Cubs need a pitching reset

Time for earlier appearances by Adbert and a phantom injury for Kyle

Cubs need a pitching reset

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The Cubs have played 22 games so far this year, which is nearly 14 percent of the season. That’s clearly enough time to declare that Kyle Hendricks’ career is over and that Adbert Alzolay should be hide-strapped to a pine rail and shipped up the Monon Line.1

Right?

Of course not.

It’s undeniable that Kyle has been terrible so far in his five starts. You know it’s bad when you give up four earned runs in four innings and your ERA goes down. Adbert has allowed 10 hits and four walks in 11 innings, which isn’t terrible, but he’s given up four homers and that very much is. He’s blown four saves, which got some of the advanced math nerds in the Cubs fanbase to moan that they would have been 17-4 going into yesterday’s game, instead of 13-8. Yes, I get the logic, but it’s the same as the old bromide, “If my aunt had nuts she’d…” well, you get the rest.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting Kyle to get a break from the rotation for a while or for Adbert to take his Badbert act to the seventh or eighth for a little while. But the fact is that given the lack of pitching depth that the Cubs have—and we all saw it coming all winter when Jed did fuck all to add pitchers beyond replacing Marcus Stroman with our man Shōta and Michael Fulmer with whatever’s left of Hector Neris—it’s waaaaay too early to give up on Adbert as your closer or to just give up on Kyle altogether.