Boston Red Sox Bolster Bullpen

The Boston Red Sox have become more active in their off-season as they traded RHP John Schreiber on Saturday for a hard-throwing pitching prospect in David Sandlin from the Kansas City Royals. Today they added another arm to their bullpen with the signing of Liam Hendriks agreeing to a two-year $10 million contract with incentives pending a physical; Hendriks will miss the first half of the season as he is recovering from Tommy John surgery. He is expected to return around the trade deadline. 

Liam Hendriks By The Numbers 

Hendriks started his career with the Minnesota Twins where he began as a starter making 30 appearances with 28 of those coming as starts, he went 2-13 during his time with the Twins with a 6.06 ERA, a 1.59 WHIP, and 100 strikeouts in 56 innings. In December of 2013, he was selected off waivers by the Chicago Cubs, then ten days later he would be selected off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles before being selected off waiver again in February by the Toronto Blue Jays, he made three starts with the Blue Jays going 1-0 with a 6.08 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP, and eight strikeouts in 13.1 innings. He would be traded to the Kansas City Royals where he appeared in six games, three coming as starts going 0-2 with a 4.66 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, and 15 strikeouts in 19.1 innings. In 2015 he returned to the Blue Jays where he made 58 appearances going 5-0 with a 2.92 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP, and 71 strikeouts in 64.2 innings. In 2015 Toronto traded Hendriks to Oakland where he spent the next five seasons making 247 appearances going 11-12 with 40 saves, a 3.08 ERA, a 1.12 WHIP, and 332 strikeouts in 263 innings; in 2020 with the A’s he finished ninth in Cy Young voting. In 2021 he signed with the Chicago White Sox where he spent the last three seasons going 14-7 in 132 appearances with a 2.76 ERA, 76 saves, a 0.87 WHIP, and 201 strikeouts in 133.2 innings; he finished eighth in Cy Young voting in 2021. 

Bottom Line: More Moves Coming?

With the signing of Hendriks could that mean that the Red Sox may trade Kenley Jansen after all and clear some of his salary for the 2024 season? Hendriks when he returns will be a solid reliever for the Red Sox to have in the back end of their bullpen that it almost makes Jansen expendable, we will have to see what if any move is made in the coming days as today starts full squad workouts at Fort Myers.