Tigers replace Kenley Jansen with equally questionable option in former Reds closer

Baseball fans expected some more activity than usual at this year's GM Meetings, given the lockout threatening to wipe out Winter Meetings in early December, but it's probably wasn't on anyone's bingo card that the Tigers would be one of the first to jump into the fray.

Scott Harris had some ... interesting things to say on Day 1 of the meetings. He did his "I can't do my job without listening" thing, but this time about Riley Greene, and gave a curt response to questions about Detroit's involvement in Tarik Skubal's market.

And he ... signed a closer?

Nearing midnight, Jon Heyman reported that the Tigers were signing former Reds closer Emilio Pagán to a one-year, $11.5 million deal (Cody Stavenhagen had the exact value), pending a physical.

The Tigers needed another backend bullpen arm, if not two, but yet another aging closer with fading fastball velocity and a cutter and splitter as secondaries? That's basically just Kyle Finnegan, and look how that turned out for Detroit in 2026.

Pagán closed out his 2026 with the Reds with a 3.38 ERA in 42 2/3 innings. That doesn't look so bad at first glance, but Kenley Jansen made it obvious this season that you can't take ERA at face value.

Tigers sign former Reds closer Emilio Pagán in first big move of their offseason

Jansen pitched 45 innings for a 3.20 ERA this past season, but that doesn't quite do justice to the emotional torture he made Tigers fans endure before the front office decided to decline his club option for 2027. He and Pagán actually had very comparable seasons in terms of ERA, innings pitched, WHIP (1.044 for Jansen, 1.031 for Pagán), ERA+ (132 and 125), and strikeouts (51 and 45).

Also far too similar for comfort: Jansen gave up 1.4 homers per nine, and Pagán gave up 1.5. And the latter's strikeout rate declined while the former's improved.

So basically, we're getting very close to Jansen 2.0 ... but who's even more of a fly ball risk. There's an argument to be made that Pagán will fare better at Fifth Third Park than at Great American Ball Park, but Jansen still struggled in Detroit, too.

Hopefully, Harris will want to make good on his plan to make Drew Sommers the Tigers' closer and keep Pagán in a seventh- or eighth-inning role alongside Will Vest. This does indicate that Detroit is moving Finnegan down the trust tree, and that's a good thing, but there's a lot of reason for concern here.

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