With Kenley Jansen’s deal with the Detroit Tigers now official, the all-time great closer spent plenty of time on Thursday talking to the media and had plenty of interesting things to say. There was the usual stuff about being excited to join a new team and wanting to win, but he also had some interesting things to say about how he expects to be used by manager AJ Hinch.
The Tigers deal with Jansen will pay him $9 million for the 2026 season, with a club option for 2027 at $11 million. That option includes
a buyout cost of $2 million should the Tigers pass on bringing him back, bringing the total guaranteed cost to $11 million.
Jansen said all the right things about joining the club in his video press conference with reporters.
“You see how AJ changed the whole culture to now it’s a winning culture. It’s exciting. I want to help finish what they started. I just want to be a part of a great thing.”
Now fourth on the all-time saves list with 476, Jansen no doubt wants to reach 500 saves. Lee Smith is currently third at 478, so it’s practically assured that the 28-year-old Jansen will take third place in 2026. However, Trevor Hoffman (601) and particularly all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera (652) are almost certainly out of reach. Still, becoming the third player to top 500 would presumably ensure a spot for Jansen in the Hall of Fame.
Jansen is obviously aware of where he stands. But as he confirmed to reporters, he isn’t guaranteed to be a full-time closer, allaying some fears that the Tigers were going to regress to more rigid bullpen construction and give Jansen every save opportunity. It’s perfectly fine if he’s usually closing out games. That will free up Will Vest and Kyle Finnegan to be used in setup/fireman situations prior to the ninth inning most of the time. But there may be matchups that just suit Vest or Finnegan better, and it’s a positive sign that Jansen is comfortable working in whatever role Hinch decides on a given day.
Hopefully this all works out. As we discussed in the article announcing his signing, Jansen had some struggles early in his 2025 campaign with the Angels. However, he quickly turned things around. From June 1 on, his strikeout rate moved back above average to 26.1 percent, with his usual solid walk and home run rates. His days an the top reliever in baseball are nearly a decade in the past, but he’s still quite good and even saw his average cutter velocity tick back up after a dip in 2024.
No one in the game has a better track record of closing out games, and that strong recovery last season after a shaky start bodes pretty well for another year of good, though no longer great, work in the late innings.
