Hendricks Maybe Not Quite That Bad, Grinding Contreras, Eloy Hurt, Vladito Debut, and Other Bullets

Social Navigation

Hendricks Maybe Not Quite That Bad, Grinding Contreras, Eloy Hurt, Vladito Debut, and Other Bullets

Chicago Cubs

It is rather challenging to say nothing – NOTHING AT ALL – about a movie I saw yesterday. Not even whether I enjoyed it or not. But I’m doing my part. When’s the cut-off, by the way? When can I say things? Maybe a week?

  • Kyle Hendricks had a relative stinker last night in the results department, which is very rare for him overall, but less rare in the early part of the season. And believe it or not, that interrupted a 12-start streak of Cubs starters allowing no more than three runs.
  • Of the outing, Hendricks told Cubs.com: “It was just terrible mental approach, bad intent, bad conviction to pitches. That was kind of the story throughout. Mechanically, it was OK. Action on my pitches was good. I just didn’t make good pitches.”

  • Personally, and sorry to disagree, but I thought it looked like Hendricks wasn’t getting great action on his pitches. Kinda sounds like Joe Maddon saw it that way, too (Cubs.com): “The ball just wasn’t finishing out of his hand like we normally see it. It didn’t have the same deception. Just wasn’t as sharp as he normally is, that’s the best way I could describe it. He normally makes a lot of pitches that hitters take that are called strikes, that are well-placed. He just didn’t have that. His changeup didn’t have that little thing at the end. It was just one of those nights.”
  • THAT SAID, maybe Hendricks was right. Although Hendricks gave up 10 hits in just 5.0 innings, not a single one had a 70% chance or better of being a hit. When you see something like that, you can sort of fairly state that he wasn’t exactly getting teed off on. Heck, he had only three balls over 100 mph in exit velocity, and two of those were almost exactly 100 mph. Shrug. Not sure there’s actually a lot of signal here.
  • This is extremely fun to me:

  • Since Victor Caratini was injured 16 days ago, Willson Contreras has caught every single inning the Cubs have played, with the exception of two late innings Taylor Davis got a while back. That’s it. To be sure, the Cubs have benefited from off-days in this stretch, but you get only so many off-days in a season, and it’s not as if leaning so heavily on Contreras *early* last year doesn’t feel like it caused issues in the second half. Just because an approach can be justified on any given day (“ah, well, he had an off-day two days ago, and then will have another in two days, so it’s fine”) doesn’t mean it’s a good approach when you take a step back and look at the whole. I remain of the mind that if the Cubs were unwilling to actually give Taylor Davis time, it was a criminal mistake not to get another back-up catcher the second Caratini went down. I really hope Joe Maddon’s over-reliance on Contreras doesn’t come home to roost in a year when it looked like Contreras had really put a lot together at the plate.
  • To that end: It could be a small sample coincidence, so this is more about teeing the question up than drawing any conclusions: over the last ten days, Contreras’s ISO is barely .100, his strikeout rate is over 30%, and his wRC+ is at just 84.
(Photo by Norm Hall:Getty Images)
  • Eloy Jimenez hurt himself in the outfield last night, initially being termed a sprained ankle:

The Bears have a new running back, drafted last night:

Filed to: Chicago Cubs
Latest from Bleacher Nation:

Early Spring Training Arrivals and Visuals: Hoerner, Suzuki, Steele, Horton, Amaya, Davis, Mervis, More
Hitters Are Happy About Shift Limits (But), the First Base Mix of Playing Time, Early 20th Century Cubs Uniforms Are Great, and Other Cubs Bullets
Chicago Cubs Sign Righty Reliever Curtis Taylor to a Minor League Deal
Jed Hoyer Speaks: Learning Lessons from Failure, The “Front Edge” of a Successful Run, Rizzo, Suzuki, Bellinger, Hosmer, More
How Much Has the Three-Batter-Minimum Rule Impacted Lefty Relievers? And How Is it Impacting Free Agency?
Are We Too Quick to Assume the New York Mets Would Spend *ANYTHING* to get Shohei Ohtani?
Heyward Still Part of Chicago, Senga’s Physical, Steele’s Approach, Farm System, and Other Cubs Bullets
Cubs Prospect Notes: Howard’s Health, Amaya Catching, Sanchez Breakout, Mervis Timeline, More
Seth Jones Scored a Goal in the All-Star Game
WATCH: Luke Getsy Gives the American Team a Senior Bowl Pep Talk
“Closed for Business”… or Maybe Trading One of Their All-Stars; No One Knows What the Bulls Are Up To
A Last Place Finish, Rumors Buzzing, Prospect Highlights, and Other Blackhawks Bullets
Push for Playoffs? LaVar Talks Lonzo, Zach Hates the Deadline, and Other Bulls Bullets
The NFL Saw a Significant Increase in Regular Season Concussions
Super Bowl 57 Moneyline and Point Spread Overview: Chiefs vs Eagles
Hope For Higgins, Dream Landing Spots For Rodgers, Roquan’s Pro Bowl Adventure, and Other Bears Bullets
Caesars promo code Caesars Promo Code: Super Bowl 57 First Bet Offer, Odds Boosts
FanDuel Ohio promo FanDuel Ohio Promo: Get Ready for Super Bowl 57 With Huge Weekend Bonus

Author: Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Editor and Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and @Brett_A_Taylor.