Hendriks in 'good spirits' as White Sox mull other options for closer's role
The White Sox still don't expect to have an official update on all-star closer Liam Hendriks until the end of spring training.
Unofficially, the news in the opening week of camp has been promising.
"I want to reiterate and respect Liam's wishes that Liam likely won't be available publicly until closer to Opening Day (March 30) once we have a little more firm understanding of what lies ahead for him," Sox general manager Rick Hahn told reporters at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. "However, he is here on a fairly regular basis doing work, he's in good spirits."
In early January, Hendriks announced he was beginning treatment for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
"I am confident that I will make a full recovery and be back on the mound as soon as possible," Hendriks wrote on his Instagram page. "I know with the support of my wife, my family, my teammates and the Chicago White Sox organization, along with the treatment and care from my doctors, I will get through this."
While his playing status for the upcoming season remains in doubt, just being around Camelback Ranch has been a positive for Hendriks and his teammates.
"Seeing him here and in good spirits, he's going to continue to be Liam and put his work in," relief pitcher Kendall Graveman told reporters. "Our prayer from our family is that he has a speedy recovery and that he's cancer-free, first and foremost."
Reliever Joe Kelly saw quite a bit of Hendriks over the winter.
"I talk to Liam a lot," Kelly said. "We were playing catch multiple times (in the off-season) and when he came out and told the world what happened, he went to chemo and three days later we played catch again. He's been grinding. He's one of those guys that can do that kind of thing.
"He can switch off what troubles he has off the field when he gets on the field, and that's very hard to do."
Replacing Hendriks is a difficult challenge for the Sox.
Graveman and Kelly have closed out games in the past, but not like Hendriks.
Despite missing three weeks last season with a strained right forearm flexor, Hendriks finished second in the American League with 37 saves. The 34-year-old righty led the AL with 38 saves in 2021.
"I do feel, from a back-end standpoint, we've got a lot of quality options back there," Hahn said. "I think this is going to be a really big year for Reynaldo Lopez. I love the way he's taken to that role the last couple years and he has the stuff to be a dominant late-inning guy.
"Graveman's done it before, Joe Kelly's been back there, (Aaron) Bummer. We'll know more about Liam's timeline later in camp."
Pitching for Seattle in 2021, Graveman had 10 saves and was 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA in 30 games with the Mariners before being traded to Houston in late July.
"I want to win baseball games," Graveman said. "I'm too old and too long in my career to worry about a stat. For me to rack up saves or holds, it doesn't matter to me. I just want to get this team to the playoffs."
New White Sox manager Pedro Grifol is trying to make the most of a difficult, uncertain situation.
"Regardless of whether Liam was available now or not, we're going to need more than one (closer)," Grifol said. "Once we start setting up our gameplan for the day, we're just going to leverage guys. And if a closer emerges and that's what we do, then that's what we do. But I'm a big leverage guy. That's my mindset right now."