Liam Hendriks claims Oakland A’s never reached out in free agency

Liam Hendriks says that he was interested in returning to the Oakland A’s. However, the team never bothered to pick up the phone.

It was not a surprise when Liam Hendriks signed with the Chicago White Sox. He had been expected to leave the Oakland A’s for greener pastures and a larger account balance. His three year deal, with a fourth year option, that is worth $54 million was more than enough to lead to his departure.

Even though it was unlikely that they would sign him, it was expected that the A’s would at least check in. Hendriks had expected the same, but that did not come to pass.

By his statement, it truly sounds as though Hendriks wanted to return. He may have even been willing to take a bit of a discount to head back to a place where he felt comfortable and enjoyed the culture of the clubhouse.

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Instead, the A’s never made that call. Perhaps they felt that even with a discount he would still be outside of their price range. Or maybe the A’s simply did not value him as much as he valued the relationship he had with the team and his fellow players. They could have at least checked in when congratulating him on his awards.

Oakland could have certainly used Hendriks. They had four free agents in their relief corps this offseason, and no one that could really take over as their closer. Hendriks had proven his value to the team in both the regular season and the playoffs, especially his gutsy performances the past year.

He will now be taking that dominance to the White Sox. Ironically, the last time they saw Hendriks, he was ending their season, picking up the save in Game Three of the Wild Card Round to send Oakland further into the postseason. That ended up being an impressive audition for his new team.

Liam Hendriks was interested in returning to the Oakland A’s. They just never picked up the phone to make that call.