{"id":549755,"date":"2026-03-20T20:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549755\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T20:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T20:54:07","slug":"twins-liam-hendriks-granted-his-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/549755\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins’ Liam Hendriks Granted His Release"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran right-hander Liam Hendriks<\/a> has been granted his release by the Twins, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press<\/a>. He can now sign with any club.<\/p>\n

As an Article XX(b) free agent (i.e. six-plus years of service, finished last season on a major league roster\/injured list) who signed a minor league deal in free agency, Hendriks had uniform opt-out dates written into his contract: one a week before Opening Day, a second on May 1 and a third on June 1. When a player triggers an out clause of that nature, the team has 48 hours to either add him to the 40-man roster or release him back into free agency. The Twins opted for the latter route.<\/p>\n

Hendriks, 37, was originally signed by the Twins out of Australia back in 2007. He made his MLB debut as a Twin in 2011 but was never able to settle into a rotation role. He eventually found himself designated for assignment and passed around the league via a series of waiver claims and small trades. From 2013-15, Hendriks bounced from the Twins, to the Cubs, to the Orioles, to the Blue Jays, to the Royals and finally to the A\u2019s, with whom he\u2019d eventually break out.<\/p>\n

Even in Oakland, Hendriks took years to pan out. At one point, the A\u2019s passed him through waivers unclaimed and outrighted him off the 40-man roster. But in 2019, a 30-year-old Hendriks emerged not just as then-skipper Bob Melvin\u2019s closer but as one of the best relievers in baseball. From 2019-22, Hendriks pitched 239 innings with a 2.26 ERA, a mammoth 38.8% strikeout rate and a tiny 5.1% walk rate. He signed a three-year, $54MM deal with the White Sox ahead of the 2021 campaign and was excellent there for two years before health troubles arose.<\/p>\n

Hendriks missed time after being diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma. He thankfully went through chemotherapy and came away cancer-free, but he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow not long after and wound up requiring Tommy John surgery. He inked a two-year deal with the Red Sox, planning to rehab the first year and join their bullpen the second. It didn\u2019t go as well as hoped. Hendriks pitched 13 2\/3 innings with a 6.59 ERA last season.<\/p>\n

The return to the Twins this winter had the makings of a potential full-circle homecoming, but it seems Hendriks will ultimately land elsewhere. He\u2019s had a decent spring, allowing three runs in seven innings, but Hendriks allowed nine hits, walked five batters, plunked another and only totaled five strikeouts. He averaged 93.9 mph on his four-seamer, which would be his lowest mark since he moved from the rotation to the bullpen back in 2015. He averaged 94.9 mph in Boston last year.<\/p>\n

Hendriks can now sign anywhere. Time will tell whether his showing with Minnesota this spring will earn him a big league deal with another club. As for the Twins, they\u2019ll likely be on the lookout for bullpen help themselves on the late spring waiver\/opt-out market. Minnesota has Taylor Rogers<\/a>, Cole Sands<\/a>, Anthony Banda<\/a> and Kody Funderburk<\/a> more or less locked into spots. Trade acquisition Eric Orze<\/a> and veteran Justin Topa<\/a> have had poor showings this spring but entered camp as favorites to hold bullpen spots. Veteran Andrew Chafin<\/a> has pitched decently as a non-roster invitee and has a chance to make the club, though he had the same opt-out clause Hendriks took yesterday. It\u2019s not clear whether he\u2019s exercised it, but if he did, the Twins will have until tomorrow morning to make a decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran right-hander Liam Hendriks has been granted his release by the Twins, per Betsy Helfand of the St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,30813,82],"class_list":["post-549755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-liam-hendriks","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}