MLB Rumors: Kyle Hendricks Nearing Contract with Angels After 11 Seasons with Cubs

Kyle Hendricks' tenure with the Chicago Cubs is reportedly nearing an end.

Per Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, the right-hander is closing in on a one-year agreement with the Los Angeles Angels.

The New York Post's Jon Heyman reported Hendricks' deal is for "about $3 million."

Hendricks has played his entire MLB career with the Cubs. He was originally an eighth-round pick by the Texas Rangers in 2011 before getting dealt to Chicago, along with Christian Villanueva, for Ryan Dempster in July 2012.

While he wasn't considered a top prospect at the time, Hendricks developed into one of the key players for the Cubs during their run of success in the mid-2010s. He led MLB in ERA (2.13) and finished third in NL Cy Young voting in 2016.

That same season, Hendricks was the starting pitcher in Game 7 of the World Series when the Cubs defeated Cleveland to end the franchise's 108-year championship drought.

After two disappointing seasons in 2021 and 2022, Hendricks had a solid bounce-back campaign in 2023. He finished with a 3.74 ERA, his best since 2020 (2.88), when he finished ninth in NL Cy Young voting and led the NL with an 8.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The 2024 season was rough for Hendricks, as he finished with a career-high 5.92 ERA in 29 appearances. He spent a month pitching out of the bullpen due to his struggles.

When the Cubs moved Hendricks back into the rotation in mid-June, he was more effective than he was at the start of the season. He had a 4.73 ERA over 85.2 innings in his final 17 starts.

All indications were that Hendricks' time in Chicago was coming to an end when he was given an ovation from the Wrigley Field crowd in his final start on Sept. 28 against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Angels will be hoping that Hendricks is able to return to his 2023 form. His ceiling is low at this stage of his career, but the price to sign him makes this a no-risk deal to see if they can get a back-end starter next season.

While it's been a quiet start to the offseason for many teams, the Angels are at least busy making moves. They made the first trade of the fall by acquiring Jorge Soler from the Atlanta Braves for Griffin Canning. After that deal, Angels general manager Perry Miansian said they weren't done there.

"We're going to be aggressive," Minasian said. "We're going to continue to look to make the team better. We have a lot of areas where we can improve. This is move No. 1 and we expect there to be more moves."

Whether these are the right types of deals for an Angels team that's badly in need of a reset is another story.

Hendricks will likely take Canning's vacated spot in the rotation. As long as he can start every fifth game to give the Angels a dependable back-end starter, that will be enough for a team that needs to rebuild most of its rotation.