Kenley Jansen

[Jason Rice]

Seeing multiple reports online that the Tigers are signing Kenley Jansen to a 1 year deal.

[Paul Meloche]

Jensen is 38 but had a good year last year in Anaheim. His worst outing by far was the game against Detroit when The Tigers scored eight runs in the 9th and Greene homered twice in the inning.

Jensen doesn't throw that hard but did average one K per inning last year and had a WHIP below 1.

I assume Jansen will be the closer in title at least to start the season, though Hinch does seem willing to play matchups and go with the hot hand when it comes to that role.

On Sat, Dec 13, 2025 at 11:37 AM 'Jason Rice' via Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Seeing multiple reports online that the Tigers are signing Kenley Jansen to a 1 year deal.

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[Roger King]

Vest is the closer.  Would assume Jensen would alternate with Finnegan in the 7th/8th. 

Roger King
El Presidente
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[Peter Welch]

Is Jansen a Troy Percival/Joe Nathan/K-Rod redux?

Would have preferred Fairbanks or Keller, but who knows what kind of contract they are demanding.

Still need a power lefty.

Peter

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From: 'Jason Rice' via Detroit Tigers e-mail list <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2025 2:37 PM
To: Tigers List <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Kenley Jansen

 

Seeing multiple reports online that the Tigers are signing Kenley Jansen to a 1 year deal.

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[David Panian]

The Tigers — and other cold-weather teams — may not be very interested in Fairbanks. He has Raynaud's syndrome, which affects the blood flow to his hands and fingers and causes problems for him gripping the ball in cold weather.

https://thebrunswicknews.com/sports/national_sports/rays-pete-fairbanks-hopeful-raynaud-s-syndrome-symptoms-under-control/article_40a8dc00-4f12-500c-92aa-3263abc31af1.html

Since the Tigers hope to play in late October when it can be cold — the Tigers' most recent World Series appearances had some very cold weather — it would be problematic if a key reliever was unavailable. It would be especially problematic if the Tigers signed him knowing this could affect his availability for postseason games.

David

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[Peter Welch]

Wow, that's interesting.

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of David Panian <dpa...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2025 7:19 PM
To: Tigers List <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Kenley Jansen

 

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[Peter Welch]

I remember that game this year where Jansen melted down vs. the Tigers and allowed 6 runs in the 9th on May 2 in Anaheim.  The Tigers scored 8 runs in the 9th and won 9-1.  That was the game where Riley Greene homered twice in the 9th inning.  Jansen's ERA jumped to 6.23 after that game.   His ERA for the rest of the season after that game was 1.97.  It was a low point in the season for him but he pitched well after that.

Jansen doesn't throw that hard anymore and relies on his cutter to be effective.  He averaged 93.2 mph with his fastball in 2025.  He's not a big "swing and miss" guy anymore, but he could be effective with the right matchups.  He is really tough on righties, but less effective against lefties.  Righties had a .399 OPS against him in 2025 but lefties had a .723 OPS against him.

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2025 5:35 PM
To: Paul Meloche <meloc...@gmail.com>
Cc: Jason Rice <munse...@yahoo.ca>; Tigers List <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Kenley Jansen

 

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[Peter Welch]

With Hinch nobody in particular is really the closer.  I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing, but that's what Hinch tends to do.

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2025 5:35 PM
To: Paul Meloche <meloc...@gmail.com>
Cc: Jason Rice <munse...@yahoo.ca>; Tigers List <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Kenley Jansen

 

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[Peter Welch]

I hope the Tigers didn't make any promises to Jansen that he'd be the "closer".

Peter

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From: detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Paul Meloche <meloc...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2025 4:55 PM
To: Jason Rice <munse...@yahoo.ca>
Cc: Tigers List <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Kenley Jansen

 

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[Roger King]

I think you answered this with your previous email:

"With Hinch nobody in particular is really the closer."

What I meant when I said Vest was the closer was that Hinch will go to him in the traditional closing setting more often than anyone else but certainly agree there are no real set roles in a Hinch bullpen.

Finnegan - $10 million

Jansen - $11 million

Anderson - $7 million

Total = $28 million 

It's funny seeing these salaries escalate for relievers and then trying to grapple with the idea that the Tigers might not pay Skubal $40 million a season.   Skubal made $10 million last year (though he'll get more in an arbitration raise in 2026)  so just take that money above and give it to him and you're pretty much at $40 mill.  

I'd be fine with cheaper options for the pen :-)

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[Peter Welch]

Only reason I mentioned "promising" Jansen he'd be closer is that he's 24 saves shy of 500 and perhaps he thinks he's going to a team where he'll have that opportunity.  If the Tigers do a closer-by-committee between Vest, Finnegan and Jansen I don't think Jansen will get 24 save opportunities.

Peter

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From: Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2025 8:32 PM
To: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>

[Mike Coveyou]

I thought that Peter might be a bit pessimistic about Jansen reaching 500 saves for his career, but then I looked at some season results for total saves for a team.  Getting to 24 saves without being the designated closer would be difficult, give that team total saves generally hover around 40 for the Tigers in recent years.  I also looked at some of the Yankee totals during Mariano Rivera's heyday, and they did get to 50 once.  I recalled Bobby Thigpen's 57 saves for the White Sox in 1990 (Thigpen was on my Rotisserie league team that season.); the team recorded 68 saves total.  My impression is that, if a team records a very high number of saves, it's likely that one designated closer accounts for the high team number.

There have been a few teams with two pitchers recording 25 or more saves in a season, although this is very unusual.

'

I think there is a possibility that Jansen will get his 24 saves, even if he and Vest share responsibilities as the primary close, although I think this a long shot.   If there is three-way sharing of the role, I can't see Jansen getting 24 saves.

Please note that none of this meets any standard for being a rigorous analysis.

Mike Coveyou

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[Mike Coveyou]

One additional observation: I had expected Vest and Finnegan to share closing opportunities, before the Tigers signed Jansen, but I thought Finnegan might well get the majority of opportunities.  Apparently, I missed something.

Mike Coveyou

[Michael W]

The issue with Skubal’s contract isn’t “$40m for 2026.”  It’s the “$60m for 2033.”

Michael

[Roger King]

II was looking at a Skubal deal landing around $400 million for 10 years but who knows?  Really just a commentary on how fast reliever salaries have skyrocketed. I still think if I was a GM, that’s where I’d spend the least because bullpens are notoriously fickle from year to year.

Roger King
El Presidente
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[Roger King]

For the last stretch of the season, it was usually Finnegan in the 8th and Vest in the 9th.  Not that the Tigers had that many save opportunities in that awful September slide.

Certainly in the postseason, Hinch was at his most conventional, bringing in Vest to close games out, sometimes for the better part of 2 innings. 

So I was assuming it would be as you suggest below Mike.  Not really sure what they’re envisioning with Jansen but as we’ve been discussing, Hinch will no doubt work various matchups and do his usual juggling.

Roger King
El Presidente
PN Agency – www.pnagency.com
Ethnic Voice Talent –www.ethnicvoicetalent.com
(416) 515-7195

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[Peter Welch]

Still think we need another lefty high-leverage reliever besides Holton.  Bailey Horn, Drew Sommers, Brant Hurter and Jake Miller are the other lefties besides Holton on the current 40-man roster.  Hurter is the best of that group but he's more of a middle/long reliever.

The Tigers like Horn's arm but you can't rely on him being good at this point.  Sommers wasn't effective in his brief time with the Tigers this year.  Miller has been a starter and reliever in the minors and is 24.  I don't think he's a hard thrower.  He seems more like fodder for Toledo's roster.

Peter

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From: Roger King <pnag...@pnagency.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2025 1:27:41 PM
To: Mike Coveyou <mcov...@gmail.com>
Cc: Peter Welch <pw...@hotmail.com>; detroit...@googlegroups.com <detroit...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Kenley Jansen