Kenley Jansen may not be one of the two or three best closers in Major League Baseball anymore, but he’s still very good at what he does.
In 52 innings for the Los Angeles Angels this season, Jansen has pitched to a 2.94 ERA, and more importantly, he’s converted 25 of 26 save opportunities. That puts him at 472 career saves, less than a month shy of his 38th birthday.
Jansen has an outside chance at passing Hall of Famer Lee Smith (478 saves) for third on the all-time list this season. But whether or not he does that, he’ll likely return for the upcoming season to chase the 500 mark and put a stamp on his own Hall of Fame case.
The question, then, is which team he’ll do it with.
On Tuesday, Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly registered an early prediction: Jansen returning to the Angels next season to continue serving as the team’s closer.
“Jansen has been lights-out since the All-Star break, with a 2.08 ERA and nine saves in 17 appearances,” Kelly wrote. “… He has a chance to join Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman as only closers with 500 career saves.”
“If the Angels are willing to continue guaranteeing Jansen save opportunities, he’ll be back for another year.”
As much as Jansen may want to play for a winning team, which he did for the first 12 seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the opportunity to keep pitching the ninth inning seems to be the top priority. He spent two seasons on a flawed Boston Red Sox team that didn’t sign many other free agents before coming back to Southern California.
Jansen wouldn’t seem to be a hindrance to the Angels’ ability to win next season, so it would be of little surprise to see him return.
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