Chicago White Sox’s ugly season could get even uglier if Liam Hendriks is out for long – The Denver Post

“Winning Ugly” became the mantra of the 1983 White Sox, a team that stormed back from being 8 games under .500 on May 26 to win the American League West by 20 games.

Despite a postseason reckoning, that ’83 season was so special to Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf that the Sox wear the sartorially-challenged uniforms from that era during Sunday home games on the South Side.

Forty years later, the 29-38 Sox perfected the art of losing ugly while wearing those throwbacks.

The bullpen blew their second straight ninth-inning lead Sunday in another stomach-churning loss to the Miami Marlins, leaving manager Pedro Grifol to declare “those guys are human.”

Without Liam Hendriks to close either game, Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman took turns gagging on cue, turning a would-be sweep of the Marlins into a series loss and killing any momentum from an uplifting 5-1 stretch against the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees.

With a day off for recovery, the Sox begin a six-game West Coast trip Tuesday in Los Angeles, where struggling starter Lance Lynn faces the equally mystifying Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Sox had not revealed the results of tests on Hendriks’ right elbow as of late Monday. But even if it’s deemed “good” news, it appears likely Hendriks would probably miss at least three weeks, just for the sake of being extra cautious with a key player who recently returned from a bout with cancer.

Hendriks returned on May 29, only 45 days after his final chemotherapy session, and without the benefit of a prolonged minor-league rehab stint. Management acceded to Hendriks’ desire to not return to Triple-A Charlotte after only five innings of work over six games. Hendriks said he wanted to tweak his mechanics in front of pitching coach Ethan Katz and bullpen coach Curt Hasler in bullpens and live batting practice sessions.

“I was putting too much on myself and trying to generate too much,” Hendriks said that night. “For me specifically, when I try and generate, I tend to get too low into my leg, my back leg and jump forward. Instead of jumping forward and driving forward, I was jumping up and losing everything out of my back hip and then opening up too early. So I had no rotation going through.

“There were a couple little tweaks that we were making. That’s why I said it’s really hard to not see a person in real life or consistently on a daily basis and be able to pick out those little things. That’s something that I think throwing to Luis (Robert Jr.), throwing to (Romy Gonzalez) throwing in front of Katz and ‘Has,’ they were four big people I wanted to get in front of.”

Asked about the decision that night, general manager Rick Hahn noted the Sox were dealing with “uncharted territory,” and said “you need to trust the player” in such a situation.

No one questioned the relative lack of real game experience when Hendriks returned. When he deemed himself ready and the doctors, training staff and pitching coaches all signed off, the Sox scheduled Hendriks’ emotional return for the start of a homestand at Sox Park against the Los Angeles Angels.

It was a night to remember, complete with choreographed strobe lighting to simulate a closing situation.

After a shaky first outing, Hendriks allowed one run over four innings in his next four appearances before feeling some elbow discomfort after Friday’s outing against the Marlins. When Kelly was asked to close on Saturday, few alarm bells sounded. Hendriks had pitched three times in four days from June 3-6, and had spent time breathing in New York air pollution last week. It made sense to avoid the stress of another back-to-back so early in Hendriks’ comeback.

Then came the news of right elbow inflammation on Sunday morning, making an ugly morning that much worse.

Did the Sox rush Hendriks back without the proper time to ramp-up? Did he pitch too much at the outset? Or was it the simply the right forearm flexor strain that sidelined him for a month one year ago, and there was nothing the Sox could do to prevent it?

Even while noting the inspiring nature of Hendriks’ return, all questions are fair game if the elbow issue leads to a prolonged absence.

When the Sox placed Hendriks on the injured list, retroactive to Saturday, it was no surprise many Sox fans jumped on Hahn for the quick injury. That’s the default mode on Sox Twitter, after all, for any Sox-related mishap.

In truth, too many individuals, including Hendriks, were part of the decision to put all the blame on Hahn.

Hahn told reporters Sunday that “once he was cleared and how he was ramped up and how he returned to play, I don’t think that’s a factor (in the injury), based upon the fact that the number of medical professionals involved, ranging from our orthopedic people to his oncologist, to a rehabilitation specialist, to the number of check-ins with where he was at physically along the way.”

Hahn called it “perhaps the most thoroughly vetted return to play of any player, in certainly my recent memory.”

Hopefully, Hendriks’ absence will turn out to be a mere blip in what has been a heartwarming comeback story, instead of another in a series of heartbreaking episodes for a team that’s experienced nothing but disappointment since the start of the 2022 season.

The Sox still have a realistic shot at winning the worst division in baseball, trailing the Minnesota Twins by only 4 1/2 games. But not having a closer who can actually close games figures to be a problem.

Grifol said the bullpen was better prepared to fill the void because they did it by committee without Hendriks the first two months.

“Obviously losing Liam can hurt any bullpen,” Grifol said Sunday. “But we are better prepared than if it happened just out of the blue. I trust our guys that we have back there. They’ve been pitching great baseball. They’ve been pitching in different roles. We’ve just got to keep moving forward.”

Hahn concurred, pointing to the last five or six weeks of an improved bullpen.

“So, again, the opportunity is going to be there for other guys to step up just as they had early in the season, and we believe in the talent,” Hahn said.

That belief will be put to the test again this week in Los Angeles and Seattle.

Stay up late at your own risk.

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