Red Sox
“As soon as it was over, two days ago, he wasn’t going to pitch,” Alex Cora said.
The Red Sox will be without their star closer for their final series of the season when they host the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park this weekend.
Kenley Jansen will be away from the team as the 2024 season comes to a close, manager Alex Cora told reporters on Friday.
“He went home,” Cora said, per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. “I talked to him this week. As soon as it was over, two days ago, he wasn’t going to pitch. There’s other stuff we talked about, other stuff that’s going on with him, so yeah.”
Boston was eliminated from playoff contention on Wednesday, and the closer was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation two days prior. That roster move effectively ended Jansen’s season.
On a related note, Jansen is set to become a free agent upon this season’s end. For several reasons, it certainly feels like his time in Boston was coming to a close.
When Jansen put pen to paper two years ago, he surely thought he would have pitched in the postseason at some point for the Red Sox during his tenure. Instead, Boston missed the playoffs each season, and has sat out of postseason play for five out of the last six years.
Jansen’s latest season with the Red Sox has been eventful for the player, to say the least. Boston was rumored to have put him on the trade table this past winter and again before this year’s trade deadline. Based on those reports, it felt as if the team was actively trying to deal him to another team.
The right-hander publicly said he was “frustrated” with the Red Sox’ lack of meaningful offseason moves in Feb. of this year. Jansen explained that Boston’s strategy seemed to have changed between 2023 and ‘24.
“I definitely feel frustrated,” Jansen told WEEI’s Rob Bradford during spring training. “I came here for two years where Year 1 we were going to compete but by Year 2 they were really going to go after it. I get it, there have been a lot of changes in this organization. They have a different vision now. I get it. It’s part of business. But at the same time I have one more year left here and I’m going to give the fans the best that I have.”
If Jansen indeed plays for a different team in 2025, don’t be surprised if he ends up with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Over this year’s All-Star break, he said he wants to retire as a member of the Dodgers.
“I want to see myself retiring in Dodger blue,” Jansen said on “Foul Territory” on July 11. “But is it a reality, no. I don’t know because I don’t have control over that. Also, I don’t know what they’re thinking and at the end of the day, it’s a business.”
He spent the first 12 years of his MLB career with Los Angeles, including its 2020 World Series-winning season.
While Jansen only spent two years in Boston compared to 12 in L.A., as a Red Sox, he’s continued to cement his legacy as one of the best closers of all time. Jansen currently has the fourth-most saves in MLB history with 447. He earned 56 in 64 save opportunities over the last two seasons.
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