Multiple teams offered to sign All-Star reliever Liam Hendriks, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
Three-time All-Star relief pitcher Liam Hendriks is still looking for a new team. The former White Sox closer set a self-imposed deadline of Thursday, February 15 to sign before Opening Day, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Hendriks received “multiple offers” ahead of his Thursday deadline, Passan reported Feb. 14 on X. But the 35-year-old Australian is instead poised to now continue his rehab from Tommy John surgery on his own before throwing for teams in late July in hopes of bolstering a team’s bullpen in the second-half of the season. In December, Hendriks told MLB.com that he hopes to return to an MLB mound around the 2024 trade deadline.
An elbow injury caused Hendriks to undergo Tommy John surgery in August 2023. But an even bigger challenge faced the Australian before that, as Hendriks announced on January, 8 2023 that he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In April 2023, Hendriks announced he finished chemotherapy and that his cancer was in remission. He made his emotional return to the big leagues on May 29 at Guaranteed Rate Field for the White Sox.
“This is real, and who cares about baseball. This is one of the good guys in the game. He cares about others, he’s selfless and is always serving. I just wanted him to put a uniform back on. When he did that, it was a really emotional thing for us,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said of Hendriks’ return last season, according to MLB.com.
Hendriks Confident He’ll Return to All-Star Form
Hendriks was named 2023 American League Comeback Player of the Year for his return last season to pitch five innings for the White Sox. He recorded 75 saves over the 2021-22 seasons for the White Sox to establish himself as one of baseball’s best closers. Hendriks had back-to-back outstanding seasons with the Oakland Athletics in 2019 (1.80 ERA) and 2020 (1.78 ERA) before he signed with the White Sox in free agency in the offseason of 2021. His deal was for $54 million across three years, with a 2024 club option for $15 million that was declined by the White Sox.
The White Sox instead will pay $1.5 million in each of the next 10 years to Hendriks as part his buyout. Hendriks is confident he can return to his old All-Star form with a recovered elbow.
“I’ll be going into my [35-year-old] season, and I finally have a new arm that can do what it’s supposed to be doing,” Hendriks told MLB.com in December. “I’m going to be able to recover better and I’m excited for prospects of the future and seeing where it goes, especially in my mindset mixed with a brand-new elbow.”
MLB Wants to Speed Up Free Agency With Signing Deadline
While Hendriks gave teams a self-imposed deadline for him to join a team before Opening Day, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the league “would prefer to have a free-agent signing period, ideally probably in December with a deadline that drove people to make their deals,” reports the Associated Press.
Top MLB free agents Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Jordan Montgomery, JD Martinez and Matt Chapman all remain unsigned as spring training has begun. They are all represented by agent Scott Boras, who opposes the idea of an MLB signing deadline.