Red Sox
Hendriks spent all of the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, and his hopes of a late-season comeback were dashed by a setback on Sept. 5.
Liam Hendriks spent the entire season rehabbing ahead of a potential late-season debut out of the bullpen for Boston. According to Alex Cora’s latest update though, it looks like Hendriks won’t be pitching at all for the Red Sox in 2024.
Hendriks ramped up his rehab after the All-Star break in hopes of joining Boston at the end of Aug. He pitched a few outings in AA Portland and AAA Worcester, but suffered a setback on Sept. 5.
Hendriks hasn’t been able to do a whole lot of rehab since then, and with the regular season dwindling and Boston’s playoff hopes all but lost, it seems like the veteran won’t get the opportunity to showcase his arm in Boston until 2025.
“He’s not playing catch. … So basically where we’re at right now, probably shut him down,” Cora told reporters Friday. “We got nine games in the regular season, so it’s going to be hard to get him going again.”
The setback is especially disappointing considering Boston has been in need of a lift to its bullpen. After starting the season strong with both its starters and relievers, the Red Sox arms declined dramatically after the All-Star break. As reported by The Boston Globe‘s Alex Speier, Boston’s bullpen has a collective ERA of 6.14 since the All-Star break (as of Sept. 17). Over that stretch, the unit is allowing 7.2 runs per nine innings.
There’s no guarantee that adding Hendriks into the mix would right that ship, but it couldn’t possibly hurt to have his arm in the mix considering the Red Sox had the worst bullpen in the MLB during the second half.
Boston signed Hendriks to a two-year deal this past offseason, with the understanding that he wouldn’t see a whole lot of time on the mound in 2024. The hope is that Hendriks will be a full-go in 2025 and return to his form pre-injury. In four straight seasons between 2019-2022, Hendriks commanded a sub-3.00 ERA. That includes back-to-back seasons with a 1.80 ERA or lower in 2019 and 2020.
Hendricks only saw five games of action in 2023 before his injury put him on the shelf.
Seeing Hendriks pitch in a Red Sox uniform could have provided some early hope for next year. Instead, Boston won’t run the risk, and will lose the first season of Hendrik’s two-year deal.
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