Sox closer Liam Hendriks: 'I want to pitch every day' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
"Hopefully, I get to a point where we're up in 100-something games and I get the opportunity to get into a lot of them."
White Sox fans have to like the sound of the world Liam Hendriks is describing, one where the White Sox win "100-something games."
Certainly that's why Hendriks is here, to bolster the chances of that happening on the South Side over the next four years. The big free-agent splash, plus other offseason additions like Lance Lynn and Adam Eaton, have added to an already talented roster that now looks like the American League's best.
It's winning time for these White Sox, and Hendriks is a crucial part of that mix.
RELATED: Why the Sox chose to spend big on Hendriks and the bullpen
Lucky for them, it doesn't sound like he's planning on holding anything back. In an effort to prove his $54 million contract to be worth every penny, Hendriks is ready to take the ball whenever he's called on. Well, actually, far more often than that.
"The way I operate is I never want to not have the ball. I want to pitch every day," Hendriks said during his introductory press conference Friday. "I want to pitch in 81 games a year. That's a personal goal of me getting out there. It's part and parcel to one, being healthy, and one, being effective, and two, having the confidence of being on a winning team and we're able to do that.
"I'm ready for whatever. Whether it be multiple innings, whether it be solo innings, just a lot of solo innings. Whatever it needs to be, I'm capable of going out there and giving the team whatever they need.
"I want to pitch every day. I want the ball. I tend to do better the more I pitch, as well. ... When they want to give me a break or whatever it is, they're going to have to pry the ball out of my hands. I'm never going to say I'm down. I'm never going to say I need a day."
It sounds like Hendriks has a lot in common with his new teammate Lynn, who introduced himself to Chicago by discussing how much he dislikes being taken out of games, promising fights whenever his manager or pitching coach tries to do so.
"I want the ball" might need to be up there with the rest of the potential slogans for this year's White Sox club.
Those mentalities might endear the newly arrived hurlers to White Sox fans, but it's the ability to think that way that was part of what attracted Hendriks to the South Side. While new manager Tony La Russa was managing bullpens in interesting ways well before it became commonplace throughout the majors, Hendriks likes the appeal of an "old-school" manager in La Russa who will let him pitch.
"Bringing in Tony La Russa, who is more of that old-school manager, where I like to consider myself somewhat of an old-school pitcher — I want to go out there every single day, and I want to get to 85, 90 innings out of the 'pen — that was a big thing for me, as well, knowing that there's not going to be the limitations on all that," Hendriks said.
"I want to go. If we have a chance to win a game back-to-back-to-back days or four days in a row, whatever it is, I want to have the ball. That's my goal."
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