Three-time All-Star explains why he chose Red Sox after '15 or 16' teams contacted him

Many MLB analysts are predicting the Boston Red Sox to finish in last place in the ultra-competitive AL East for the third straight season in 2024.

Still, relief pitcher Liam Hendriks chose to sign a two-year, $10M contract with the club last week.

The three-time All-Star appeared on "The Greg Hill Show" on Wednesday and explained why he picked Beantown as his next home.

"The Red Sox were one of the teams that reached out pretty early on among, we probably had 15 or 16 teams that reached out," Hendriks said. "The Red Sox, the big thing for me, they were very adamant that I could pitch this year. That was a non-negotiable to me. The teams that said we’ll see how it goes -- no, you’re out. I wanted to make sure I had an opportunity to pitch this year."

The 35-year-old is recovering from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent last August, and earlier this offseason set a Feb. 15 deadline to sign with a team. If Hendriks had remained unsigned, he would've continued his rehab on his own and thrown for potential teams in July.

"Obviously, if a setback happens then we readjust," the right-hander said. "But having the option at the start to pitch in 2024 -- and that was Brandon Henry the head trainer (for Boston) -- he was like no, I don’t envision a place where you do not pitch for the 2024 Boston Red Sox. And that was something that was really important to me."

Hendriks made a triumphant return to the mound with the Chicago White Sox last May after missing the beginning of the year due to his battle with stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hendriks was limited to five appearances though, as he soon went on the injured list with elbow inflammation.

He's only two seasons removed from his most recent All-Star campaign, however.

Hendriks was voted into the Midsummer Classic in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and finished in the top-10 in AL Cy voting in 2020 (ninth) and 2021 (eighth).

He said that he wasn't sold on the consensus low expectations that the Red Sox won't be a winning team this season.

“As far as winning goes, I think Boston has always been a team that has overperformed what it says on paper," Hendriks said. "From the outside looking in, they always seem to have a hell of a lot more fun than a lot of other teams. They’re less structured, they go about doing their business but they always pull for each other. They’re more than the sum of their parts, where other teams you see what they are on paper and that’s pretty much what you’re going to get."