The Tigers have agreed to a one-year contract with longtime reliever Kenley Jansen, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Saturday. The deal, which includes a club option for 2027, has not been confirmed by the team.
Despite appearing in 992 combined games between the regular season and postseason across 16 MLB seasons, Jansen was still going strong in 2025. In his age-37 season with the Angels, Jansen posted a 2.59 ERA in 62 appearances, his lowest ERA since running a 2.22 ERA in his final year with the Dodgers in 2021. Jansen added 29 more saves with the Angels, bringing his career total to 476, the fourth most by any pitcher since the stat became official in 1969.
Jansen was not eligible to receive a qualifying offer this offseason since he got one from the Dodgers in 2016. Thus, there is no Draft pick compensation attached to him, or penalty for signing him.
Jansen was quite good in 2025, but there are some underlying signs that are worth monitoring next season. Most notably, Jansen saw his strikeout rate drop to a career-low 24.4 percent in ‘25, the first time in his career that he’s dipped below 25 percent. Jansen also allowed a 44.6 percent hard-hit rate (batted balls of 95-plus mph) and 91.5 mph average exit velocity, his worst marks of the Statcast era (since 2015). The drop in strikeout rate and decline in contact quality explains why Jansen’s ERA indicators (3.77 expected ERA and 3.98 FIP) were a good deal higher than his actual ERA.
Even if Jansen performs closer to those ERA indicators in 2026, he is still a valuable pitcher that can provide quality innings in the middle-to-late innings of a game for a club. In the chance he lands somewhere with a closing opportunity, there’s also a good chance Jansen reaches 500 saves next season.
