Welcome Back: Twins Sign Free-Agent Reliever Liam Hendriks

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Eric Canha-Imagn Images

 

Letting Liam Hendriks slip away from them before he morphed into a bulldog of a closer was one of the most regrettable failures of the Twins' front office in the final days of the Terry Ryan regime. Bringing him back as a reclamation project in a weak bullpen doesn't make up for it, but it's a feel-good story, anyway. Robert Murray of FanSided was first with the news.

Hendriks isn't getting a guaranteed big-league deal. He'll be invited to big-league camp to compete for a place in the bullpen, but the Twins don't have to expend big money or (for now) even a 40-man roster spot. 

After becoming an All-Star closer with the Athletics and White Sox, Hendriks, 37, suffered a series of health setbacks. He was diagnosed with cancer in January 2023, and missed the first two-plus months of that season. His return was a triumphant, wonderful moment—but within a few weeks, he was shelved by an elbow injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. He hasn't been the same since. He missed all of 2024 and was only intermittently available last year for the Red Sox. His numbers were ugly when he did take the mound, too, though his stuff still impresses some models.

If he can stay healthy, Hendriks has the makeup and the arsenal to be a useful right-handed reliever. The Twins are rolling the dice on his positive influence on the clubhouse and his body getting back to normal after a long period of disruption. If they lose, they won't have sacrificed anything substantial to try it.

 

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[OregonTwinsFan]

Can't wait until they make a move that actually improves the big league club...

[LastOnePicked]

Zoll knows it's legal to sign a free agent reliever who wasn't already with your team, right?

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Here's hoping his arm is healed and he has another great season in him. 

[stringer bell]

If this is the substantial move to improve the bullpen, I less than impressed. I don't know how healthy Hendriks is and I don't know how much he has left in the tank. 

Hey, Ben Rortvedt is available and he played for the Twins! That seems to be a prerequisite for signing with the Twins.

[Parfigliano]

Another getting the band back together move.

[RaoulDuke]

They are just collecting former Twins closers at this point.

Rogers/ Hendriks to be the old men in the bullpen, Pressley/ Hawkins to be the younger guys on the coaching staff.

What are Matt Capps, Fernando Rodney, and Sergio Romo doing these days?  What about Pat Neshek he might be my favorite random Twin ever.

[arby58]

The claim that "Letting Liam Hendriks slip away from them before he morphed into a bulldog of a closer was one of the most regrettable failures of the Twins' front office in the final days of the Terry Ryan regime" is one of the most '20-20 hindsight is always perfect vision' statements in the history of baseball.

Hendriks, in his three years with the Twins,  had ERAs of 6.17, 5.59, and 6.85. His collective WAR for those three years was -2.0. Then, when the Twins sent him away, in the next year between KC and Toronto, he had an ERA of 5.23 and a WAR of -0.3. He then had four years of ok, not great performance. Finally, at age 30 - 6 years after he left the Twins, he had a breakthrough year, and he had four great years as a closer.

So, the Twins let him 'slip away' so that six years later he would turn into a great closer, and that is 'one of the most regrettable failures of the Twins front office?' I call BS. 

[RaoulDuke]

2 minutes ago, arby58 said:

The claim that "Letting Liam Hendriks slip away from them before he morphed into a bulldog of a closer was one of the most regrettable failures of the Twins' front office in the final days of the Terry Ryan regime" is one of the most '20-20 hindsight is always perfect vision' statements in the history of baseball.

Hendriks, in his three years with the Twins,  had ERAs of 6.17, 5.59, and 6.85. His collective WAR for those three years was -2.0. Then, when the Twins sent him away, in the next year between KC and Toronto, he had an ERA of 5.23 and a WAR of -0.3. He then had four years of ok, not great performance. Finally, at age 30 - 6 years after he left the Twins, he had a breakthrough year, and he had four great years as a closer.

So, the Twins let him 'slip away' so that six years later he would turn into a great closer, and that is 'one of the most regrettable failures of the Twins front office?' I call BS. 

Ya I don't think anyone saw the Liam Hendriks turning into a bulldog closer throwing gas thing coming.

He was a soft tossing failed 5th starter.

Honestly its pretty surprising both him and Rogers ended up on that career path. 

[Brandon]

17 minutes ago, arby58 said:

The claim that "Letting Liam Hendriks slip away from them before he morphed into a bulldog of a closer was one of the most regrettable failures of the Twins' front office in the final days of the Terry Ryan regime" is one of the most '20-20 hindsight is always perfect vision' statements in the history of baseball.

Hendriks, in his three years with the Twins,  had ERAs of 6.17, 5.59, and 6.85. His collective WAR for those three years was -2.0. Then, when the Twins sent him away, in the next year between KC and Toronto, he had an ERA of 5.23 and a WAR of -0.3. He then had four years of ok, not great performance. Finally, at age 30 - 6 years after he left the Twins, he had a breakthrough year, and he had four great years as a closer.

So, the Twins let him 'slip away' so that six years later he would turn into a great closer, and that is 'one of the most regrettable failures of the Twins front office?' I call BS. 

Except we were actually saying here that they should try him in the pen first.  No one thought he would be as good as he was but everyone liked him and there was belief he could get through a lineup once 

My thoughts is that he is now plenty of time removed from injuries and this is when he should take steps forward.... He is also 37 this year.  I am hoping for a solid season out of him.  If the Twins sign someone like Kopech to finish off the off-season.  I can live with the moves.  And I hope enough of them work out 

[Parfigliano]

39 minutes ago, RaoulDuke said:

They are just collecting former Twins closers at this point.

Rogers/ Hendriks to be the old men in the bullpen, Pressley/ Hawkins to be the younger guys on the coaching staff.

What are Matt Capps, Fernando Rodney, and Sergio Romo doing these days?  What about Pat Neshek he might be my favorite random Twin ever.

My wife has a Neshek t-shirt she wears to games.

[Brandon]

And the Twins just signed another pitcher to a minor league deal.  Merryweather to a minor league deal with spring invite.  He pitched for Cubs last three seasons with various results.

 

[RaoulDuke]

20 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

My wife has a Neshek t-shirt she wears to games.

Good taste from Her!

I love the weird players.  Neshek had such a funky sidearm delivery but still threw average velocity for the time.  He is also a huge baseball nerd which helps haha.

 

[USAFChief]

Crikey!!

[CRF]

This is REALLY getting out of control. Hendriks and Merryweather? They'll be signing town ball pitchers pretty soon. 

[mikelink45]

Finally I understand why Hawkins is coaching in the pen - by mid season he will be our closer.

[jmlease1]

I don't mind them making signings like this to see if any of these kind of guys have anything left on a minor league deal with no promises of a roster spot. And if he's healthy and fully rehabbed it's certainly possible that Hendriks can still pitch in this day and age.

The real issue is they didn't go out and get a solid veteran RHP for the bullpen that they can plug in and should be able to count on to be one of the pillars of the bullpen as they sort out who the converted starters will be and what reclamation projects still have something to give.

They're skipping over the fact that they no longer have a Jax, Duran, or Varland back there any longer and just assuming they can piece it together with nothing stronger than Sands and Rogers as the spine of the bullpen. It's possible they're right, but it's a ginormous risk and they're pretending it's all fine. If they're serious about winning back the trust of fans (lol) this is not how you do it.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

9 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Another getting the band back together move.

We're on a mission from God?

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

9 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Another getting the band back together move.

And one that wasn't very good in the first place!

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

This is REALLY getting out of control. Hendriks and Merryweather? They'll be signing town ball pitchers pretty soon. 

More tea leaves that the 'serious interest' in Valdez and Peralta was nothing more than the Twins pushing a narrative. 

[amjgt]

The beauty of having a bullpen full of gaping, obvious holes is that these reclamation projects see the Twins and having a ton of innings opportunity. 
 

Did Zoll invent “no-moneyball”

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

10 hours ago, LastOnePicked said:

Zoll knows it's legal to sign a free agent reliever who wasn't already with your team, right?

Twins are too focused on 'playoff caliber starting pitchers' to worry about the bullpen.

[TJSweens]

We may win the quadruple A championship at this rate.

[rv78]

Have they contacted Jack Morris yet? We'll be needing him for Game 7.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Thomas Wolfe, the great North Carolinian author, was wrong. You can go home again. Welcome home, Liam. I wish you well and hope you are successful.

[Whitey333]

Another ho hum "addition" to Twins mediocrity.  No offense to Hendricks.  His is a great story of perseverance coming back from injuries and cancer.  Just what this team needs is another old veteran hoping to have something in the tank.  

[bean5302]

Great non-guaranteed signing. Not sure how many modern day Mariano Rivera's fans in here think are on the market right now, but it's zero, just for the record. This is the RP free agent market right now. Several are better than Chris Paddack, who just signed for 5x the league minimum despite deserving a MiLB contract, just in case anybody was checking. 

Hendriks needs to get some control back and an uptick for velocity. I doubt he'll be able to do it, but he's not under guaranteed contract. The upside is pretty huge, downside is negligable

[Old Twins Hat]

10 hours ago, RaoulDuke said:

They are just collecting former Twins closers at this point.

Rogers/ Hendriks to be the old men in the bullpen, Pressley/ Hawkins to be the younger guys on the coaching staff.

What are Matt Capps, Fernando Rodney, and Sergio Romo doing these days?  What about Pat Neshek he might be my favorite random Twin ever.

Hey, I had Neshek in a Spanish class at Park Center back in the day.  Prolly last kid I ever had who is still a known figure in the world.  Good on him.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

The vitriol in the comments on this article is one of the main reasons I have paid less and less attention to this website.

This is the Twins giving a former all-star player a chance to make a difference. He potentially fills a position of need. They signed him to a MiLB deal, without a roster or 40-man spot guarantee. He is blocking nobody.

Today, this signing really means nothing other than the positivity of Liam Hendricks still being alive and attempting to continue his career. Tomorrow, he could be a valuable member of the bullpen.

[Woof Bronzer]

15 minutes ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

The vitriol in the comments on this article is one of the main reasons I have paid less and less attention to this website.

This is the Twins giving a former all-star player a chance to make a difference. He potentially fills a position of need. They signed him to a MiLB deal, without a roster or 40-man spot guarantee. He is blocking nobody.

Today, this signing really means nothing other than the positivity of Liam Hendricks still being alive and attempting to continue his career. Tomorrow, he could be a valuable member of the bullpen.

"Vitriol is bad!  Also I hate Dan Gladden so much that I made him my username and avatar and he must be fired immediately."