Tigers' offseason starts with key decision on Jansen's option

This story was excerpted from Jason Beck’s Tigers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The World Series begins on Friday in Milwaukee. Once the Fall Classic ends, the business of baseball’s offseason begins. And the Tigers face a key decision from the start on the back end of their bullpen.

When Detroit signed Kenley Jansen to a one-year contract last winter, they included a club option for 2027. The Tigers have until five days after the World Series to either pick up the $12 million option for next season or buy it out for $2 million. The decision could set the course for the rest of the Tigers’ Hot Stove season.

Detroit’s bullpen struggles were a running theme for much of the season. The Tigers lost 18 games in which they led after six innings. Several relievers played a role in that, from Kyle Finnegan’s regression season to injuries to Will Vest and Beau Brieske. But Jansen was the face of it, a proven closer with a Hall of Fame résumé brought in to provide much-needed order.

The surface numbers weren’t bad, from 22 saves to a 3.20 ERA to 4.8 hits per nine innings, the fifth-lowest rate of his career. He was more effective from June onward after returning from a pelvic injury, posting a 2.40 ERA while allowing just 15 hits over 30 innings with 32 strikeouts.

Dig a little deeper into the season stats, though, and Jansen had six blown saves and two extra-inning losses in which he entered a tie game. His 23 walks in 45 innings marked the third-highest rate of his career, and his seven home runs resulted in his second-worst homer rate. Four of those home runs were walk-offs. Another turned a Tigers lead into a deficit at home against the Astros on June 28.

“I think the Kenley [situation] is an interesting one to do a bit of a postmortem on,” president of baseball operations Scott Harris said at season’s end. “If you go back to the performance that we projected out of him when we signed him, in some ways, he exceeded that performance. The strikeout rate was higher. I think the walk rate was a little bit higher than we thought. The ERA, overall, was a little bit lower.”

What surprised the Tigers were the struggles in high-leverage situations from a pitcher who has thrived in them for years. Six of Jansen’s seven homers allowed came in what Baseball-Reference defines as high-leverage spots, situations in which win probability could swing the most. Opponents posted a .714 OPS against Jansen in high-leverage situations, compared with a .551 OPS and a .381 OPS in medium- and low-leverage situations, respectively. The .714 high-leverage OPS came despite a .133 average on balls in play.

“I would have expected that he performed really well in high-leverage spots because he's one of the best closers of all time, and he clearly can handle those moments, and he clearly can find ways to get the last out,” Harris said. “If you look at his leverage splits, he's actually the exact opposite. He was really good in low and medium leverage, and struggled in high leverage.

“ … Look at the back of the baseball card; he can perform in those spots. I think it was a combination of sometimes that happens in baseball, and sometimes we put him in too many high-leverage spots because we didn't create enough separation earlier [in games] that could keep us out of those situations.”

The Tigers’ first task is figuring out how much bounceback they can reasonably expect from the 39-year-old Jansen, who needs two saves to reach 500 for his career. His contract option is in line with salaries that other free-agent closers signed for last offseason. And depending on a projected bounceback, could the Tigers do better?

The Tigers do not have a logical successor in their organization. Vest led the team in saves in 2025, but he underwent hip surgery plus a procedure to repair a stress fracture at the tip of his elbow. Tyler Holton, who had two saves this season and eight in 2024, might be able to shift roles with the emergence of fellow lefty Drew Sommers.

This winter’s free-agent closer market is thinner than last year, led by former Pirates and Yankees standout David Bednar, 36-year-old Raisel Iglesias and former Tigers closer Gregory Soto. Padres lefty Adrian Morejon and Astros righty Bryan Abreu are elite setup men and fill-in closers who could be intriguing if manager A.J. Hinch wants to go back to a bullpen without a set closer.

But it all starts with the decision on Jansen.