Boston Red Sox Suggest Liam Hendriks Could Win Closer's Job in 2025

Speaking at the winter meetings, Chief Baseball Officer, seemed to give the early nod to Hendriks, who is coming off Tommy John surgery.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks (31) warms up prior to the game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Aug 6. / William Purnell-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox could be preparing to use Liam Hendriks as their closer in 2025, according to comments made by Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow on Monday during the winter meetings.

Per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic:

Breslow noted Liam Hendriks, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery, “should be fully healthy and comes with a pretty impressive track record at closing games,” leaving the door open for Hendriks to win the closer’s role.

This isn't necessarily surprising, as Hendriks has been an All-Star closer before, and the Red Sox have a need at the position after seeing Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin hit free agency. However, the Red Sox have other options in terms of Justin Slaten, Garrett Whitlock, Michael Fulmer and the soon-to-be officially signed Aroldis Chapman, so to see Hendriks in the early lead is at least notable.

A three-time All-Star, the 35-year-old Hendriks is a 13-year big league veteran. He has played for the Twins, Royals, Blue Jays, Athletics and White Sox.

He starred with Chicago when healthy from 2021-2022. He led the league in saves in 2021 with 38. He also helped the White Sox get to the playoffs that year.

For his career, he's 33-34 with a 3.82 ERA. He's got 116 career saves, the bulk of which have come since 2019.

The Red Sox are coming off a season in which they finished third in the American League East at 81-81. They haven't made the playoffs since they advanced to the American League Championship Series back in 2021.

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