Kenley Jansen packed up his suitcase Wednesday evening, and when everyone else headed back to Boston, he did not. The Red Sox star pitcher, who is also a free agent at the end of the season, decided it was time for him to go home. After his two-year contract, Jansen has voiced his frustration this season, and his actions speak volumes this week.
Red Sox Pitching Star Goes Home
Jansen, who finished the season with a 3.29 ERA and is the clubhouse’s strongest closer, has had a great two years in Boston. During this season’s spring training in Fort Myers, FL, Jansen expressed his frustration with the Red Sox because he signed on to play for a championship team and doesn’t feel like they are making ample progress.
As the Red Sox season comes to a tragic end, Jansen has chosen to pack up and go home instead of continuing to the last series to be a team player. His mind could be made up, and although the Red Sox could resign him next year, it is doubtful he will want to return to a franchise that seems to fall short year after year.
After three years of not making it to the playoffs under Alex Cora’s regime as manager and owner John Henry’s lackluster player investments, things haven’t shaped up for the Red Sox the way Jansen or the team had hoped. With the Dodgers for 11 years before a short one-year stint in Atlanta and then to Boston, Jansen has new hopes for the future.
Jansen is a free agent as soon as the season ends and he may be worth more to Henry as a bargaining chip than a closer. Jansen may just have left because he feels underutilized and undervalued, we may never know why he left early. One thing is clear, if he if he wanted to support his teammates and saw a future with the Red Sox, he would have joined his teammates at Fenway for their last series against Tampa.
Dreaming of Being A Dodger Again
Earlier in July of this year, Jansen was on Foul Territory to discuss his mental state: “To be honest with you, if I had to speak for myself, yes. I want to see myself retiring in Dodger Blue. 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. At the end of the day, it’s a business.”
“I want to compete. If a team out there wants to compete for a championship, that’s what I want to do. I want to chase championships. Whoever wants me on their roster when I’m a free agent and is the best deal for me and my family, that’s where I’ll go.
“But also, yes, Dodgers will have that edge. Is it realistic it can happen? Yes. But also, who knows? At the end of the day, I have to look at what’s best for me and my family too.”
With Shohei Ohtani breaking 50/50 records this year and the Dodgers clinched a spot in the playoffs Friday night in their 20-4 win against the Marlins, Jansen isn’t wrong to want to head west. The Red Sox have a brand new Chief Baseball Officer, Craig Breslow, this season, and things have shifted as far as the goals of the franchise. Owner John Henry rarely pays market value for developed stars and Jansen knows this, all of baseball knows this. Jansen may be seen as a trading chip rather than the asset he is.
Jansen On Free Agency List
The world and Kenley Jansen will have to wait to find out his destiny. The major takeaway this week is that the Red Sox are eliminated from the playoffs for the third season, and before it officially ended, Jansen packed his bags and went home. He did not stay with his fellow teammates but rather isolated himself from the team in his clear-cut choice to abandon what may be his final days as a Red Sox. Jansen just might be daydreaming about his old house in Redondo Beach or Palos Verdes, wearing Dodger blue.
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