The Angels and Tigers have each shown interest in free agent reliever Kenley Jansen, according to Ari Alexander of 7News Boston. Both teams are known to be looking for high-leverage relievers, and Jansen is naturally a known quantity to the Halos after his strong results as the team’s closer in 2025.
Signed to a one-year, $10MM contract last February, Jansen recorded 29 saves in 30 chances for the Angels, while posting a 2.59 ERA over 59 innings. His SIERA, however, was 3.94, as Jansen received quite a bit of good fortune in the form of a .195 BABIP and an 85.2% strand rate. This batted-ball luck helped him avoid a lot of serious damage despite a very high 44.6% hard-hit ball rate and a below-average 8.1% walk rate.
While Jansen’s 24.4% strikeout rate was decent, it was also the lowest K% of his 16 MLB seasons, and a significant dropoff even from the 28.4% rate he delivered for the Red Sox in 2024. Jansen’s signature cutter remains a deadly pitch, yet he has become increasingly reliant on the cutter in recent years, and threw it 81.4% of the time in 2025. Obviously hitters are still having trouble fully capitalizing on this cutter-heavy arsenal, yet Jansen isn’t having a lot of success when mixing it up with his sinker or sweeper.
Between Jansen’s age (he turned 38 last September) and his shaky peripherals, it is fair to wonder if the right-hander might finally be slowing down after 16 Major League seasons. It creates an interesting dilemma for teams in pursuit of back-end bullpen help, as nobody wants to be the club on the hook when or if Jansen’s production finally craters. That said, Jansen is also one of the more accomplished closers in MLB history, and he got better as the 2025 season went on, with a sparkling 1.02 ERA over his last 35 1/3 innings of work.
Jansen said last summer that his hope is to pitch “at least” through the 2029 season, though obviously a short-term deal is in the cards for him this winter. Before Jansen’s one-year pact with Los Angeles, his previous two trips to free agency yielded a two-year, $32MM deal with the Red Sox, and a one-year, $16MM deal with the Braves. Assuming that he signs another one-year contract this winter, teams might feel the limited risk is worth it to see if Jansen can hold off Father Time for another season.
The Angels don’t have any obvious closer candidates waiting in the wings. Injuries have limited Robert Stephenson to 10 innings over his two seasons with the Angels, while Ben Joyce missed almost all of the 2025 season due to shoulder surgery. Reid Detmers is getting another shot as a starting pitcher, so while he might resurface as a bullpen candidate at some point, it might be asking a lot to insert Detmers into a closing role. It would appear there might be some mutual interest in a reunion, as GM Perry Minasian is on record praising Jansen’s clubhouse leadership, and Jansen said he enjoyed his time pitching in Anaheim.
Then again, Jansen might also appreciate pitching for a team that has a better chance of competing for the postseason in 2026. Whereas the Angels haven’t had a winning season since 2025, the Tigers have reached the ALDS in consecutive years, and upgrading a middling bullpen would be a step in the right direction. As much as Detroit has relied on its “pitching chaos” strategy, having a clear-cut closer might help solidify things.
Will Vest performed quite well as the Tigers’ primary closer last year, but the Tigers’ interest in such pitchers as Pete Fairbanks, Kyle Finnegan, and (before he joined the Mets) Devin Williams indicates that the club wants to either augment its list of ninth-inning choices, or Vest could be moved into a fireman role. Jansen’s decline in strikeouts could be a red flag, however, as Detroit is particularly eager to add more swing-and-miss to its relief mix. Tigers relievers combined for just a 20.1% strikeout rate in 2025, the second-lowest bullpen K% in all of baseball.
