Kyle Hendricks deserves some good news come playoff time

SHARE Kyle Hendricks deserves some good news come playoff time
587139008_62974266.jpg

(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Who is the Cubs’ best pitcher?

That’s easy, right? Jake Arrieta. Defending National League Cy Young winner, scourge of major-league hitters, grower of impressive beards.

Actually, the answer is indeed easy: Kyle Hendricks. He leads the starting rotation in earned-run average (2.17), WHIP (1.02) and complete games (two), and is second in opponents’ batting average (.210). His 11-7 record is more a fluke than a reflection.

Now, which pitcher is manager Joe Maddon going to start in Game 1 of the Cubs’ first playoff series? Let’s put that another way: Do you think Maddon would have the gumption to tell Arrieta that he’s not going to get the ball? Not a chance.

But it could get trickier after that. If Maddon goes on merit, which is what sports is supposed to be about, Hendricks would be next up for a start. Maddon could argue that he doesn’t want to mess with a good thing – a rotation of Arrieta, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Hendricks and Jason Hammel has been excellent all season.

It’s also likely Maddon would say he favors playoff experience over regular-season success. It’s why Lester was brought to Chicago, though that didn’t work out so well in last year’s postseason.

But like the case with Arrieta, that decision would sound like code for, “Hey, you try to telling Lester and Lackey that Hendricks is starting ahead of them.’’ Lackey is wound so tight that, in those moments when he does look happy, it’s as if somebody else’s lost smile has wandered onto this face. Lester isn’t much looser. No, it’s not fun to deliver bad news. But if you don’t, how do you look at players and tell them with a straight face that the best people play?

At some point, Hendricks deserves to be rewarded for being so good and so consistent this season. It’s the same with the number of innings Maddon gives him. Someday, the skipper has to consistently let Hendricks pitch more than five or six innings per start. Maybe that day has arrived: In his last two starts, Hendricks has pitched nine innings and 7 1/3 innings, respectively.

If these are problems, we should all have problems. But they could end up being momentous decisions down the road.


The Latest
He launched a campaign against a proposed neo-Nazis march at a time the suburb was home to many Holocaust survivors. His rabbi at Skokie Central Congregation urged Jews to ignore the Nazis. “I jumped up and said, ‘No, Rabbi. We will not stay home and close the windows.’ ”
That the Bears can just diesel their way in, Bronko Nagurski-style, and attempt to set a sweeping agenda for the future of one of the world’s most iconic water frontages is more than a bit troubling.
Only two days after an embarrassing loss to lowly Washington, the Bulls put on a defensive clinic against Indiana.
One woman suffered a gunshot wound to the neck. In each incident, the four to five men armed with rifles, handguns and knives, approached victims on the street in Logan Square, Portage Park, Avondale, Hermosa threatened or struck them before taking their belongings, police said.