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I was totally on board when the Tigers signed Kenley Jansen. This wasn't a unanimous feeling in the fanbase, probably given his age, but this is a guy who had a lifetime 2.57 ERA, 155 ERA+, and 0.962 WHIP in his 16-year career. He's third on the all-time saves leaderboard behind Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman, and he's right on the verge of a round 500.
He's not the exact same pitcher he was with the Dodgers, when he was good enough to rack up Cy Young and MVP votes in the 2010s, but he had yet to put up a below-replacement year going into his age-38 season. If anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, it's a future Hall of Famer who's still got it.
And ... I've sort of had to eat my words this year. Jansen's been unpredictable, has occasionally just straight-up imploded, and has been hurt this season. When the Tigers turned to him in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game last night against the Cubs, I almost turned the game off.
Dansby Swanson doubled. The Tigers put Pete Crow-Armstrong on with an intentional walk with one out to set up a double play, but PCA just kind of ... walked into second (Jansen does not care to stop the running game, which AJ Hinch probably should've known). Jansen got his second out with a swing and a miss, but then walked Michael Busch to load the bases.
But when this one seemed entirely wrapped up for Chicago — Tigers enemy Alex Bregman got himself into a 3-0 count on Jansen's first three pitches — baseball's active saves leader turned into a beast again. His next two pitches were called strikes, then Bregman fought one off, and then Jansen fooled him on a beautiful cutter up near his hands. The Tigers went on to win after putting up three runs in the 10th.
As far as I can recall, we haven't seen Jansen demonstrate that much emotion on the mound as a Tiger. But when he walked back to the dugout after striking out Bregman, he pounded his chest and let out a scream.
And that's why the Tigers signed him. Put some respect on Kenley Jansen's name.
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This article was originally published on motorcitybengals.com as Kenley Jansen's gritty inning vs Cubs reminds Tigers fans why he's Hall of Fame-bound.
