Lucas Giolito was in bad need of a reset. He’d endured a turbulent finish to 2023, changing teams twice in a span of two months, and coming off a couple down years he wasn’t sure what to expect as he hit free agency for the first time.

But once the Red Sox came calling, he knew he’d found his new home.

Giolito was introduced as the newest member of the Red Sox on Wednesday, with the club officially announcing his one-year deal with a player option for 2025. Speaking to reporters, Giolito said the Red Sox were among the first teams he heard from and that right from the start he was sold on coming to Boston.

“The Red Sox were honestly one of the first teams to reach out to me and my representation,” Giolito said. “So that obviously meant a lot to me.”

Giolito said he had an “amazing” Zoom call with the Red Sox and liked everything he heard from the team’s leadership. He said chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told him they expected him to bring stability to the starting rotation, and also that he’s a huge fan of new pitching coach Andrew Bailey, with whom he’s been in regular contact with over the last few weeks.

Though he declined to share how many other offers he had to choose between — he simply said it “wasn’t many” — he said that from the beginning he was locked in on the Red Sox.

“For me I really was sold on the Red Sox philosophy, talking with (Alex Cora), talking to Andrew Bailey, talking to Craig, that initial meeting really got me excited,” Giolito said. “So a lot of my free agency process was tailored towards getting something done here, so now I’m very excited to be here.”

Throughout his career Giolito has been one of the most durable starting pitchers in baseball, averaging close to 175 innings over the past five full 162-game seasons. He also received Cy Young votes in three straight seasons between 2019-21 while pitching for the Chicago White Sox, but over the past two years his production has fallen off.

Things went particularly poorly during the second half last year, a tumultuous stretch in which he posted a 7.13 ERA while changing teams twice. He also allowed an AL-worst 41 home runs, which he called an “astounding number,” and finished the season with a 4.88 ERA over 184.1 innings.

Between all of the upheaval surrounding him on and off the field, plus the looming uncertainty of his pending free agency, Giolito acknowledged he fell into some bad funks mechanically and mentally but is in a much better place now.

“The last couple months of the year were kind of a weird whirlwind for me,” Giolito said. “I’m not going to make any excuses for poor performance because guys get traded all the time and they pitch great or hit great. Now that that’s all out of the way, now that I’ve found my home here, I’m able to go and do my work, there’s no unknown and I’m very excited to meet everybody, get comfortable and go out and win some games.”

Looking ahead Giolito said his goal is to get back to basics, get his mechanics tightened up and prepare himself to throw as many quality innings as possible. He added that he’s spent a couple of nights in Boston over the last week and he’s excited to get to know the city better, and also that his parents live in upstate New York near the Massachusetts border, so they’ll be able to see him pitch much more often.

In the coming weeks he expects to develop a more concrete plan for the spring with Bailey, but once the season begins he expects to take the hill every fifth day and become someone the Red Sox can rely upon. If all goes well he could bolster his value and hit the free agent market again next winter, but in the meantime he’s all-in on Boston and wants to help the club in any way he can.

“I care deeply about the fanbase, I care deeply about trying to provide the best product possible, so you’re never going to see me slacking off or getting lazy or not caring,” Giolito said. “I will work my (butt) off to do everything I can to provide the organization I’m playing for and therefore the fanbase the best version of myself.

“So that’s my mindset going into this year,” he continued. “Now that all the noise is gone I’m here, I’m ready to get to work, I’m putting in some really good work this offseason so far and I’m confident that I’ll go out and provide a very nice product.”