Alex Cora gives cryptic response after Kenley Jansen goes home before 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 with right shoulder inflammation and Boston was eliminated from the postseason two days later.

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

“I talked to him this week,” Cora said. “As soon as it was over, two days ago, he wasn’t going to pitch. There’s other stuff we talked about, other stuff that’s going on with him, so yeah.”

It’s unclear why Jansen went home before the season ended.

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He’ll finish the 2024 campaign — his 15th MLB season and second with the Red Sox — with 27 saves and a 3.29 ERA across 54 appearances, and if Jansen opts to sign with another team in free agency this offseason, his stint in Boston will conclude with 56 saves, a 3.44 ERA and the fourth All-Star Game appearances of his career.

Jansen spent the first 12 years of his career with the Dodgers before closing for the Braves in 2022 — his most recent 40-save campaign and the fourth of his career.

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Following the year in Atlanta, which ended with a loss in the NLDS, Jansen signed a two-year deal with the Red Sox, but before the second season began, the 36-year-old told reporters that the vision pitch to him in free agency had changed — though its unclear if that frustration has still lingered and impacted his current situation with the team.

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“The vision then, the vision now is totally different,” Jansen told reporters during spring training. “But I can’t question myself, man. There is frustration because you have other options, but I think playing in Boston and being in Fenway is special, and I always wanted to experience that.”

The Red Sox haven’t made the postseason since their run to the ALCS in 2021, and their playoff drought hit three seasons earlier this week when they were officially eliminated.

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

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