Reports: Red Sox to sign closer Liam Hendriks

The Boston Red Sox and All-Star closer Liam Hendriks have agreed to a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $10 million, multiple outlets reported Monday.

The deal is pending a physical for the righthander, who is coming off Tommy John surgery in August and is not expected to pitch much, if at all, in the 2024 season. If he does return, it would be well after the All-Star break.

The deal is loaded with incentives, which could put the value at $20 million and includes a mutual option for 2026, per the reports.

Hendriks, 35, pitched just five games for the Chicago White Sox after returning last May from stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Hendriks went 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA across five innings. He also had one save before undergoing surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament.

Hendriks began the 2023 season on the IL. He completed lymphoma treatment on April 3 and announced he was cancer-free 17 days later. He was diagnosed in the fall of 2022.

Hendriks, a three-time All-Star, is 33-34 with a 3.82 ERA and 116 saves in 476 career appearances (44 starts) for five teams, including the Oakland A’s (2016-20) and White Sox (2021-23).

The Red Sox are expected to start the season with Kenley Jansen as their closer, though he has been the subject of trade rumors.

Yankees made bid for Snell: Two-time Cy Young Award winner

Blake Snell has an offer on the table from the

New York Yankees, MLB Network reported.

The Los Angeles Angels and San Francisco Giants remain in the running to sign the free agent lefthander, per the report.

Terms of the Yankees’ offer were not included in the report. Snell, 31, made $16 million last season with San Diego in the final campaign of a five-year, $50 million deal he signed with Tampa Bay in March 2019.

Snell finished 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA and 234 strikeouts in 32 starts for the Padres in 2023, pairing a National League Cy Young to the American League trophy he collected with the Rays in 2018.

Snell is 71-55 with a 3.20 ERA in 191 games (all starts) with the Rays (2016-20) and Padres. He has struck out 1,223 batters and walked 451 in 992 2/3 innings.

Trout says he’s loyal to Halos: Mike Trout says he has no desire right now to leave the Los Angeles Angels, calling a potential trade “the easy way out.”

The three-time MVP outfielder is heading into his 13th season with the team and has seven years and close to $250 million left on his contract.

But there have been trade rumblings regarding Trout, 32, since former teammate Shohei Ohtani signed with the crosstown Dodgers in December.

“The easy way out is just ask for a trade,” Trout, who has a full no-trade clause, told reporters on Monday at spring training in Tempe, Ariz.

“There might be a time. Maybe. I really haven’t thought about this. But when I signed that contract, I’m loyal. I want to win a championship here. The overall picture of winning a championship or getting to the playoffs here is bigger satisfaction [than] bailing out and just taking an easy way out.”

The Angels have not been to the playoffs since Trout’s second season in 2014, when they were swept by the Kansas City Royals in the division series.

Los Angeles finished 73-89 in 2023 as Trout missed half the season with a broken hand.

ELSEWHERE

Brewers: Milwaukee is re-signing injured righthander Brandon Woodruff to a two-year deal, MLB Network reported. Contract terms were not available for the two-time All-Star, who is expected to miss the 2024 season following surgery in October

to repair the anterior capsule in his right shoulder.

Woodruff, 31, is 46-26 with a 3.10 ERA in 130 games (115 starts) across seven seasons, all with the Brewers. He has 788 strikeouts and 176 walks in 680 innings. He made only 11 starts in 2023 while sitting out from mid-April until early August with shoulder inflammation. He finished 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA and one shutout.

Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani took live batting practice with for the first time this spring as he continues his comeback from elbow surgery. The Dodgers posted video on social media Monday of the two-time AL MVP homering. Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers during the offseason after spending his first six seasons with the Angels.