Kenley Jansen is going home before the Red Sox season ends

Kenley Jansen’s season effectively ended when the Red Sox placed him on the 15-day injured list earlier this week due to right shoulder inflammation, and Boston exited the postseason two days later.

But Jansen, the Red Sox closer, “went home” ahead of their final series of the season, manager Alex Cora told reporters Friday before they opened a three-game set against the Rays at Fenway Park.

“I spoke to him this week,” Cora said. “When it was over two days ago, he didn’t want to pitch anymore. There’s other things we’ve talked about, other things going on with him, so yeah.”

It is unclear why Jansen went home before the end of the season.

He will finish the 2024 season – his 15th MLB season and second with the Red Sox – with 27 saves and a 3.29 ERA in 54 appearances, and if Jansen decides to do so this offseason, he will be with another team in Signing in free agency, his stay in Boston will see him finish with 56 saves, a 3.44 ERA and the fourth All-Star Game appearance of his career.

Jansen spent the first 12 years of his career with the Dodgers before joining the Braves in 2022 – his final 40-save season and the fourth of his career.

After the year in Atlanta, which ended with a loss in the NLDS, Jansen signed a two-year contract with the Red Sox, but before the start of the second season, the 36-year-old told reporters that the Vision pitch was free for him. The agency had has changed – but it is unclear whether this frustration still lingers and has impacted his current situation with the team.

“The vision then, the vision today is completely different,” Jansen told reporters during spring training. “But I can’t question myself, man. You get frustrated because you have other options, but I think playing in Boston and being at Fenway is something special and I’ve always wanted to experience that.”

The Red Sox have not made the postseason since advancing to the ALCS in 2021, and their playoff drought reached three seasons earlier this week when they were officially eliminated.

They were over .500 in seven games on August 22, but starting with a series against the Diamondbacks, the Red Sox dropped 10 of their next 13 games and have remained around .500 – and just out of reach for the final wild card spot – since.