What Liam Hendriks' big $54 million contract could mean for rest of free-agent market

For some teams, money is still out there to be spent as it would in a normal offseason — the White Sox proved it with their $54 million agreement early this week with top free-agent reliever Liam Hendriks.

It was certainly good news for the best remaining bullpen arms, Brad Hand in particular.

Hendriks’ deal is for three years with a fourth-year club option, but unusually, the buyout for that fourth year is reportedly the same price as the club option ($15 million). The White Sox would pay Hendriks $15 million in 2024 if they exercise the option, or spread that $15 million out across multiple years if they buy him out.

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Hendriks, who turns 32 next month, has been baseball’s best closer the last two seasons, emerging in Oakland as a dominant setup man and eventually saving games for them. He has made 99 appearances (110⅓ innings) since 2019 and has a 1.79 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 13.1 strikeouts and 2.0 walks per nine innings.

In 2020, he went 14 for 15 in saves and gave up one homer all summer.

The White Sox closer the last two years, Alex Colome, is a free agent who is also coming off of two strong years. He has a 2.27 ERA the last two seasons with 42 saves in 46 attempts, though his stuff and his peripheral numbers don’t touch Hendriks’.

Another top free-agent reliever and former Athletic, Blake Treinen, re-signed with the Dodgers five days ago for $17.5 million over two years.

The best remaining bullpen arms in free agency at this point are:

  • Brad Hand (LH)
  • Alex Colome
  • Shane Greene
  • Kirby Yates
  • Mark Melancon
  • Trevor Rosenthal

Hand would have been due $10 million in 2020 but cost-cutting Cleveland waived him instead. This Hendriks contract is a big deal for Hand because he's the closest thing to him left on the market.

There are also older but still effective short-term free-agent relievers like Darren O’Day, Sergio Romo, Joakim Soria and Yusmeiro Petit.

The Phillies have added two relievers via trade in the last two weeks, acquiring lefty Jose Alvarado from the Rays and right-hander Sam Coonrod from the Giants. Both have fastballs in the upper-90s but come with questions.

As for the White Sox, they’ve made three meaningful additions this offseason in Hendriks, starting pitcher Lance Lynn (trade with Texas) and outfielder Adam Eaton (one year, $7M). You’ll recall that two years ago around this time, the White Sox struck out in their hunt for Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. They also pursued Zack Wheeler and reportedly outbid the Phillies' offer of five years, $118 million but still didn't get him.

They went 72-89 in 2019, then spent a combined $128.5 million on Yasmani Grandal and Dallas Keuchel the next offseason. They made major progress in 2020, with Jose Abreu winning MVP, Tim Anderson vying for another batting title and Eloy Jimenez quickly turning into a difference-making power bat.

Given the way the White Sox have been able to spread around the money and add so many good players over the last two years while their own guys have turned into stars, you wonder if they’re better off having missed out on the $300 million guys that went to the Phillies and Padres.

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