The Cubs roster is officially without a member of the 2016 World Championship team.

For years, Kyle Hendricks has been the lone holdover from that history-making roster.

But the end of an era is upon us as Hendricks — a free agent for the first time in his career — is set to sign with the Los Angeles Angels on a 1-year deal.

The 34-year-old right-hander has likely thrown his last pitch for the Cubs but his fingerprints will still be all over the organization after an 11-year run.

“He’s taught us all lessons, I think,” Craig Counsell said at the end of the 2024 season. “He has a powerful mind in the way that he uses it to help him perform.”

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Throughout 2024, Counsell pointed to Hendricks as an example for younger pitchers. The resiliency the veteran right-hander showed during the most trying year of his career was commendable.

Hendricks carried a 12.00 ERA after April and a 10.16 mark heading into June. He was sent to the bullpen for the first time in his career and had to find a way to remake himself on the fly.

It worked, as Hendricks posted a 4.29 ERA from June 1 on, eventually finding his way back into the rotation to make 17 more starts.

“What Kyle went through this year definitely at moments was not fun and he wasn’t performing the way you want to,” Counsell said. “Kyle is just so good at a mindset of like, what’s next? How do I make it better? And he never gets stuck in the past. That’s just hard to do. Even when I say it, it sounds kind of easy. It’s not that easy.

“And that mindset is that’s why he has been great for a long time. That’s why he’s able to turn some poor performance around to finish the season and at times deliver some really good starts. And that’s what’s going to keep him going forward and keep pitching.”

You’ll hear often around baseball how important it is turn the page quickly. As Counsell likes to say, this is a results-oriented game and there is always a new result coming the next day.

Many baseball players struggle to move on from difficult moments or slumps. It’s the ones who right the ship faster who find lasting success.

And that’s exactly what Hendricks was able to do throughout his 11-year career with the Cubs. And 2024 was a perfect example of it.

That makes Hendricks easy to root for – as fans, coaches or teammates.

“He’s the epitome of what we want as an organization of guys that come through and have success,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said.

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Hendricks has been counted out throughout his entire career. He was never a top prospect in the minor leagues and often overlooked given that his velocity topped out below 90 mph.

Yet he found success, notching a 3.68 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 276 career outings (270 starts) that included an ERA title in 2016 as well as a World Series ring and a 3.12 ERA in 12 postseason appearances.

Hottovy was along for just about every step of the way, first as a run prevention coordinator with the Cubs and then as Hendricks’ pitching coach. And he learned a lot from “The Professor” – lessons that he can instill in other pitchers.

“Improving is not necessarily throwing more stuff or having better break on pitches,” Hottovy said. “Improving is understanding how your body works, how to be able to maintain what you do over a long period of time and just continue to build on that workload.

“His preparation, what he taught me about what he looks at going into games and how we can help manage that. I mean, he’s second to none in terms of prepping for games.”

Hendricks’ impact will linger with his former Cubs teammates, as well.

Porter Hodge got his first taste of MLB action in 2024 and ended up emerging as the Cubs’ closer – including closing out the win in Hendricks’ final start at Wrigley Field.

“Everybody loves him,” Hodge said of Hendricks. “He’s one of the best dudes I’ve ever known. He’s like a father, kind of, to me. Just the way he goes about his business. You can ask him anything, pick his brain.”

[MORE: The Cubs’ starting pitching plan is coming into focus]

Hodge was struck by Hendricks’ consistency on a daily basis – never getting too high or low. And a big lesson Hodge took from Hendricks: Don’t overthink things.

“He just simplifies everything,” Hodge said. “He doesn’t make it bigger than it is and he doesn’t try harder. I think a lot of pitchers get in trouble making it too hard on themselves, overthinking stuff, not being themselves.

“Wheras Kyle is always himself every day. I think that’s why he’s been so successful.”

When Tyson Miller was a young pitcher coming up through the Cubs system, he always counted down the days on the calendar until Hendricks would show up at the team’s complex in Arizona during the offseason.

Hendricks was always available to answer questions or provide advice but young pitchers also looked to him as an example.

Ethan Roberts has always put a lot of emphasis on his bullpens outside of game action, believing it’s where pitchers can grow and develop the most.

So naturally, he paid a lot of attention to Hendricks’ bullpens in Spring Training or between starts.

“Watching Kyle throw a bullpen is like art,” Roberts said. “If he wants a pitch away, his cleats when he lands are like an inch-and-a-half to the right and if he wants a pitch in, they’re in an inch-and-a-half to the left. And then he steps in the same cleat mark every single time.

“His prep is unbelievable. He’ll say, ‘hey, I want to throw a cut-change away from a righty.’ He’ll sit there, he’ll close his eyes and then he’ll do it. And I asked him, ‘what do you do when you close your eyes?’ He said, ‘I see it happen before it happens.’

“You learn a lot from guys that talk to you like that. He’s the man.”

And it’s not always on the field with Hendricks. He earned the respect and trust of his teammates through a consistent attitude and demeanor.

“It’s more than baseball with Kyle,” Roberts said. “He’s not just worried about getting you better here, he’s worried about making you a better person. … He shows you how you’re supposed to do it by his actions every day – around coaches, around fans, around players.

“And he’s been very successful in showing a lot of these young guys in here how to do it. It’s not that he goes out of his way to be like, ‘hey, you need to do this or that.’ It’s just like, watch Kyle. This is what Kyle does. This is what you should do because he does it well and he does it right and he treats everybody right.”

[WATCH: Jed Hoyer on Cubs’ plan for the offseason]

Justin Steele has turned into a All-Star level performer in the Cubs rotation who could compete for a Cy Young in 2025 and beyond. When he first got called up to the big leagues in 2021, Hendricks was one of the people he was most interested in watching and growing closer to.

Like Hendricks, Steele sort of bucks the trend we’ve seen around baseball in recent years. Steele doesn’t light the radar gun up and he gets outs in unconventional fashion, utilizing mostly 2 pitches.

What Steele took away from Hendricks is how important it is to do the work before outings.

“He knows every single batter he’s gonna be facing,” Steele said. “He knows the ins and outs, how he should attack him, how he shouldn’t attack him. It’s something he makes me want to be better at because he’s so good at it.

“I watch him in the locker room on his iPad, doing different research – it’s just impressive. I would say the biggest thing is the teammate that he is. Everyone that’s ever come across him as far as being a teammate has said the same thing about him.”