Options and free agency declarations have begun in the wake of the World Series, and the Boston Red Sox have already made a few announcements about players' fates. One such player is Liam Hendriks.
Boston on November 4 declined its half of the mutual option on Hendriks' contract, first reported by Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Hendriks received a $2 million buyout and he will become a free agent ahead of his age-37 season.
Hendriks' age could be enough of a reason for the Red Sox to want to move on, but the closer's tenure in Boston was far from smooth. Hendriks was another of the Sox's recent favorite sign-and-stash deals, and not all of them have gone to plan.
The Red Sox initially expected Hendriks to be ready to pitch in the big leagues in the second half of the 2024 season. Setbacks in his recovery prevented him from taking the mound in the big leagues last season. Boston then expected Hendriks to be ready to go for 2025, but elbow inflammation delayed his debut until late April. He clocked just 13.2 innings with the Red Sox before he returned to the injured list for the rest of the season with hip inflammation.
Hendriks' 13.2 innings of work in the big leagues weren't pretty, which could be attributed to rust, the general ups-and-downs of UCL surgery recovery, or something else entirely. He logged a 6.59 ERA having surrendered 10 runs on 12 hits with 12 strikeouts and seven walks.
Red Sox decline Liam Hendriks mutual option after injury plagued seasons with Boston
The Red Sox — and Hendriks himself — initially expected him to return from his hip injury to pitch later in the 2025 campaign. The closer got into a disagreement with the organization about his chances for a return after Alex Cora had a "slip of the tongue" and said he didn't think Hendriks would be healthy in time to pitch at the tail end of the season. In the end, Cora ended up being right, but Hendriks found his declaration premature. Their tiff could be another reason Boston didn't want to reunite.
“That was surprising. That kind of shook me a little bit,” Hendriks said of the disagreement. “...That was frustrating. It was like, ‘Have they not told me anything that’s going on? Am I out of the loop? What’s going on?’ Everyone I’ve spoken to about this has said, ‘No, we’re pushing to get you back this year.’ You hear that and you’re like, ‘Are they just lying to my face to appease me?’ Which is not the case."
Another sign-and-stash failure and Boston's second public beef with a player in the same year should serve as lessons for Craig Breslow. Teams that want to be taken seriously as postseason contenders sign healthy players instead of taking the cheap way out, and clubs that hope to bring in top-tier talent have fewer open disagreements with players (ideally, they'd have none).
Hopefully, Hendriks gets another chance at a return to the big leagues elsewhere. He deserves at least one more solid season before hanging up the spikes.