White Sox closer Liam Hendriks has been diagnosed with a flexor strain in his forearm, general manager Rick Hahn told reporters (including Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). He’s been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 11, with Joe Kelly reinstated from the IL to take his place on the active roster.
Asked about a timetable for Hendriks’ return, Hahn noted the club will have to see “how he responds to treatment over the next few days” but added “the preliminary estimate is three weeks.” A return within a few weeks would register as a positive for the club given the ominous diagnosis, as flexor strains can sometimes be a precursor to more serious elbow problems.
Signed to what amounts to a four-year, $54MM free agent deal over the 2020-21 offseason, Hendriks has generally been excellent for the South Siders. He posted a 2.54 ERA with an otherworldly 42.3% strikeout rate through 71 innings last season, saving 38 games in the process. He’s collected another 16 saves this year and owns a 2.81 ERA across 25 2/3 frames. The righty’s strikeout rate has taken a step back from its previous heights, but he’s still punching out a very strong 34.6% of batters faced.
Hendriks is one of the sport’s top late-inning weapons. The Sox also lost southpaw Aaron Bummer to the IL over the weekend, leaving manager Tony La Russa a bit shorthanded in the bullpen. Despite having a Hendriks – Bummer pairing at the back end, Chicago continued to invest heavily in relief pitching this past offseason. The front office brought in Kendall Graveman and the aforementioned Kelly on multi-year free agent deals, and that duo plus Matt Foster figure to see plenty of high-leverage opportunities over the next few weeks.
David Robertson would look good in a Sox uniform.. again
So would Craig Kimbrel.
Good point—by all accounts the Cubs traded the Sox a closer last year and it was the final piece to that championship season. History tends to repeat itself, doesn’t it? Back to back!!
Robertson and Madrigal. But the Cubs need to hold out for the Sox young A ball infielder that they keep touting. Now, the shoe is on the other foot.
No, we have Lopez!!
Worked hard by TLR and put away wet
I bet Liam belted out a loud “F” word when be heard the diagnosis!
LOL, yeah I bet he did.
Same as TLRs whiskey glasses.
Tony LaRussa – Dave Duncan = Pathetic.
okinnitram;
Hendriks IP is in line with most of the better MLB closers.
You cheap shot artists are pathetic.
It’s not a cheap shot
Hendriks pitched in eight games with zero days of rest and he’s pitched in seven games with one day rest. It’s not how many innings you throw that count, it’s when and how rested a pitcher is. Even though a pitcher says he can go the manager has to be smarter. But not TLR
75 innings last year is “worked hard”? You’re just another guy who wants to blame the manager. What should LaRussa do not use the guy? Limit him to what 30 or 40 innings? He gets paid a bunch of money to pitch it’s not the managers fault he’s injured.
It’s 162 games plus playoffs. Work your Closer balls to the wall and he’s injured by mid June. Yes you try to win every game however you only get a trophy if you win the last game of the year. Maybe a good manager would recognize that
From April 30 to May 7 Hendricks pitched in 7 games in 9 days That is definitely being “rode hard and put up wet”.
Prior to that he pitched 4 games in 5 days. So far he has pitched in 25 of the teams 1st 56 games and it would have been more if he had not been held out of 6 games as day-to-day between May 25 and June 4.
Closers typically don’t pitch 3 games in a row or that often. That is the fault of the manager.
And a tad bit the offense as they couldn’t score enough runs to relieve him
So in a week they will announce Tommy John surgery, see you in 2024.
TJ for the forearm?
Yes. Happened to Dylan Bundy. It’s all connected, and all a house of cards. One piece goes it puts the rest in jeopardy. Basically depends what caused the forearm strain in the first place. Is it over compensating for a damaged UCL? It’s going to keep doing this until you fix the UCL. Tommy John.
Forearm strain often is a precursor.
Didn’t Hendriks already have TJ?
@#1whitesoxfan maybe. Never had a forearm tug job, how much?
If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
Forearm strain is a precursor for TJ a lot of the time. Not a 100% but it is not what you eant to hear for a pitcher.
I would guess that 80-90% of forearm strains require Tommy John soon thereafter.
Pretty interesting his strikeout rate spike in 2019 and arm injury in 2022….says a lot. The mechanical change he made before 2019 is what hurt him now.
Bring back “Coop”!
He probably hurt it screaming after a strikeout of a .188 hitter.
I would think a change in mechanics wouldn’t be a slow lead up to injury, rather a quicker one where moving parts are stressed under new movement. But, then again I’m no arm expert, just a hobby collector.
Or he’s been wiping too hard and should’ve invested in a bidet. Both plausible theories.
Or it’s caused by his nervous twitches when he faces the Yankees lineup and they demolish his pitching.
Stop being salty that your poverty team wouldn’t pay up
That’s quite a leap there. If it had been sooner than 3 years, I might agree, but there are literally any number of factors that could have caused this.
RIP
Uh oh …
So what’s LaRussa gonna do now that he finally trashed his only reliable bullpen arm. Told you every game he doesn’t use him he gets the shakes. So what now? Forearm strain = precursor to TJ surgery. Then they’re screwed for the next 2 years. Atta Boy LaRussa, Have another drink, You’re gonna need it.
Graveman
Lopez
Kelly
Any one of those and all of those arms will do nicelyas closer!
Why do you keep putting Lopez on some undeserved pedestal? He has been a fine reliever since they converted him, but I don’t understand how you can see what he has done in the last year plus that makes you think, “yup, he’s our 9th inning guy”
Lopez closed out game tonight!
Flawlessly!
Kelly only closes if you want a heart attack
I love watching Kelly. He’s got a lot of excitement, and he’s really good at intentionally plunking guys.
Here comes the first major trade of the season.
White Sox to acquire Lou Trivino?
He strained all of his FOUR ARMS ???
Sox can’t catch a break. So many injuries. The sad thing is, it isn’t like they have been playing great when people have been healthy either. They cant hit with the bases loaded, they cant hit for any power, outside of stealing bases, they are horrendously bad on the base paths, they are brutal defensively, their starting pitching has been Jeckyl and Hyde, and they spend all this money on the BP, and it’s below average. It has been a frustrating season for Sox fans.
13 SOX “starters” spent time so far on IL this season!
Detroit says “hold my beer!” Tiger fans wish we only had the amount of injuries the White Sox have. Quit ya whining!
Expectations for the Sox were much higher than Detroit. Not even remotely similar.
Yet all we heard all winter was how great they were going to be.
…and that’s why you don’t spend $15 million a year on a closer.
Because he can get injured? Good to know that everyone else making $15M a year is safe from injury.
How many other closers are making $15 Million?
Uh plenty; Kimbrel, Chapman, Jansen, Robertson, Neris, etc.
Injuries are part of the game….good managers and GMs are made by what they do when they do happen, not the excuses they make because of them.
YIKES! South Siders getting hammered by injuries. Crazy stuff. It’s still early. One good 7 game win streak or a good run of say 8 wins out of 10 and they are right back. If not. If things continue to go down hill. Hahn will need to make decisions looking forward to next year.