I’m about to say something crazy, maybe even dangerous, but here it goes.
The Cleveland Indians, regardless of what happens to their playoff hopes this season, should try to trade for the Chicago Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks.
This is understandably a tiresome topic for Cleveland fans, as Hendricks was a major contributor to Chicago’s 2016 World Series championship, abandoning a run in nine innings of work against the Indians. At the start of games three and seven, he was one of the main reasons the Cubs won.
But listen to me
With the Indians’ last nine games wondering if the team could actually be a salesman, Cleveland is focusing on its future through a deal for Hendricks while the door remains open in 2021.
Hendricks, 31, will be signed for $ 14 million a year through 2023. Since he didn’t finish in the top three of the NL Cy Young poll in 2020, the Cubs have a $ 16 million team option with a $ 1.5 million buyout for 2024.
Expensive for at least two years of service, but that doesn’t even make Hendricks one of the majors’ twenty highest-paid pitchers.
And there isn’t too much pitching, as this season has shown the Indians so painfully. Even if Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac, and Aaron Civale were healthy, Hendricks would immediately become the veteran presence the rotation so desperately needs.
And when it comes to reliability, Hendricks was a role model throughout his eight-year career. He’s 80-52 with a career of 3.18 ERA (and a career of 130 ERA +) and never finishes a season with an ERA over four. He stayed healthy, ate innings, and did well in the postseason. What more could you ask for at this price?
If Cleveland believes that their competitive window is opening now, with young players thriving and Jose Ramirez at the heart of their team-friendly deal, Hendricks would be a perfect name.
The Cubs have announced that they will be vendors as of the deadline, and while his name hasn’t been revealed there often, it’s fair to assume that Chicago would listen to offers as the team enters a rebuilding phase (even if only they are ). calls it a “conversion phase”).
What is the value of keeping a pitcher in his 30s if the team effectively blows him up for the next several years?
For the Indians, by their standards, it would be a significant investment, not just financially,
but what the team would give up from a player’s point of view. A jug of Hendricks’ caliber, guaranteed for three more seasons if Cleveland wants it, will cost some highly respected Major League prospects and talent.
But the Indians are in the rare position where this would make sense; The team is crammed with prospects for similar positions and faces a 40-man management crisis. Also, the future of the tail end of the rotation at this point is much shakier than anyone would have expected.
If the Cubs are really ready to blow everything up, such a move will cement Cleveland’s pitching dominance for years to come.
Organic: Steve DiMatteo has covered baseball for the Associated Press, MLB.com, and a variety of other publications, and is currently hosting the California Penal League podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you can get your podcasts.
