The Los Angeles Angels have come to terms on a 1 year, $10M deal with veteran closer Kenley Jansen on Tuesday the club announced.
Jansen, who is the current active saves leader in Major League Baseball, spent the last 2 seasons with the Boston Red Sox, but will now head out west to join the Angels retooling roster. The 37 year old will be expected to help add some veteran experience to a young LA bullpen, headlined by flame-thrower Ben Joyce.
A 4x All-Star, Jansen is more than familiar with Los Angeles, having spent the first 12 seasons of his MLB career with the Dodgers franchise. One of the few remaining marquee names on the free agent reliever front, the right handed pitcher will look to establish himself as the team’s every day closer when spring training kicks off in a few days time.
Entering the 2025 MLB campaign, Jansen sits just 31 saves behind Lee Smith (478) for 3rd all-time on Major League baseball’s career saves list. At 37 years old, there’s not much of a chance for the Curacao native to catch either Trevor Hoffman (601) or Mariano Rivera (652), but having averaged at least 25 saves every year since 2012 (excluding the COVID shortened 2020 campaign), there’s a good chance he can move onto the podium with a strong performance this year.
Jansen finished 38 games and tallied 27 saves for the Red Sox last year, posting a 3.29 earned run average, striking out 28.4% of his opponents and posting a 9.2% walk rate across 54.2IP. Barring any setbacks, he should give Angels manager Ron Washington a dependable late inning reliever this season.
Photo: Arturo Pardavila III. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.