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Chicago Cubs: Revisiting the Kyle Hendricks and Ryan Dempster deal
In the Theo Epstein era, the Chicago Cubs have won a number of trades. But has one been more lopsided than the deal that brought Kyle Hendricks to Wrigley?
I’ll admit, sometimes I feel like Kyle Hendricks is a home-grown product of the Chicago Cubs. He’s spent all five of his big league seasons on the North Side, won a World Series and came close to winning the National League Cy Young award in 2016.
However, Hendricks’ career with the Cubs very nearly didn’t happen and it wouldn’t have if not for former Cub Ryan Dempster. I say that because Dempster really played a role in getting Hendricks to Chicago.
At the 2012 trade deadline, Dempster was one of the hottest pitching targets on the market. He was in the midst of one of his best seasons with the Cubs, carrying a 2.25 ERA, which was the second lowest in the National League. He had 83 strikeouts and had walked just 27 batters while surrendering nine home runs in his 16 starts.
As for the Cubs, they were going nowhere. They had a record of 43-59 and were the fourth-worst team in the National League. They were looking to move assets which could help bring back prospects for the future. Dempster was a 35-year-old who was set to be a free agent at season’s end. He was the perfect candidate to move at the deadline.
This is where Dempster really helped out the Cubs, he held a trump card. Since Dempster had been in the big leagues for 10 years and was with the same team for five years he held 10-and-5 rights and could reject a trade. At one point, Dempster did, in fact, veto a trade the Cubs had lined up with the Atlanta Braves. He was later rumored to be dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers but they apparently refused to part ways with Allen Webster so the deal fell apart.
This led to Theo Epstein and the Cubs making a deal that sent Dempster to the Texas Rangers for prospects Hendricks and Christian Villanueva. At the time, it was a trade that made sense for both teams.
Chicago Cubs: Dempster experiment in Texas goes awry
The Rangers were in first place in the AL West by three games and were looking to bolster their rotation to make a playoff push. The plan was he would slide into a starting rotation that already featured Yu Darvish and Matt Harrison, who were putting strong seasons together.
The back-end of the rotation was becoming an issue for the Rangers. Derek Holland had a rough first half before eventually ending up on the disabled list and Scott Feldman wasn’t nearly as effective as they’d hoped. They brought in Roy Oswalt before acquiring Dempster, but Oswalt struggled mightily and they couldn’t rely on him down the stretch. For the Rangers, Dempster fit the bill perfectly.
However, Dempster’s performance dipped significantly. His ERA skyrocketed to 5.09 and his strikeout-to-walk ratio dropped from 3.07 with the Cubs to 2.80 with the Rangers. He gave up 10 home runs as a Ranger in his 12 games which were one more than he surrendered with the Cubs in 16 contests.
As for the Rangers, things didn’t work out the way they had hoped. They ended up not winning the AL West and losing to the Baltimore Orioles in the Wild Card game at home in Arlington. The deal certainly didn’t go in the Rangers’ favor as they gave up two prospects for 12 starts from Dempster while failing to make the playoffs.
To make matters worse for Texas, Dempster ended up walking away at the end of the season and signing with the Boston Red Sox. He played just one year with the Red Sox before retiring from baseball.
Chicago Cubs: Reaping all the benefits of a lopsided deal
Safe to say we all know how this deal turned out for the Cubs. The Cubs finished the 2012 season with the second-worst record in baseball at 61-101, and …I’m kidding, I know no one wants to hear about that anymore.
The Cubs walked away with Hendricks. I mean, Epstein practically stole him from the Rangers. The Cubs essentially gave up a rental player in Dempster, who made 12 starts and got Hendricks for 11 years with his recent extension. That is highway robbery and has to be up one of the best heists Epstein has ever committed.
Hendricks ended up making his debut in the 2014 season on July 10 against the Cincinnati Reds. He fared well going six strong innings while surrendering four earned runs and adding seven strikeouts.
The right-hander ended up being a bright spot for the Cubs starting in 13 games while going 7-2 along the way. He posted a 2.46 ERA and only walked a total of 15 hitters.
The California native put together his best season in 2016. He posted a career-low ERA of 2.16, which was also the lowest in all of baseball, and went 16-8 in the 30 games he started.
He allowed a career-low 45 earned runs and struck out a career-high 170 batters. His performance only mustered him a top-3 finish in the CY Young voting, although he certainly could have won it most years.
Chicago Cubs: A guy made for the biggest moments
Throughout his career with the Cubs, Kyle Hendricks has been a staple in the starting rotation and the pitcher you hand the ball to in big games. He started and won Game 6 of the 2016 NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers when he threw 7 1/3 shutout innings in a clinching game that sent the Cubs to their first World Series since 1945.
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Hendricks got the ball in Game 7 of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians and pitched 4 2/3 really strong innings before getting a way-too-early hook from Joe Maddon. Fast forward to the 2017 postseason and Hendricks was the Cubs’ Game 1 starter against the Washington Nationals in which he threw seven shutout innings in a Cubs’ 3-0 win.
Since acquiring Hendricks from the Rangers, he’s made 132 starts over the last five seasons. He’s gone 52-33 and has a minuscule ERA of 3.07. The soft-tossing right-hander struck out 668 batters while allowing just 186 free passes equating to a 3.59 K/BB ratio.
His dominant performance over the years with the Cubs recently earned Hendricks an extension. On Tuesday, we learned that Hendricks received a four-year, $55.5 million deal with a 2024 vesting option worth $16 million. Based on what he’s done and brought to the Cubs it’s well deserved.
I’m sure at the time when Hendricks was acquired, no one envisioned he’d become the closest thing to a modern-day Greg Maddux that we’ve ever seen. He has and he’s certainly lived up to and far exceeded any possible expectations.
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But hindsight is 20/20 and I’m sure if the Rangers knew this is what Hendricks would turn into there’s no way they would have dealt him. All I know is if I ever get the chance to see Dempster, I will personally thank him for helping bring Hendricks to the Cubs.