It will certainly look strange the first time Kenley Jansen faces Freddie Freeman in a crucial moment late in a close game, Jansen in an Atlanta Braves uniform, Freeman in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform, symbols of this entire twisted offseason. Jansen debuted for the Dodgers on July 24, 2010 — 38 days before Freeman made his first appearance for the Braves, making them two of the longest-tenured players with one team among active players.
On the day Freeman was officially introduced at Dodgers camp in Arizona, Jansen agreed to a one-year, $16 million contract with the Braves. Not that Jansen was a lock to return to the Dodgers — indeed, with the Dodgers’ payroll approaching $280 million and Blake Treinen more than capable of handling closer duties, there was always the belief he would land with a new team — but going to the Braves, a team with a deep arsenal of bullpen arms and an established closer in Will Smith, certainly seems like a surprise.
But when you dig deeper, it makes sense on several levels. First off, the universal designated hitter and 26-man rosters make it easier than ever for National League teams to carry an additional relief pitcher. Previously, NL teams needed to carry a flexible bench: a couple pinch hitters to hit for the pitchers, a backup catcher who probably wasn’t a pinch hitter and somebody who could play all over the field for double switches. Now it’s much easier to go with even a three-man bench — like some American League teams often do — and a 14-man pitching staff. No, nine-man bullpens aren’t good for the game, but this is the game as played in 2022.
Second, all the Braves have to do is see how they won the World Series last October: The bullpen carried the load. Look at what happened during the Braves’ 11-5 run through the playoffs:
Bullpen: 75⅓ IP, 66 H, 25 BB, 86 SO, 7 HR, 3.11 ERA
Starters: 64⅔ IP, 53 H, 25 BB, 69 SO, 6 HR, 3.48 ERA
The starters did a good job, but the relievers were even better and actually pitched more innings. Smith, after a homer-prone regular season, was dominant in going 6-for-6 in saves and not allowing a run in 11 innings. Tyler Matzek struck out 24 in 15⅔ innings. A.J. Minter, after finding himself back in the minors earlier in the season, found his groove at the right time.
But those guys also pitched a lot of additional innings. So did starters Ian Anderson and Max Fried. Plus, Charlie Morton is returning from his broken leg suffered in the World Series. The additions of Jansen and Collin McHugh (who had a 1.55 ERA in relief last season for the Rays) gives manager Brian Snitker one of the deepest bullpens in the league: Smith, Jansen, McHugh, Matzek, Minter, Luke Jackson, Dylan Lee, Sean Newcomb and Jay Jackson, plus some of the starting rotation options, such as Kyle Wright and Touki Toussaint. That depth will allow Snitker to ease his entire staff into the season and not push them too hard in April after the long 2021 season and shortened spring training.
The question with Jansen is whether he is really more than just a guy at this point. He had a terrific bounce-back season in 2021, posting a 2.22 ERA with 38 saves while holding batters to a .158 average. From 2018 through 2020, however, he had a more pedestrian 3.34 ERA and allowed 24 home runs in 159 innings, hardly the numbers of an elite closer. The velocity on his cutter was back up in 2021, to 92.5 mph, highest since 2017. He has also started throwing his sinker and slider more often. He used to throw his cutter more than 80% of the time, but threw it just 58% last season.
Jansen will be the team’s primary closer, even though Smith’s October performance merited him keeping the job. According to David O’Brien, Braves beat writer for The Athletic, general manager Alex Anthopoulos talked to Smith earlier on Friday and Smith said he was fine with any role. That does leave three lefties with Smith, Matzek and Minter as setup men (with righties McHugh and Luke Jackson), but as we saw last October, those are three lefties you don’t have to worry about matchups for when they’re on their game. Certainly, Snitker will look to limit back-to-back appearances for all of his relievers early on.
As for the Dodgers, it was probably time to move on. After several memorable blown saves in the 2017 and 2018 World Series, Dave Roberts lost faith in Jansen as a postseason closer — remember, he tried to use Clayton Kershaw to close out Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS (it didn’t work), and Julio Urias closed out the World Series clincher in 2020. In Game 5 of the NLDS last year against the Giants, Jansen pitched the eighth inning and Max Scherzer got the save in the ninth — after which Scherzer came up with a dead arm, messing up the NLCS rotation. No Jansen erases the issue of what to do with him in the playoffs. Treinen is the closer, and the Dodgers can work backward from there.
Aside from all that, you have to love the moves and countermoves both these franchises are making. They’re not in the same division, but after meeting in the NLCS the past two seasons, Braves versus Dodgers feels like the best rivalry going in the National League.