12:20pm: Jansen will likely be paid $8MM in 2025, and there’s a $500K buyout on a mutual possibility for the 2026 season, Topkin reviews.
12:10pm: Jansen and the Rays have agreed to a one-year, $8.5MM deal, reviews Robert Murray of FanSided. He turned down multi-year provides to move to the Rays and place himself for a return to the free agent market subsequent 12 months, Murray provides. The settlement is pending a bodily.
12:04pm: The Rays are in “critical talks” with free agent catcher Danny Jansen and are closing in on a deal, reviews Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Occasions. The ISE consumer would step right into a outstanding function behind the plate with the Rays, splitting time with defensive standout Ben Rortvedt. It’ll be a one-year deal for Jansen, Ken Rosenthal and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic report.
Jansen, 29, is a longtime division foe, having spent his total profession thus far with the Blue Jays and, briefly this summer season, the Pink Sox. He’s a rebound candidate seeking to bounce again after a down 12 months on the plate by which he slashed simply .206/.308/.348 in 328 plate appearances. It was a tough 12 months and a very tough end for Jansen, however heading into the season he seemed primed for a notable deal in free company. From 2021-23, he slashed a mixed .237/.317/.487 (121 wRC+) — together with an enormous .260/.339/.516 exhibiting in 2022.
Any dialogue of Jansen’s downturn on the plate ought to be aware of the truth that he opened the season on the injured record as a result of a fracture in his wrist he suffered throughout spring coaching. Jansen raced out of the gate with a .295/.375/.533 slash via his first 120 plate appearances earlier than falling into a protracted stoop from which he by no means actually recovered. Jansen hit simply .150/.270/.237 over his remaining 204 journeys to the plate.
(Anecdotally, Jansen additionally turned the primary participant in MLB historical past to play for each groups in the identical recreation, beginning for the Jays in a rain-delayed recreation towards the Pink Sox that was subsequently completed within the second half — after he’d been traded to Boston.)
Jansen nonetheless walked at a stout 12.7% clip in that point and fanned in a barely lower-than-average 21% of his plate appearances. Nonetheless, his high quality of contact went into the tank (85 mph common exit velocity, 24.2% hard-hit charge). Jansen’s .172 common on balls in play throughout that span of simply over 200 plate appearances was absolutely indicative of some poor fortune, however the lack of high quality contact underscores that it wasn’t mere dangerous luck by itself.
The Rays will hope a more healthy Jansen might help them remedy a necessity behind the plate that has continued for a number of seasons. Tampa Bay’s catchers final 12 months have been predictably among the many least-productive within the league — as one would count on when opening the 12 months with journeyman Alex Jackson and a defensive specialist like Rortvedt as the massive league catching tandem. By measure of wRC+, the Rays’ catchers have been 33% worse than common on the plate. Solely the Marlins and White Sox acquired less-productive output from the place. Tampa Bay catchers mixed for a disastrous .194/.272/.291 slash on the season, although Rortvedt’s knack for drawing walks and robust glovework a minimum of made issues barely extra palatable.
Even when Jansen merely matches final 12 months’s lackluster output, it’d be an offensive improve for the Rays. If he can recapture even a portion of his 2021-23 type, it might be a large enchancment to the lineup. Defensively, he’s in all probability a step down, although there’s cause to hope for enchancment in 2025. Jansen has sometimes rated as a stable however not elite defender. Statcast gave him plus grades for blocking pitches within the filth and barely below-average framing marks final 12 months. Jansen has a profession 20% caught-stealing charge however sits simply over 13% previously two seasons. Nonetheless, he’s fractured the center finger and the wrist in his throwing hand over these two seasons, both of which might have a subsequent impression on his throwing; Jansen’s common 1.99 second pop time continues to be proper in keeping with the place it sat in 2022 (1.98 seconds).
Jansen’s signing ought to push the Rays’ payroll into the $86MM vary. That quantity might nonetheless change dramatically, nevertheless, because the Rays have acquired commerce curiosity in veterans like Jeffrey Springs ($10.5MM in 2024), Yandy Diaz ($10MM), Pete Fairbanks ($3.666MM) and Zack Littell (projected $4.8MM) — amongst others. It’s not clear simply how prepared possession is to spend within the wake of the hurricane harm that ruined Tropicana Area’s roof and compelled the Rays to relocate to Tampa’s Steinbrenner Area (residence of the Yankees’ Class-A affiliate). The Jansen deal, nevertheless, a minimum of alerts a willingness to spend modestly, even when the eventual plan is to steadiness issues out by buying and selling different veterans for younger, controllable (and cheaper) expertise.
