The White Sox reached agreement with free agent enlightener Liam Hendriks, pending a physical, reports Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports. This is a $ 54 million a year guarantee for three years, with a club option for a fourth season, per Mark Feinsand from MLB.com. Both the option and the buyout are worth $ 15 million ESPN’s Jeff Passan, so the right-handed Hendriks will earn that money no matter how long he has been part of the team. Passan adds that the White Sox could pay the buyout over several years. Hendriks is a client of ALIGND Sports Agency.
So far, this is the biggest guarantee given to any free agent during a slow-moving off-season. It comes as a surprise when we consider how winter opens up for lighters as Cleveland moves away from star closer Brad Hand instead of paying him a $ 10 million option for 2021, and no other team has claimed him. After that, it would be easy to expect relievers to do somewhat poorly this off-season, but Hendriks will be well paid. In fact, at $ 18 million a year over three seasons, Hendriks will exceed the record average annual value for a relief that Wade Davis set for 2018 when he signed a $ 52 million three-year contract with the Rockies. Hendriks’ agreement also flowed over the $ 3 million forecast that MLBTR made for him for three years before the off-season.
Only a few years ago it would have been almost impossible to imagine Hendriks at this stage. Athletics surpassed him in July 2018, but he returned with a vengeance that September as a member of the team and transferred it to the 2019 and ’20 campaigns. Hendriks was the majors’ most effective late-game arm during the team, while having a 1.66 ERA with a similar astonishing 33.1 percent of the runs, piling up 39 times out of 47 chances and the American won league reliever of the year. honored in 2020.
Based on what he did last season, the 31-year-old Hendriks looks like a huge loss to the A’s – who did not give the pitcher a qualifying offer after the White Sox knocked them out of the first round last fall struck. playoff games – and a big pickup for Chicago. The White Sox earned their first trip to the post-season since 2008 last season, and they are one of the few teams in baseball that have been active since then. Assuming the Hendriks deal goes through, he will be their third notable pickup of the off-season. Lance Lynn and fielder Adam Eaton.
Hendriks, also a former Twin, Royal and Blue Jay, must stand in line to take over free agency Alex Colome as Chicago approaches. The Australian will be the highest-ranking member of a White Sox auxiliary corps that finished seventh in the majors in ERA (3.76) last year. Evan Marshall, Aaron Bummer, Matt Foster and Codi Heuer yielded incredible results. With Hendriks coming in, Chicago’s bullpen could be even better in 2021.
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