BOSTON – The slight chance Liam Hendriks had of pitching for the Red Sox again this season is now just about nonexistent.
The veteran right-handed reliever hasn’t pitched since May 27 due to a troublesome right hip injury. But during his attempted comeback from that, Hendriks recently developed soreness in his right forearm.
“Got a little soreness [in the forearm], making sure we can handle that,” Hendriks said. “And now that has kind of been a little hiccup in the thing, which unfortunately most likely puts this season out. …
“It’s been a very frustrating year from my point of view, whether it be through the hip, whether it be through the arm, whether it be through anything.”
After undergoing Tommy John surgery during the 2023 season when he was with the White Sox, Hendriks signed with the Red Sox in Spring Training of ‘24. The hope was that he would return late for that season’s stretch run and be a full go this season.
But Hendriks had setbacks in his return from Tommy John, and he wasn’t able to make it back last September, a decision made easier once Boston fell out of realistic contention for a postseason berth.
Hendriks arrived at this year’s Spring Training hoping he could win the closer’s job, but Aroldis Chapman won it. And the injury problems returned before the season even got underway, as Hendriks was placed on the 15-day injured list on Opening Day with right elbow inflammation.
Hendriks returned on April 20 and had an inconsistent run of 14 appearances (6.59 ERA) before the hip issue presented yet another setback.
On Boston’s last homestand, Hendriks had played catch at roughly 120 feet and was getting close to a bullpen session, but his elbow didn’t cooperate.
“It’s definitely been not an ideal scenario as far as my Red Sox tenure, but we’ll see what the future holds, and hopefully I can come back and continue it on,” Hendriks said.
“It’s not the ideal situation, and the hip thing kind of took precedence a little bit this year. And with me trying to protect that because of the couple setbacks I’ve had throughout that process, I think I was just using too much arm and kind of getting that into some bad situations.”
It was a joyous moment for Hendriks when he returned to the mound after his battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2023. He appeared in five games before the diagnosis of a torn UCL.
Despite all the adversity, the 36-year-old Hendriks – who has a $12 million mutual option for 2026 that the Red Sox are sure to exercise their $2 million buyout on – has no designs on retiring.
“Very much so,” Hendriks said when asked if he wants to keep pitching. “I got a new elbow for a reason. If I wasn’t going to continue playing, I probably wouldn’t have gone through that whole process. There’s definitely a lot of desire to get back out there and come back and get ready for the [World Baseball Classic] next year.”
Hendriks is realistic enough to know that free agency won’t be an easy road.
“At the end of the day, I’ve got to prove health, and that’s the one big thing that is going to be hanging over it,” Hendriks said. “I haven’t really gone too far into that just yet, but it’ll be proving health and proving stuff, and going into it like any free agent that had some health concerns the year before. I think I’ll probably have to end up showcasing and doing all that sort of stuff, but we’ll see. We’ll tackle that when it comes.”
