Rogers here:
It’s easy to pick any hurlers from the A’s and Reds as they’re dumping salary but why wouldn’t the Cubs listen to offers for Kyle Hendricks? Doesn’t mean they have to pull the trigger, but with the team in rebuilding mode, why waste the two years left on his contract? He would fit any team. His personality is Grade A, he’s hardly a huge injury risk and he’s had success in the biggest games. The Cubs would max out this offseason if they moved him. Can’t say the same in a year. They may quietly listen to offers for him and his batterymate, Willson Contreras.
• Set aside any rumor-y part for a moment, and just treat the question as non-rhetorical. Why wouldn’t they listen/why would they “waste” the two years (three, actually, because of an option) of team control remaining? Well, there really are several reasons. For one thing, I don’t buy that the Cubs want to bottom out in 2022. I’ve never bought that. I think they want to give themselves a shot in the first half with a number of Wade-Miley-like additions, and see what happens by July. In that world, you need Hendricks in your rotation to give yourselves a shot. For another thing, Hendricks is coming off, by far, his worst year in the big leagues in every way you could evaluate it. Now 31, we all have some genuine questions about what comes next for him – and if we’re wondering, then you better believe trade partners are wondering, too. They’d need to see him re-stabilize in 2022 before actually offering up a significant return.
• So, that is all to say, while I don’t doubt the Cubs would listen – they’ll listen on everyone, we already know this – I don’t see much value in actually talking Hendricks trades right now. The return would be deeply disappointing, and there is far more value to the Cubs in seeing how he looks in 2022. His contract, by the way, pays him $14 million each of the next two years, and then comes with a $16 million option for 2024 ($1.5 million buyout, so it’s a $14.5 million decision).
• The Fall Stars Game was a blank for the two Cubs positional prospects, as neither Andy Weber nor Nelson Velazquez notched a hit. Still, it’s been a great AFL experience for them, so no complaints here.
• The line doesn’t look all that great for starter Caleb Kilian, who allowed a couple runs in his two innings of work (3 H, 2 BB, 4 K), HOWEVER, the runs were kicked off by a 3-2 walk that, by our eyes, really could’ve been a 2-2 strikeout a couple pitches earlier. So it was very close to being a clean two innings with something like five strikeouts and one walk. The guy looked good.
• Some of his strikeouts, the first two of which come on elevated four-seamers with a little natural cut (the third is either a two-seamer or a four-seamer that got away a bit):
https://twitter.com/CubsZone/status/1459680230386372611
3rd strikeout. pic.twitter.com/UUqa2ghWst
— Cubs Zone ™️ (@CubsZone) November 14, 2021
• There’s no question that these three have raised their stocks in the organization after the last month, and that’s as good as it gets from the AFL:
https://twitter.com/CubsZone/status/1459714280929046530
• Pots and pans, arts and crafts, belts and wallets, projectors and books, and more are your Early Black Friday Deals today at Amazon. #ad
• Of course they’ll say it privately:
REPORT: NFL's Officiating Department Knows They Blew the Bears Game https://t.co/ytS6IFYJgY
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) November 14, 2021
