Relief Pitcher: Kenley Jansen, Los Angeles Dodgers
2019 Salary: $19.33 million
Kenley Jansen’s overall production certainly took a step back in 2018 compared to the two years prior. After enjoying two straight seasons with a 40.0%-plus strikeout rate, 3.0-plus fWAR, and sub-2.00 ERA, those numbers settled in at 28.4%, 0.4, and 3.01, respectively.
This year is important to Jansen for all the obvious reasons, but also with regard to his contract. The five-year deal he signed to stay in Los Angeles includes player opt-outs in each of the final two seasons. If the 31-year-old has hopes of re-entering the free-agent market (who would if they don’t have to right now?), then that dominance he’s previously shown needs to return.
It was really just two bad months that torpedoed Jansen’s overall stats. He posted a 5.59 ERA in April and a 7.88 ERA in August. He didn’t post an ERA higher than 2.92 in any other month, but those troublesome 15.2 innings changed the perception of his season-long performance.
About Matt Musico
Matt Musico currently manages Chin Music Baseball and contributes to The Sports Daily. His past work has been featured at numberFire, Yahoo! Sports and Bleacher Report. He’s also written a book and created an online class about how to get started as a sports blogger. You can sign up for his email newsletter here.
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