On the heels of an early morning transaction and some substantial injury news for a division leader, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Jansen approaches milestone:
Veteran closer Kenley Jansen has racked up 399 career saves over his 14 season career to this point, including eight for the Red Sox so far in 2023. Jansen’s next save will make him just the seventh player of all time to reach 400 career saves, joining relief greats such as Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, and Billy Wagner. Jansen’s bid for the illustrious milestone comes in the midst of what has been a phenomenal first season in Boston. The 35-year-old veteran has allowed just one earned run in 11 appearances with sixteen strikeouts, no home runs allowed, and just three walks. Jansen will look to continue his dominance as the Red Sox take on the Braves, for whom the veteran earned an NL-leading 41 saves last season.
2. Judge to be activated:
Reigning AL MVP and Yankees captain Aaron Judge is expected to be activated from the 10-day injured list today, after missing time since the end of April with a hip strain. Judge, who recently celebrated his 31st birthday, is slashing .261/.352/.511 with a wRC+ of 134 in 26 games played this season and figures to provide a major boost to a Yankees lineup currently relying on Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, and Gleyber Torres to carry the offense. Yankees fans are surely hoping the return of their captain can help spark the club, which has gone 19-17 so far this season and 4-6 since Judge last appeared in a game. With Judge on the verge of a return, the Yankees will need to clear active roster space. One potential option would be putting infielder Oswald Peraza on the injured list, as the youngster has missed the last four games with a rolled ankle.
3. MLBTR Chat Today:
With the regular season fast approaching the one-quarter mark, some of the early season storylines of the 2023 regular season have begun to even out, while other surprising trends are still going strong. If the beginning of this season has spurred any questions in your mind about your favorite team or the league as a whole, MLBTR’s Steve Adams is holding a live chat with readers at noon CT today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
Do other MLB teams have captains? I feel like I would know of them given the Judge paragraph mentions him as captain twice. Without giving it much thought, I can’t think of any.
“Just call me…the Captain”
Salvador Parez is the captain of the Royals. I think those are the only two teams and the Yankees have only made Judge captain this year. The last was Jeter.
Yes some do but the red sox haven’t since Varitek and they’ve had only two others since 1943
Jansen just needed the pitch clock. Despite all his complaints about it.
They tried to let Sanchez assume the part of Captain on the Yankees.
Turned out he could only qualify as a Private part.
If Jansen reaches 500 Saves, is he a HOF’er?
He’s already a HOF’er at 400.
Disagree
I disagree with your disagreement.
I’ll see your disagreement and raise you an objection.
Craig Kimbrel with his 3 saves this season sits at 397….
His first and last appearances were trash, but he’s been decent in between. With Topper’s closer by committe, he’ll get there as well. Just might take a bit.
Only 22 more saves until Jansen can be ignored for HOF consideration like Wagner was.
My guess is that Wagner still gets in. A lot of writers probably don’t know a lot about him, since 90% voted against him. But as the writers have started educating themselves, his support is up to 68%.
Francisco Rodriguez isn’t in the HoF either, 437 saves over 16 seasons. Lee Smith (478 saves, 18 seasons) got in but through the Era Committee. Dennis Eckersley was voted in with only 390 saves, but he racked them up over a staggering 24 seasons. So this is where the criteria for voting comes in, not that anybody cares — except for the people who actually vote.
So the fragile, oversized 31 year old playoff choker Aaron Judge will be back until he’s injured again. Terrible contract, Brian Cashman got played again as usual.
The ACE!!