Well, so much for that. Back in May, and well, it’s still happening now, the Chicago Cubs were grabbing any healthy arm available for nothing, and that included Liam Hendriks. The veteran pitcher and former All-Star closer was with the Minnesota Twins in spring training, but after he failed to make their Opening Day roster, Hendriks was sitting around as a free agent. The Cubs signed him to a minor league contract, and with the number of pitching injuries the Cubs have suffered, you thought it was only a matter of time before he was called up from Triple-A.
It looks like Hendriks exercised an opt-out in his deal with the Cubs because, unless there’s an injury that hasn’t been made public, Hendriks was putting up good results before his release during the All-Star break. The 37-year-old pitcher made five appearances in the Cubs’ minor league system after he signed in May. He did not give up a single run, including four near-perfect outings at Triple-A.
Hendriks struck out two batters in a clean inning of work down in the Arizona Complex League before he was assigned to the Iowa Cubs in July. In four games with Iowa, Hendriks struck out five and gave up only one hit and one walk. Hendriks was perfect in his last three relief appearances with a strikeout in each game, and given how the bullpen has performed in high-leverage spots this year, you would have thought the organization would have given Hendriks a look.
But nope, the Cubs determined Hendriks wasn’t worth a 40-man roster spot, and despite his good results in the minors, he was let go on July 16.
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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 shutdown 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, the third most among all MLB closers.
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.
