March 24th, 2022 at 9:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka When (then) 33-year-old right-hander Kenley Jansen left the Dodgers at the conclusion of the 2021 season as a free agent, the Willemstad, Curaçao native did so with the most saves in Dodgers franchise history … by a lot; 350, to be exact. That’s 189 more than Eric Gagné‘s previous franchise record of 161, and a record which, in all likelihood, will never fall.
Dodgers All-Time Saves Leaders:
However, if what we witnessed on Wednesday afternoon in the Spring Training game between the Dodgers and (now) Cleveland Guardians at Camelback Ranch – Glendale is any indication, it appears that 33-year-old right-hander Blake Treinen will attempt to fill the enormous (literally) shoes of 6′-5″ Kenley Jansen.
Over his (thus far) eight-year MLB career (the last two with the Dodgers), the Wichita, KS native and seventh-round draft pick in 2007 by the Oakland Athletics out of South Dakota State University in Brookings, currently has 79 career saves – eight as a Dodger.
In his one inning of work on Wednesday, Treinen retired the side in order in the top of the fifth inning (two via strikeout), needing only 13 pitches to do so.
“As of today, is he the Dodger closer?” asked Dodgers broadcaster Charley Steiner during Wednesday’s game. “With Kenley Jansen having gone to Atlanta, will the Dodgers have a firm closer? And if so, will it be Treinen?”
A short while later, Steiner was even more direct.
“So it would appear, as of the 23rd of March at 2:31 in the afternoon, you’re likely looking at the Dodger closer,” added Steiner.
In all honesty, even if Treinen does become the Dodgers primary closer, it is extremely unlikely that he – or anyone else – will ever eclipse Jansen’s phenomenal Dodgers franchise saves record.
Then again, as we have so often learned about the greatest game on the planet…
‘Never say never.’
Play Ball!
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@Dodgers I for one will miss Kenley a lot. I hope they made the right decision!
I am a long time Kenley fan but believe that Friedman made the right call on this one. Meaning no disrespect to Kenley (and like most of us), his best days are behind him. It was hard not to notice that his signature cutter had lost it’s velocity and crispness over the last two seasons and, as such (and in my opinion) simply was not worthy of the $16M that Atlanta agreed to pay him.
That said, I will forever have nothing but the fondest of memories of ‘California Love’ in Dodger Blue.
i for one, feel that since he has embraced the additional pitches he is as dangerous as ever. those couple of years when he didn’t have confidence in the options and continued to shake them off until serving up the eventual game losing cutter was infuriating. each time barnes, gradahl, or smith was being forced to make another mound visit i was banging my head on the seat in front me. now that he can throw several quality pitches for strikes, i believe that contract is of relative value.
i’m a business man and recognize that we cant keep them all and dont need to buy the head of the class each year when the system is producing.
that is a discussion for another day.
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