Kenley Jansen is sitting on the edge of one of baseball’s biggest bullpen milestones, and it’s the kind of number that would normally have fans buzzing. The Detroit Tigers closer has 495 career saves, leaving him five shy of 500. That would put him in a club that, as of now, only includes Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera.
That’s elite territory. It’s the kind of accomplishment that says plenty about how long Jansen has lasted and how effective he’s been over the years.
But for Tigers fans, the reaction probably isn’t pure celebration.
Detroit signed Jansen to a one-year, $11 million deal in the offseason expecting a steady finisher who could lock down games. Instead, the season has been uneven.
Injuries have interrupted him along the way, and while a 3.51 ERA across 46 appearances and 41 innings isn’t a disaster, it also doesn’t match the shutdown reputation he brought with him. He’s converted 19 of 25 save chances.
That’s a far cry from last season, when he went 29 for 30 with the Los Angeles Angels. It’s easy to see why some Tigers fans might look at the nearly 500-save chase and think he should already be there, especially with a handful of blown opportunities lingering in memory. There’s room to appreciate the history and still feel a little frustrated by the season.
Reaching 500 before the year ends looks like a long shot. With 13 games left, Jansen would need five more saves, and that would require Detroit to win a string of close games. That hasn’t exactly been the team’s pattern this season.
Jansen hasn’t been the only issue in the bullpen, either. Detroit has dealt with a wave of injuries among its relievers, and several arms the club expected to deliver have either underperformed, gotten hurt, or both.
So the bigger question is what comes next. The Tigers will have to figure out how to patch up the bullpen in the offseason, and a reunion with Jansen doesn’t look likely.
Building relief depth is a tricky business, and simply spending money doesn’t guarantee results. Still, Detroit needs better answers heading toward 2027.
Jansen’s legacy is already secure. He’s headed to the Hall of Fame someday and has plenty of career accomplishments to back that up. But this season, at least in Detroit, has not been one he’ll want to remember.
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