A Final Ode to Kenley Jansen: The Perfect Los Angeles Closer

Some reports are starting to flood in that the Los Angeles Dodgers will allow Kenley Jansen to walk in free agency after receiving a near-record contract offer from the Florida Marlins.

If you’ve watched the Dodgers over any stretch of time, it’s kind of hard at this point to imagine anyone else coming out of the pen in the ninth inning and closing down wins for them. Jansen gives the Dodgers an attitude of nastiness and identity.

The Dodgers signed him as an amateur free agent in 2004 (!) out of Curacao. Jansen was 17 years old at the time. He collected his first big league save in 2010 and has racked up a total of 189 in a Dodgers uniform. That’s a lot of times that Jansen has precluded ‘I Love L.A.’ playing on the Chavez Ravine loudspeaker.

More often then not, the game is ending soon thereafter. Only once an All-Star, he’s been dominant and effective with a 2.20 ERA.

When Jansen enters the game, City of Compton by Dr. Dre blares as he makes his warm-up pitches. It’s very hard to imagine a David Robertson or Brad Ziegler providing the same Southern California experience in Dodger Blue when they enter a game.

And to whose fault is this really? Look no further than Marlins dipshit owner Jeffrey Loria. For no good reason at all, Loria has decided that the Marlins need Kenley Jansen.

The Marlins should be out on the market trying to bring in a starting pitcher after the tragic loss of their franchise in Jose Fernandez. That’s what the world and consensus believes they should be doing. And thus, the Marlins will swerve like always. They have thrown out a near record offer to Jansen that wouldn’t really make sense for anyone to match. Even the team that brought Jansen to baseball as a 17-year old.

So history will probably read that Jeff Loria got his prized portrait of Kenley Jansen to add to his art gallery of a baseball team down in Miami. Good for him – in the wake he ruins a near perfect fit that just doesn’t make economic sense to continue.

Kenley Jansen: perfect Dodgers closer who holds the franchise’s all-time record for saves at 189 with the next closest being Eric Gagne at 161 is soon to be only a memory.