Getty Former Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen.
The Boston Red Sox are contenders in the market for every top free agent pitcher, according to Athletic columnist and former MLB executive Jim Bowden. With future Hall of Fame closer Kenley Jansen departing the team after two seasons, one close Red Sox observer wants to see the team sign Kirby Yates.
Yates served as the Texas Rangers closer in 2024, on a one-year, $4.5 million deal. The site MLB Trade Rumors estimates that Yates will merit a $14 million paycheck in 2025. At age 37, the 10-year veteran will likely end up with another one-year contract.
Jansen was paid $16 million in each of his two Red Sox seasons.
Yates Had Strong Comeback Year in 2024
Red Sox Stats, one of the most respected social media accounts for Red Sox fans and insiders, posted on Saturday that along with Blake Snell, Yates’s “stuff was just comically better than everyone else available, and every time someone from [the Red Sox] pitching department talks, it’s all about dirtiness in the zone as the starting point.”
After signing with the Rangers, Yates posted his best numbers since 2019 when he saved 41 games for the San Diego Padres and was named to the National League All Star team. The righty saved 33 games for Texas, with a dominant 1.17 ERA and sparkling 0.827 WHIP. He also earned an American League All Star spot.
Jansen saved 29 and 27 games in 2023 and 2024 respectively for Boston, but the Red Sox missed the postseason in both years. Jansen was vocal about his disappointment after pitching in the postseason every year starting in 2013. Jansen was with the Los Angeles Dodgers for all but one of those seasons, and was part of the Dodgers’ championship team in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
In 2022 he signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves where he made the playoffs again. He saved the Braves’ only win their 3-1 NL Division Series loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Jansen has also been named to four All Star teams.
Jansen Solidified Hall of Fame Credentials With Red Sox
Jansen recorded his 400th career save while with the Red Sox, making him one of only eight pitchers in history to reach that milestone. He departs the Red Sox with 447 saves for his career, fourth on the all-time list.
But Jansen’s Red Sox stint ended on a sour note, when he was shut down with a sore shoulder then departed the team and went home before the season was over.
Yates is nowhere near Jansen’s level for his career, but if he can repeat his performance from 2024 he would exceed Jansen’s value for the Red Sox. According to Brooks Baseball, which compiles and analyzes data from the PitchF/X tracking system, Yates relies mainly on a four-seam fastball that tops out at 93 mph, but “generates an extremely high number of swings and misses compared to other pitchers’ four-seamers, has an obvious tail, has some natural sinking action, has essentially average velo and results in somewhat more flyballs compared to other pitchers’ four-seamers.”
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin
