Red Sox Star Breaks Silence; Takes Subtle Shot At Boston

The Boston Red Sox have been bitten by the injury bug all season.

Most of the headlines of the season have belonged to guys like Triston Casas, Tanner Houck, or Alex Bregman, but they aren’t the only guys who have suffered long-term injuries. Another guy who has been out is Liam Hendriks.

Hendriks hasn’t pitched in a game since May 27th. Hendriks has dealt with hip and abdominal issues that have had him sidelined.

He opened up about the injury and made it clear that he’ll be ready to return at some point this season, but took a subtle shot at the team’s handling of him in the lead-up to the injury itself, as shared by MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo.

"That was surprising. That kind of shook me a little bit,” Hendriks said of manager Alex Cora saying he wouldn't pitch again this year. “I was like, ‘OK, let me read this thing.’ That was frustrating. It was like, ‘Have they not told me anything that’s going on? Am I out of the loop? What’s going on?’ Everyone I’ve spoken to about this has said, ‘No, we’re pushing to get you back this year.’ You hear that and you’re like, ‘Are they just lying to my face to appease me?’ Which is not the case. It was just a slip of the tongue, unfortunately. It was definitely not a good thing for me to hear. But we hashed it out and we’re all good.

“It’s way too early to say I won’t pitch this year,” he said. “If everything goes well, I will definitely pitch this year as long we keep moving in that direction. I spoke to A.C. about it and it was just a slip of the tongue. He apologized and we’re moving on."

One thing that Hendriks noted was how pitching multiple innings in an outing back in May could've played a role.

"It definitely didn’t help and it was something I wasn’t quite aware I was about to do,” Hendriks said as transcribed by Cotillo. “That was a communication thing...My job is to get people out. I’ve always said, ‘If you want me to do anything, you let me know’ instead of letting me know through a (text) chain I don’t look at. I like that face-to-face conversation: ‘Hey, look, we need you to be available for extras (more than one inning)’ ... even though that was one thing they told me I didn’t have to do during spring training...A couple outings after that, I was sitting 91 (mph). So not a great situation."

Hopefully, Hendriks is able to make a full recovery and make it back to the field soon. He certainly would help bolster this bullpen even further.