{"id":692362,"date":"2026-05-07T04:09:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/692362\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T04:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:09:19","slug":"twins-front-office-awkwardly-calls-liam-hendriks-just-for-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/692362\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins\u2019 Front Office Awkwardly Calls Liam Hendriks – Just For Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Minnesota Twins bullpen has spent the opening weeks of the season doing an impressive impression of a pi\u00f1ata. Opponents are lining up, taking their swings, and walking away with something sweet. Near the bottom of the league in ERA, WPA, FIP, and just about every other acronym that signals distress, Minnesota\u2019s relief corps has quickly turned from a question mark into a flashing red warning sign.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNaturally, this led the front office to a bold and innovative solution: revisiting the exact veteran option they decided they did not need roughly five minutes ago.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBack in spring training, the Twins had a handful of experienced bullpen arms in camp, including former All-Star closer Liam Hendriks<\/a>. The narrative practically wrote itself. A respected veteran returning to the organization where his career began, providing leadership and stability to a group that needed both. It had all the makings of a feel-good story. Instead, the Twins released him before Opening Day.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFast-forward to early May, and with the bullpen actively setting new and creative ways to lose leads, the front office reportedly found itself staring at Hendriks\u2019s contact information like a middle schooler debating whether to text their crush in the wake of a mortifying mutual rejection.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was a tough call,\u201d said one anonymous front office member. \u201cNot emotionally. Just, you know, logistically. We had to figure out what to even say. There is no template for \u2018Hey, remember when we said you were not good enough? Quick follow-up, about that.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother executive described the internal discussion leading up to the call.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe ran the numbers,\u201d they said. \u201cThen we ran them again, hoping they would change. They did not. At some point, someone just said, \u2018What if we simply pretended none of that happened?\u2019 and honestly that was the best plan we had.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to sources, the call itself was\u2026 not smooth.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHey Liam, it\u2019s us,\u201d one staffer reportedly began. \u201cJust checking in. How have you been? Crazy weather lately, right? Anyway, quick question, how do you feel about high-leverage innings on a team that currently treats them like a suggestion?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHendriks, for his part, handled the situation about as well as could be expected.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI missed the part where I was supposed to be gone long enough for this to make sense,\u201d Hendriks said. \u201cBut I appreciate the confidence now. It is very\u2026 timely.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe paused before adding, \u201cDo I get bonus points for pretending I didn’t hear them laugh nervously before asking if I still had my glove?\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTwins fans, meanwhile, have taken the development in stride, which is to say not at all.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI thought the plan was to build a bullpen,\u201d said one fan outside Target Field. \u201cNot crowdsource one after two weeks.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother fan was more direct.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey let him go, watched the bullpen implode, and now they’re calling him like they forgot their wallet at dinner,\u201d they said. \u201cAt this point, I’m expecting them to check if Joe Nathan<\/a> is free, too.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere is, of course, a certain symmetry to all of this. The Twins identified a potential solution, moved on from it, and then rediscovered it only after exhausting less effective alternatives. It’s not quite a full circle moment, so much as a slow, awkward shuffle back to where they started.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhether Hendriks actually returns remains to be seen. Pride, practicality, and the memory of that spring decision all loom large. But the mere existence of the call says plenty about where things stand.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor now, the bullpen continues to search for answers, the front office continues to search for better decisions, and somewhere out there, a phone sits quietly, hoping it does not ring again. Because if it does, everyone already knows how that conversation is going to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minnesota Twins bullpen has spent the opening weeks of the season doing an impressive impression of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,1102,822,60,3190,4,148],"class_list":["post-692362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-twins","tag-baseball","tag-liam-hendriks","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-minnesotatwins","tag-mlb","tag-twins"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116531335249646945","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}