The Athletic first reported that the Detroit Tigers hired Hendricks as a special assistant<\/a> who will focus on pitching development.<\/p>\n\u201cI talked to Kyle, and we\u2019ve got a great relationship,\u201d Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Friday at Wrigley Field. \u201cWe talked about his decision to go there before he did it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hendricks, 36, retired as a player after pitching for the Los Angeles Angels last season, a meaningful last stop given his Southern California roots. Otherwise, a pitcher nicknamed \u201cThe Professor\u201d for his cerebral approach spent his entire major-league career with the Cubs.<\/p>\n
Hendricks was the winning pitcher the night the Cubs captured their first National League pennant in 71 years, as well as the Game 7 starter in the 2016 World Series, one of the biggest moments in Chicago sports history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Cubs and Kyle have a great relationship,\u201d Hoyer said. \u201cI\u2019ll let him sort of explain why, and what his role is and how he\u2019s going about it. But, certainly, there\u2019s nothing negative there. I think I\u2019ve said it a million times: I can\u2019t imagine an easier and better teammate for 10 years. So, everything\u2019s great with Kyle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hendricks did not immediately respond to a text message from The Athletic. A source close to Hendricks said the former player remains on good terms with the Cubs, framing this as a preliminary step to gain some exposure to baseball operations and see what he may want to pursue in the future.<\/p>\n
The source also cited Hendricks\u2019 established connections to Detroit\u2019s front office, which features several officials who worked for the Cubs during their 2016 championship season. That group includes Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris, general manager Jeff Greenberg and vice president of baseball strategy Alex Smith.<\/p>\n
Harris, in particular, talked with Hendricks about a potential role with the Tigers during a 10-year reunion for the 2016 World Series team, according to league sources, and the conversations continued after that January event in Chicago.<\/p>\n
As a Cubs official, Harris took a lead role in negotiating the four-year, $55.5 million contract extension that Hendricks signed before Opening Day 2019. During that ensuing period, Hendricks\u2019 consistency and professionalism convinced the Cubs to pick up their $16.5 million option for 2024.<\/p>\n
Although that season did not go as planned for Hendricks (4-12, 5.92 ERA) or the Cubs (83-79), the club still managed to give him a proper send-off. He understood that he could have been released during the middle of the year and appreciated the chance for a farewell at the Friendly Confines.<\/p>\n
In a vintage performance, Hendricks tossed 7 1\/3 scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds, moving a pitcher who did not seek the limelight or lose his composure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so lucky and so happy,\u201d Hendricks said on Sept. 28, 2024<\/a>. \u201cI had my whole family here today in the stands. I\u2019m sure they\u2019re crying. Just for the fans to give me that \u2014 from the moment I showed up to the ballpark today, kind of celebrating me \u2014 part of me hates it. I hate all that attention. But at the end, I know I have to soak in these moments.<\/p>\n\u201cThat\u2019s what the Wrigley fans are there for. They are so special. They\u2019re the best in the world. To play here at Wrigley Field, I\u2019m just such a lucky guy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 Kyle Hendricks returning to the Chicago Cubs in a different capacity seemed like a natural next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5158,5260,591,85],"class_list":["post-644402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}