The Red Sox on Wednesday made their first big splash of the Major League Baseball offseason, and Kiké Hernández was pumped about it.
Boston and star closer Kenley Jansen reportedly came to terms on a two-year contract, as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The deal for Jansen marked the third free agency addition to the bullpen for the Red Sox, who previously scooped Joely Rodríguez and Chris Martin off the open market.
Almost immediately after the Jansen news broke, a very excited Hernández took to Twitter.
“KENLEYYYSSSSSSS!!!!! @kenleyjansen74,” Hernández tweeted.
The Red Sox’s latest transaction signaled a reunion between Hernández and Jansen, who were Dodgers teammates for six seasons and won a World Series championship with Los Angeles in 2020. Hernández had a front-row seat to Jansen becoming one of the better closers in the game, highlighted by his three consecutive All-Star nods from 2016 to 2018.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and the rest of Boston’s front office still have plenty of more work to do if the Red Sox want to bounce back from their disappointing 2022 season and return to the playoffs in 2023. But Wednesday’s reported move for Jansen certainly was a step in the right direction.
