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![\"Cubs](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CTC-CUBS-REDS-050626-57.jpg\")
Cubs reliever Phil Maton, left, fist-bumps catcher Carson Kelly after the top of the eighth inning against the Reds on May 6, 2026, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\nATLANTA \u2014 The Chicago Cubs are giving veteran reliever Liam Hendriks a chance to get back to the majors.<\/p>\n
The Cubs have agreed to a minor-league deal with the 37-year-old right-hander, pending a physical, manager Craig Counsell confirmed Wednesday. Hendriks will report to the team\u2019s complex in Mesa, Ariz., to ramp up. He hasn\u2019t appeared in a big-league game since May 27 after struggling in a brief stint with the Boston Red Sox last year, posting a 6.59 ERA in 14 appearances.<\/p>\n
Once Hendriks gets built up to a point he\u2019s ready to compete, he likely will head to Triple-A Iowa and continue to progress from there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s essentially just depth right now and taking a shot at somebody who\u2019s had a lot of success and see what happens,\u201d Counsell said before the Cubs faced the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. \u201cBut he\u2019s going to have a ways to build up. \u2026 This is a released player right now at this point in his career, and he was ready to sign and had some interest, and he\u2019s going to get a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hendriks hasn\u2019t thrown quality big-league innings since an All-Star performance with the White Sox in 2022, when he had a 2.81 ERA in 58 games. He appeared in only five games for the Sox the following year, initially missing time while undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. After returning in late May 2023, he suffered a UCL tear less than two weeks later and underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery that sidelined him all of 2024. A right hip issue kept him out most of \u201925 with the Red Sox.<\/p>\n
Hendriks signed a minor-league deal with the Minnesota Twins in February and was released at the end of spring training.<\/p>\n
In a groove
\nCubs reliever Phil Maton, left, fist-bumps catcher Carson Kelly after the top of the eighth inning against the Reds on May 6, 2026, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
Phil Maton is cautious to ever declare that his delivery has fully come together.<\/p>\n
That, he surmises, is a good way for the baseball gods to humble you. But Maton has been happy with how in sync he feels on the mound. The numbers have backed that up. Entering Wednesday, Maton hadn\u2019t allowed a run in his last five appearances (4 1\/3 innings) while allowing just one hit, one walk and striking out six of the 17 batters he faced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I have the ability to get in my legs and kind of drive the ball down the slope that being on time with the delivery has really helped,\u201d Maton told the Tribune on Wednesday. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been in the zone a lot more. The mistakes haven\u2019t been as bad, a lot more competitive pitches, and I think that\u2019s led to a little bit more success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being healthy certainly has helped too. Going on the injured list to allow the tendinitis in his right knee to heal has eliminated any wondering on a day-to-day basis on how he might feel. Maton has developed a pre- and postgame routine with the training staff to make sure his knee stays strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have to worry about getting my legs to throw,\u201d Maton said. \u201cIt feels about the same every day so I can actually focus on my delivery, getting guys out and it makes my job a little bit easier \u2014 it just frees everything up to where I can focus more on competing instead of just pain management.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early in the season, Counsell explained the importance of finding ways to get Maton more game action, that he\u2019s the kind of reliever who benefits from throwing more frequently. Without having to manage his knee pain, Maton\u2019s usage has been paying off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe injury obviously played a played a factor here, too, but now that we\u2019ve got him into kind of more regular use, I think you\u2019re seeing the performance go up,\u201d Counsell said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Injury updates<\/p>\n
Left-hander Caleb Thielbar took another positive step Wednesday in his return from a hamstring strain.<\/p>\n
Thielbar threw live batting practice before Wednesday\u2019s game without issue, setting him up to begin a rehab assignment this week. It has not yet been decided how many rehab outings Thielbar will need before he is ready to come off the injured list.<\/p>\n
Although he wasn\u2019t in the lineup Wednesday, Miguel Amaya\u2019s back is good to go, Counsell said, after he got through batting practice feeling fine Tuesday and subsequently participated in Thielbar\u2019s live BP.<\/p>\n
Left-hander Jordan Wicks (left elbow inflammation) is scheduled to make another rehab start with Iowa on Friday. Wicks has made five rehab starts and is coming off four shutout innings in which he allowed two hits and worked around four walks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 The Chicago Cubs are giving veteran reliever Liam Hendriks a chance to get back to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,7581,138,24,4245,576,161,875,1102,728,4,4397],"class_list":["post-698270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-baseball","tag-caleb-thielbar","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-cubs","tag-jordan-wicks","tag-liam-hendriks","tag-miguel-amaya","tag-mlb","tag-phil-maton"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116569992575824208","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698270","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=698270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}