I said this after the Finnegan deal, but I think that we’re going to be disappointed by everything if we evaluate all of Scott Harris‘s moves as if each one is going to be the home run that alleviates fans' stress and allows them to build around Tarik Skubal coming into the final year of his contract. We can spend plenty of time being upset with what the Tigers aren’t, and I think a lot of that frustration is very justified, but this is an instance in which they did throw their hat into the ring. It’s nothing too massive, but I do think, for the first time this offseason, I’m starting to see a plan forming regarding Scott Harris. It might not be a plan that I 100% agree with, but it’s a plan nonetheless.
It’s very clear that Scott Harris has tremendous trust in this organization's pitching department, and last year was the ultimate heat check. I would argue that last season, he put way too much on Chris Fetter‘s shoulders. Harris went out and took flyers out on some guys that very clearly had nothing left and expected Chris Fetter to work a miracle. I like to believe that he’s learning from that mistake. Jansen, while not nearly the dynamite closer that he once was, was still a very capable reliever. The plan is straightforward, build around the pitching. I would argue that’s a little bit ass backwards, because what has held them down over the last few years has been their offense. Still, with the resigning of Kyle Finnegan and the addition of Kenley Jansen, there’s a reason to believe that there should be a relatively trustworthy back end of the bullpen.
One thing worth noting is that Jansen has been a closer essentially his entire career. Given the fact that he is potentially chasing that 500 save mark, I don’t know if he’s going to be super comfortable pitching any other inning than the ninth. A.J. Hinch has always been very open about the fact that there’s going to be fluid bullpen rolls, and I could see any one of the big three right-handers in this pen Closing games. At the same time, I want to believe that the Tigers vetted Jansen on this idea before they signed him; otherwise, there might be some trouble in paradise.
This is a risk. It’s a risk that makes sense, but anytime you bring in a reliever with this many city miles, you run into the possibility that he’s hit a wall, much like Tommy Kahnle did for this team a year ago. Given his track record, I’m inclined to believe this is more likely to work than not, but it’s still far from a slam dunk.