The Dodgers didn’t talk about a multi-year contract while in negotiations over Kenley Jansen‘s deal for 2016, the closer tells MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick. The two sides avoided arbitration by settling on a $10.65MM salary in Jansen’s last year of arb eligibility, and he’ll hit free agency after the season.
As Gurnick put it, Jansen mentioned the lack of long-term talks with “the implication being that he wished [the team] had” discussed keeping him in Los Angeles beyond 2016. Still, Jansen seemed at peace with the one-year deal, saying “at the end of the day, it’s just business. I’ve got to move forward. Who knows what’s going to happen after this year? It’s not in my control. All I can do is stay healthy, help my team win and when the year is over, I can’t predict the future.”
Though president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has far more financial resources available to him in L.A. than he did in Tampa Bay, Friedman’s modus operandi with the Rays was to acquire relief pitching at a low price, a tactic that often resulted in great success (i.e. Fernando Rodney, Kyle Farnsworth). Continuing this strategy would allow Friedman and GM Farhan Zaidi to spend the Dodgers’ many millions on more stable positions than the often-inconsistent relief market. With Chris Hatcher, Yimi Garcia and Pedro Baez already on board, Jansen himself would understand if one of the Dodgers’ current relievers will be his replacement.
“They can close — Hatch, Yimi, Pedro. I’m not mad at that. If that’s the road they want to go, who knows? This day I’m a Dodger. I’ll just continue to keep improving and help the team win and be better every day,” Jansen said.
Then again, the Dodgers also attempted to bolster their pen with a much more high-priced arm in Aroldis Chapman this past winter, before concerns over an alleged domestic violence incident involving Chapman scuttled the trade. Jansen said he had no hard feelings about a deal that would’ve relegated him to a setup role, saying that Friedman contacted him to discuss the failed Chapman trade once the news broke.
In terms of pure on-field performance, Jansen is certainly worthy of a multi-year commitment after four excellent years as the Dodgers’ closer. The righty has a 2.28 ERA, 4.89 K/BB rate and a whopping 528 strikeouts over 340 innings in his career, and he’ll be a big target on the open market next winter. (If not the biggest free agent closer, as Chapman is also in the last year of his contract.) One concern beyond cost for both the Dodgers and other teams could be Jansen’s history of heart issues, though those problems haven’t cropped up in the last few years.
Dodgers potentially in line for four compensatory picks next offseason (Jansen, Kazmir, Anderson, and Turner.) Three of them (or apparently all four with this heart thing) are major wildcards health-wise, but if they all stay healthy that would be a pretty sweet setup for the Dodgers, even if one or two took a qualifying offer.
Considering relief pitching is the most stacked position in the next free agency period, this isn’t surprising.
I’m leaning the other way on this one. Why solely go to a free agency when a fantastic option is right in front of you? It’s the old bird in the hand, two in the tree saying. It seems odd they wouldn’t at least query what a multi year contract would cost them – almost seems like bad business to not at least ask.
They don’t need to start talks now because they have a crop of guys that could take a huge step forward this season and slide in to the role. Why lock money in to Jansen now when we can wait it out and see him stay healthy/effective? Saving money is really the only reason to start talking now, and that doesn’t seem to be a huge need of the Dodgers. Montas, Cotton, Sierra and the three mentioned in the article could all take steps forward and make a Jansen extension unnecessary.
Totally agree with you.
Jansen would not cost them any less on an extension then he would as a free agent, perhaps even a bit more, since the player would be foregoing an opportunity to test the market for competitive bidding. That said both the team and the player no doubt have a very good idea what kind of price range he’d command in free agency, so talking about it without an intention to strike a deal would be a waste of time. Either way, we’ve seen how this FO operates. It would be surprising if they extended anybody.
Sounds like Grienke, part 2. Although given the way that closers fall off the cliff, I suspect Greinke will still be pitching after Jansen is out of the league. Still, all these smart guys in the FO seem more concerned with seeing whether they can get to the World Series with a payroll consisting of Kershaw and 24 other guys making $1 million or less. Should be interesting.
When the Dodgers were going after Chapman it wasn’t clear that they were necessarily planning to demote Jansen to a setup role. It looked more like the intent was to use them situationally. As for the heart condition not being an issue for the last couple of years, Jansen became mysteriously unavailable to close a game in Colorado in June of last year. The incident was attributed to him “not feeling well,” and was never explained further. (The Dodgers gave up a two-run lead in the 9th and lost the game.)