Highest Paid Relief Pitchers: Kenley Jansen
5-Years, $80M ($16M AAV)
Raise your hand if you knew that Kenley Jansen was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as a catcher.
I sure as hell didn’t know that.
A native of the island of Curacao, Jansen was signed by the Dodgers in 2004 and would play as a catcher in the minor league system until 2009. It was during the 2009 season that the L.A. Dodgers convinced Jansen to give up playing the backstop position and focus on being a pitcher, as his batting and offensive numbers were hindering his development through the system. He would have never made the major leagues as a hitter, and the Dodgers convinced him to pursue pitching instead.
Following his conversion, Jansen would be called up to the MLB in 2010, roughly one year after making the full position switch (pretty impressive if you ask me).
Kenley Jansen has been a mainstay feature in the Dodgers bullpen since 2011, and has been the full time closer for the team since 2013. He would sign an extension with the Dodgers in the offseason of 2017 (when he was a free agent), agreeing to a 5 year deal worth $80 million dollars.
In 2019, Jansen will make the second most out of all MLB relief pitchers at $19.3 million. His extension and the amount of money he is making is quite understandable, as he currently has 280 saves over his career and has won the Trevor Hoffman Top NL Reliever Award twice in his career, along with 3 All-Star seasons. This goes along with his career 2.21 ERA.
While Jansen has had success as a closer, he has also dealt with numerous health issues regarding an irregular heartbeat due to cardiac ablation (I am not a doctor, and I have attached a link here that describes his medical issues).
It is safe to say that the closing role for the Dodgers will be Jansen’s for the foreseeable future.