The Chicago Cubs continue to collect arms, hoping to hit on a couple to survive a plethora of injuries in 2026. The latest project for the coaching staff is veteran reliever and former All-Star closer Liam Hendriks. The 37-year-old was with the Minnesota Twins in spring training after signing a minor league deal with them in the offseason, but Hendriks was released after he didn’t make their Opening Day roster.
Now, according to The Athletic, the Cubs have agreed to a minor league contract with Hendriks, who last pitched in the majors with the Boston Red Sox in 2025.
Baseball fans in Chicago should be familiar with the right-handed reliever. In his prime, Hendriks was selected to three All-Star teams in the American League, and was named AL Reliever of the Year twice, including his 2021 season with the White Sox. The right-hander has a career 3.88 ERA in 490 MLB games. In 446 relief appearances, Hendriks has posted a 3.16 ERA with an impressive 32.2 K% and 5.2 BB%.
From 2019-2022, Hendriks was one of the best closers in MLB. During that four-year stretch, Hendriks recorded a 39.0 K% in 237 innings. A true shut-down reliever, as opposing hitters only had a .189 batting average against him, while he limited traffic on the bases with a 0.89 WHIP. In those four seasons, Hendriks saved 114 games out of 132 chances, third most among all MLB closers.
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The Cubs are hoping that Hendriks has something left in the tank. In 2025, he made his return to the big leagues after undergoing Tommy John surgery in Aug. 2023. That paled in comparison to Hendriks being diagnosed with Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in January 2023. Fortunately, Hendriks announced in April of that year that he was cancer-free and in remission after completing treatment. He made his season debut with the White Sox on May 29, 2023, but he went down with elbow inflammation after pitching in five games.
A couple of months later, the White Sox revealed that Hendriks would miss the rest of the season following his Tommy John surgery.
In 2024, Hendriks signed a two-year, $10 million deal with the Red Sox. He returned to the mound in the minor leagues in August as part of his rehab, and after making three more minor league appearances in the minors to begin the 2025 season, Hendriks was called up by Boston. He made his Red Sox debut against the White Sox on April 20, 2025, giving up two runs in one inning. He then had eight consecutive shutout appearances for the Red Sox, but after a handful of rough outings Hendriks was placed on the injured list because of a hip issue.
Hendriks was eventually transferred over to the 60-day injured list and did not pitch again in 2025. Then, in late September, the Red Sox revealed that Hendriks underwent ulnar nerve transposition surgery on his right elbow.
He did pitch in spring training with the Twins, making seven appearances and logging seven innings. Hendriks averaged 94.9mph with his fastball in spring training. The odds are low that the Cubs will get anything of value from Hendriks, but it’s worth a try right now on a minor league deal, especially when there could be an opportunity for him to potentially come up and help.
Again, is it likely? No, but there’s no risk in this move. Always seemed like a great dude and guy who was easy to root for, so hoping for the best now that Hendriks is in the Cubs’ organization.
