MLB News: Kenley Jansen, Angels Reportedly Agree to $10M Contract After Red Sox Stint

Coming off another strong season closing games, Kenley Jansen is reportedly leaving the Boston Red Sox to join the Los Angeles Angels.

Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Jansen and the Angels have agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal in free agency.

Jansen just wrapped up a two-year stint in Boston in which he continued to excel in a ninth-inning role. He owns a 3.44 ERA with 114 strikeouts and 56 saves in 105 appearances since the start of 2023.

It was a surprise that Jansen finished out the 2024 season with the Red Sox. They spent a lot of last offseason shopping him around in trades. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported on Jan. 5, 2024 that they were "entertaining offers" for the four-time All-Star.

Jansen's future likely always lied elsewhere after Boston inked a deal with closer Aroldis Chapman in December.

Amid the pivot from Jansen to Chapman, there has been a lot of frustration in Boston over the past few years about how Red Sox management is handling things with the team. In a fan survey conducted by The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey, 73.8 percent of those who responded had little or no confidence the team was headed in the right direction.

There was hope things would be different this offseason. When Craig Breslow was hired as chief baseball officer in November, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said they were ready to go "full throttle" because "we know that we have to be competitive next year."

Werner backtracked on that statement in January during an interview with Sean McAdam of MassLive.com:

"Maybe that wasn't the most artful way of saying what I wanted to say, which is that we're going to be pressing all levers to improve the team. In the end, nobody's happy with our performance the last few years. Some years, we go after somebody who is about to be a free agent, or was a free agent, as it pertains to Trevor Story or Raffy Devers."

Jansen, who turned 37 on Sept. 30, doesn't fall into the same category as some of the players Boston has moved on from, even if Chapman is only a year younger. But he was still one of the most reliable relievers that manager Alex Cora had to call on out of the bullpen.

In Los Angeles, Jansen will look to give the Angels a reliable option to close out games after a disappointing 63-99 season in 2024.