Editorials

Dodgers Spring Training: Kenley Jansen and the Closer Role Will Be the Storyline to Watch

The Dodgers don’t have many areas of concern as they get ready to begin a new season. And why would there be? They have a top-two player in baseball locked up for the next decade. The rotation has three former Cy-Young winners along with Walker Buehler. Did I mention that they finally checked the elusive World Series title off of the to-do list? Life is good if you’re the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As they kick off spring training, things will have a different feel, and not just because of the limited crowds. There’s no bitter feeling after coming short the year before. No one will be asking Clayton Kershaw if he thinks this team can get him a ring before Father Time catches up to him. Overall, this should be a pretty relaxed month of preparation before the regular season begins.

One player that may not have this luxury, however, is long-time closer Kenley Jansen. Jansen is coming off of a 2020 season that had some mixed results. It was also the first time that Dave Roberts would not commit to him as the team’s sole closer in the postseason. In what will be Jansen’s 12th season, the Dodgers will be forced to ask themselves if they can hand him the closer role or if they should look in a different direction this time around.

Related: 2021 Season Predictions – Pitching

There are plenty of arguments that can be made for both cases. For starters, Kenley’s velocity never bounced back after dipping for the 4th year in a row. His cutter sat around 90-91 MPH, and it looked like a vulnerable pitch to throw when the stakes were so high. On the other hand, he found a feel for his slider and had a 40% whiff rate when using it on the season.

One other notable stat from 2020 is that Kenley managed to keep the homers to a minimum. After two particularly bad years, Jansen brought his HR per 9 innings down to 0.7, the lowest it’s been since his Cy-Young worthy 2017 season. This number was no fluke either, as he held hitters to a hard-hit percentage of 14%, his lowest in the past 6 years.

So where does this leave the Dodgers in regards to finding an answer for the 9th inning this season? This very question was brought up on a recent episode of Access Sportsnet: Dodgers, and the crew had some interesting thoughts on the matter.

“The biggest storyline,” Pedro Moura of The Athletic explained, “is in the bullpen — and specifically who closes. And will it be Kenley Jansen? And will it be sorted out early or will this be something that in April people are still asking Dave Roberts about it on a daily, weekly, nightly basis. It’s a great question. It’s something the Dodgers never quite sorted out to their liking last year, but as you know, they made it work just fine. That said, I think they’d like to have a closer, to have a hierarchy in the bullpen.”

Final Thoughts

All eyes will be on Kenley Jansen once spring games begin, but by all accounts, he still deserves a chance to be the team’s closer. His 2020 season was not as bad as it appeared, even if fans held their collective breaths every time he took the mound. And given that he’ll be able to return to a (mostly) normal routine now that there will be a normal spring training and a full season, he’s as good a candidate as any to have a bounceback year.

The Dodgers have some tremendous young talent that they can turn to in the 9th, should they so choose. From Brusdar Graterol to playoff hero Julio Urías, there will be plenty of insurance policies should Kenley not meet expectations. But until Dave Roberts announces his decision one way or another, all we can do is watch and wait.

NEXT: Grading Dodgers’ Offseason Moves, Is Andrew Friedman Best Executive in MLB?

Daniel Palma

Daniel is an avid sports fan who loves his hometown teams. If he's not watching baseball, you can find him playing or coaching. No matter what, he'll always root for the Boys in Blue!

7 Comments

  1. there is no storyline. urias in the world series showed that roberts has no confidence in jansen. jansen cannot be handed the closer role anymore. morrow, graterol, or one of the starters is a far better choice for closer. sorry kenley, father time has arrived.

  2. Being a closer has as much to do with mental state as with technical abilities. When Kenley has the hunger, he is supreme. When he has his doubts, he loses that edge. He has a lot to prove and his early success will garner more success. If he fails early on, he knows that he will be replaced as closer. So, a lot is riding on Dave Roberts’ faith in him and Kenley’s own faith in his abilities. I am optimistic, although too many are not.

  3. In money terms I would like to see Jansen traded to releive his $20M salary in 2021. But you would have to give up prospects to move him. No team in baseball would take him at that price which is easily 3X what he is worth. The Dodgers will probably eat this final year on his contract. But that does not mean he should close. The object is still to win, and there are at least 5 guys more capable of closing games.

  4. He’s done. Won’t be long before Roberts is trying to find some role for him.

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