Many MLB analysts are predicting the Boston Purple Sox to complete in final place within the ultra-competitive AL East for the third straight season in 2024.
Nonetheless, aid pitcher Liam Hendriks selected to signal a two-year, $10M contract with the membership final week.
The three-time All-Star appeared on “The Greg Hill Present” on Wednesday and defined why he picked Beantown as his subsequent residence.
“The Purple Sox have been one of many groups that reached out fairly early on amongst, we most likely had 15 or 16 groups that reached out,” Hendriks mentioned. “The Purple Sox, the large factor for me, they have been very adamant that I may pitch this 12 months. That was a non-negotiable to me. The groups that mentioned we’ll see the way it goes — no, you’re out. I needed to verify I had a possibility to pitch this 12 months.”
The 35-year-old is recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure, which he underwent final August, and earlier this offseason set a Feb. 15 deadline to signal with a group. If Hendriks had remained unsigned, he would’ve continued his rehab on his personal and thrown for potential groups in July.
“Clearly, if a setback occurs then we readjust,” the right-hander mentioned. “However having the choice initially to pitch in 2024 — and that was Brandon Henry the pinnacle coach (for Boston) — he was like no, I don’t envision a spot the place you don’t pitch for the 2024 Boston Purple Sox. And that was one thing that was actually necessary to me.”
Hendriks made a triumphant return to the mound with the Chicago White Sox final Might after lacking the start of the 12 months as a consequence of his battle with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Hendriks was restricted to 5 appearances although, as he quickly went on the injured listing with elbow irritation.
He is solely two seasons faraway from his most up-to-date All-Star marketing campaign, nevertheless.
Hendriks was voted into the Midsummer Basic in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and completed within the top-10 in AL Cy voting in 2020 (ninth) and 2021 (eighth).
He mentioned that he wasn’t bought on the consensus low expectations that the Purple Sox will not be a profitable group this season.
“So far as profitable goes, I feel Boston has all the time been a group that has overperformed what it says on paper,” Hendriks mentioned. “From the skin trying in, they all the time appear to have a hell of much more enjoyable than quite a lot of different groups. They’re much less structured, they go about doing their enterprise however they all the time pull for one another. They’re greater than the sum of their elements, the place different groups you see what they’re on paper and that’s just about what you’re going to get.”
