The Detroit Tigers management made a major statement by opening the purse strings and signing the all-time active saves leader, and future first ballot Baseball Hall of Famer, Kenley Jansen, to a one-year contract worth $11 million.
Kenley Jansen Signs With the TigersÂ
Jansen, who is a four-time All-Star, showed at 38 years of age, no signs of slowing down as he went 5-4 with a 2.59 ERA along with 57 strikeouts in 59 innings pitched and most importantly, 29 saves last season with the Anaheim Angels, which puts him on the cusp of making baseball history.
This veteran stopper, who one day will find himself in the Baseball Hall of Fame, enters this coming season only two saves behind Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Lee Smith, who is third on the all-time saves list with 478. Jansen is also only 24 saves shy of becoming only the third pitcher to ever reach the magical 500 plateau. The two pitchers to have reached the 500 mark are Hall of Famers Trevor Hoffman, who is second all-time with 601 and Mariano Riveria who finished first all-time with 652.
After finishing up his 16th MLB season, Jansen still had that burning drive when he spoke about his future.
“Four more years. That’s the goal, man,” Jansen told reporters when addressing how much longer he wants to play. “The offseason begins tomorrow. No kidding. I’m getting in my gym at 5 a.m. I want to drop a few more pounds, get stronger, get a little quicker. I’m dedicated.”
Tigers bullpen now has lethal one, two punch
The Tigers will now have a dominant one, two punch in Kyle Finnegan who earlier this off-season signed a two-year 29 million dollar contract and of course Jansen. Last season, Finnegan ended up with 24 saves along with 55 strikeouts in 57 innings. Another valuable bullpen arm is Will Vest who last year earned 23 saves while racking up 75 strikeouts in only 68.2 innings pitched.
During Jansen’s career, he played the first 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Afterwards, he started to move around quite a bit as this season with the Tigers will mark his fifth team in the past six seasons. Following his tenure with the Dodgers, Jansen signed on March 10, 2022 a one-year $16 million dollar contract to pitch for the Atlanta Braves, where in his one and only season in Georgia he earned 41 saves.
Following that one year, Jansen’s career took him to New England when on December 13, 2022 he signed a two-year contract with the Boston Red Sox where in that first year he would go on to make some baseball history.
The historic event came on May 10, 2023 when he became only the seventh MLB pitcher to reach the 400 save plateau. During his two years as a Red Sox closer (2023 and 2024), Jansen ended up totaling 56 saves and 114 strikeouts in 99.1 innings pitched.
After those two seasons in Boston, Jansen as already mentioned spent last year with the Angels before becoming a Tiger this off-season.
Jansen has a Baseball Hall of Fame Resume
Jansen, whose primary pitch is his cutter, has built over his career quite the impressive Hall of Fame resume. Besides being a four time All-Star, Jansen in 2016, set a career best of 47 saves and was voted the NL Reliever of the Year. The following year, Jansen had 41 saves and was once again voted NL Reliever of the Year.
Another big achievement was in 2017 and 2022 when he had back to back 41 save seasons in winning consecutive NL save titles.
Main Image: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
