The signing of Kenley Jansen was one of the more surprising moves in free agency. It wasn’t a major move by any means, but it left the Los Angeles Angels without a closer, and it changed the makeup for the Detroit Tigers bullpen as they added him on a one-year deal with a club option, although complete terms haven’t been revealed yet.

Brad Doolittle of ESPN did a breakdown, and most of what he discussed was from the Tigers’ perspective. That was disappointing to some extent, but his breakdown of Jansen’s strengths and weaknesses revealed a lot about letting him go was about for the Halos, and overall he gave the signing a B-.

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Start with Jansen’s lower strikeout rate as one reason why LA let him go. As good as Jansen was with the Angels last year, his rate of 8.7K/9 was the lowest of his career, and that might have been a key factor as the Angels try to rebuild their infield defense and get faster and more effective in the outfield.

For the Tigers, Jansen’s 2.59 ERA and 29 saves represented a good move to end what Detroit has called “bullpen chaos” for the last couple of years. The idea was to go from fine to outstanding, according to Doolittle, and to bump up Detroit’s low strike out rate of just 5.8 batters per nine innings.

Jansen is also part of a bullpen makeover for Detroit. They resigned reliever Kyle Finnegan, and Janson joins returning hurlers Will Vest and Tyler Horton. Jansen won’t be asked to do four-out saves, and having four strong relievers will allow manager A.J. Hinch to employ his estimable skills in that area to get to a closer who has a shot at getting to the Hall of Fame.

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For the Angels, letting Jansen move on represents yet another move in a complete makeover, bullpen and otherwise. The Angels just traded for one starter and signed another, and they’re relying on new bullpen coach Mike Maddux to work his magic with a bunch of young arms. Jansen didn’t fit into that category, of course, and the Halos aren’t close enough to contention to justify keeping a closer of his stature around.

Don’t forget the cost, either. Owner Arte Moreno had GM Perry Minasian deliver the message that the Angels were willing to spend the $13-14 million they saved by trading Taylor Ward, but Angels fans learned a long time ago not to believe in that kind of messaging. Pocketing the money may have been an important part of this decision, but we won’t know that for sure until we see the full composition of the Angels bullpen.