Hendricks himself addressed these issues in the post game yesterday. He said he had been experiencing some mechanical problems and that the velocity didn’t bother him since he starts “slow” every year. He said, “that’s just the way I am” although he tried to come into ST differently. Both he and Joe reiterated that he was perfectly healthy. Kyle speculated that his velocity might be off because he was just now increasing his pitch counts.

It seems every year there is a this frantic concern about Kyle – and he just keeps getting better. He now is stronger, more experienced and more educated and his approach and studiousness haven’t changed.

Like the advice to the bandwagoner doomsdayers on the rough Cubs start, perhaps we should give Kyle until May to show us where he is at in performance.