Chicago Cubs have no ‘ace debate’ – this is Kyle Hendricks’ rotation

Recently, a member of our team asked who the Chicago Cubs’ ace is heading into 2018. There’s only one right answer – and it’s not Jon Lester.

Less than 48 hours ago, my colleague Nicholas Blazek offered up his thoughts on the Chicago Cubs’ starting rotation. He ultimately came to the conclusion that Jon Lester remains the ace on this team.

And, well. He’s wrong.

(For the record, I love writing articles like this. I guarantee one of you will point out that we wrote an article about this team’s “ace” without reading this one and the reason behind it. And, to be blunt, I can’t wait.)

But back to the point I’m going to make. Jon Lester has been the ace of whichever team he’s played on for the better part of the last decade. That legacy, in part, made him so attractive to Theo Epstein and the Cubs three years ago. But his time has passed.

I’m not going to say you should expect a mid-4.00 ERA and a losing record (not that it matters) from Lester moving forward. Rather, I believe right-hander Kyle Hendricks will simply outperform him moving forward.

That’s hardly a problem.