Angels Set to Have Lethal Bullpen Combo in 2025

The Los Angeles Angels might have one of the best bullpen combinations in Major League Baseball with Kenley Jansen and Ben Joyce.

Joyce is coming off a 2024 season that saw him post a 0.83 ERA over his final 28 outings of the year while Jansen is the league's active saves leader with 447.

When the Angels traded Carlos Estevez to the Philadelphia Phillies at the trade deadline, Joyce was forced into the closer's role. He didn't back down from the challenge and hit as high as 105.5 mph on the radar gun with his fastball but the Angels wanted a veteran mentor to help shape him into a big league closer.

Enter, Jansen.

"It's something very special, man,” Jansen said. “I’m going to do everything I can do to help him. I think he's going to be an unbelievable closer in the future. He’s just gotta stay healthy. But I’m here to push him. I want him to push me and for us to do something really special down there at the back, at the end of the bullpen.”

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Both relievers made their Cactus League debut on Saturday. Jansen threw a 1-2-3 fourth inning, and Joyce pitched a scoreless seventh with a strikeout.

Joyce acknowledged after the game that he isn't ready to be a full-time closer and is excited to pick Jansen's brain to help him prepare for the future.

"It's definitely a different mindset. I'd love to pick his brain on how he approaches it, especially the day to day,” Joyce said. “To have to do it back to back or three days in a row, just kind of how he goes about that mentally. Because it’s definitely a different ballgame, and even physically.”

The Angels are proceeding with caution when it comes to Joyce, which is why having Jansen is such an important addition.

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"We’ve got to really be careful because he showed us that he can give us one inning or an inning-plus, and if we do that with him, sometimes we're going to lose him [for a day or two],” manager Ron Washington said. “So we've just got to watch him and see if he could take over just being an eighth-inning guy because we've got guys that can take care of the sixth and the seventh. But last year, he was our weapon."

Jansen would love to become the third closer to ever reach 500 career saves and thinks the Angels have a chance to win ballgames this season rather than lose 99 like in 2024.

"My expectation is to help this ballclub win ball games,” Jansen said. “We have a very young, exciting team around here. And I want to just bring my experience. It’s about how we are gonna get better; that's all I care about. It's just about winning ball games.”

For more Angels news, head over to Angels on SI.