They did it! The Chicago Cubs joined the 2019 MLB Extension Party! Woo hoo!
With Kyle Hendricks being the first of the Cubs’ controlled talent projected to hit free agency, why wouldn’t he be the first to sign an extension? And with Kyle Hendricks being one of the most consistently successful starting pitchers of the Cubs’ current era, why wouldn’t they want to sign him to an extension?
Through the 2023 season, club option for 2024
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) March 26, 2019
Hendricks extension with #Cubs is four years, $55.595M, according to a source. Includes club option for fifth season as well.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 26, 2019
Hendricks, 29, was set to make $7.41 million this year in his second-to-last year of team control. So, this deal buys out his final arbitration year, and then three more free agent years, plus a team option after that for 2024, when he will be 34.
A year out from free agency, and with a skill set that is pretty uniquely sensitive to velocity decline, I think this looks pretty fair. Smart for Hendricks to lock it in, and a good risk for the Cubs. It’ll be interesting to see if the Cubs incorporate this year as part of a new five-year contract, thus increasing the AAV for this year, but lowering it over the life of the deal.
If it’s five years and $63 million, in that case, the deal has an AAV of $12.6 million, which would be the number that matters for luxury tax purposes.
Acquired as “the other prospect” in the 2012 Ryan-Dempster-for-Christian-Villaneuva deadline trade, Hendricks rose steadily through the Cubs’ farm system and broke out in the big leagues thanks to superlative command, a killer changeup, and elite (useable!) baseball intelligence. Since he entered the big leagues in 2014, Hendricks’ 3.07 ERA is 9th best in baseball among pitchers with at least 700 innings.
UPDATE: The full year-by-year breakdown, plus incentives and option:
Breakdown on Hendricks, per source.
2019: $7.405M.
2020: $12M.
2021: $14M.
2022: $14M.
2023: $14M.
2024: $16M vesting option or $1.5M buyout.Option vests based on Cy finish in 2020. NOT a club option.
Deal also includes $3M per season in Cy escalators. Can max out at $79.8M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 26, 2019
Kyle Hendricks' 2024 option will vest if he finishes in the top 3 in Cy Young voting in 2020, a source tells ESPN. If not, it turns into a club option. The option will be for $16M and includes a $1.5M buyout.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 26, 2019
Never forget that Kyle Hendricks is already a Chicago Cubs legend:
Never forget: the man on the mound dominating the Dodgers and sending the Cubs to their first World Series in 71 years was Kyle Hendricks. https://t.co/X5KoI3pUD7
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) March 26, 2019