Dodgers: Red Sox Insider Thinks Boston Should Sign Kenley Jansen

There's a chance that the Dodgers 2022 season is the first time in many, many years that Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen won't be on the Opening Day roster. Kershaw and Jansen are both free agents unable to sign new deals until the MLB lockout ends.

Kershaw could take his time to make his decision, but according to MLB experts, the reliever market is going considerably more active.

Plenty of teams could use a closer like Jansen and try to snap him up quickly once the floodgates open.

NBC Sports Boston's John Tomase thinks the Red Sox should sign Jansen to address the issues they had in closing out games in 2021. Tomase points to some of Jansen's elite-level stats from last year.

“Outside of velocity and walk rate, the 34-year-old remained elite in virtually every Statcast metric, ranking in the top 10 percent of baseball in exit velocity, hard hit percentage, barrel rate, whiff rate, spin rate.”

Tomase thinks Jansen is well-worth the contract he could potentially command as an upper-echelon releiver.

“But if you're looking for a battle-tested arm to lock down the ninth inning, few have been better over the last decade than the three-time All-Star.”

The Red Sox utilized Matt Barnes and Adam Ottavino as closers last year. Neither was a sure thing in the second half of the season. Barnes and Ottavino produced identical ERAs after the All-Star break (6.48). Barnes is signed through 2023 and has a club option for 2024. Ottavino is a free agent.

Jansen's days as a dominating closer probably behind him, but he's likely a better option than Barnes. Last season, Jansen recorded a 2.22 ERA.

Before the lockout, it was reported that the Dodgers attempted to re-sign the franchise's all-time saves leader.

Some Dodgers fans are hoping that Jansen steers clear of Boston, Philadelphia, or anywhere else that's not the Los Angeles Dodgers.