Angels’ Kenley Jansen makes ‘disappointing’ confession amid trade buzz

The Los Angeles Angels remain in the fringes of the playoff hunt, but the front office cannot operate on delusion and proceed as if they’re a surefire candidate to remain in the postseason picture. They have to be pragmatic, and with that comes the potential to operate as a seller as we near the trade deadline — with closer Kenley Jansen emerging as a potential trade candidate.

Jansen only signed a one-year contract with the Angels, and, even though he’s been more than solid for LA, racking up 16 saves on an ERA of 3.38 (with only one blown save to boot), if there’s an archetype of player that usually gets dealt prior to the trade deadline, it’s relief pitchers who can help shore up a playoff team’s bullpen for the looming stretch run.

However, the 37-year-old closer is adamant that the Angels can and will play better, and that he feels as though it would be disappointing if he ended the season donning another team’s jersey.

“Not finishing here would be disappointing. I came here to try to help this team turn it around, to get at least a wild-card spot,” Jansen told Sam Blum of The Athletic. “There’s more in the tank of this team, of what we’re capable of doing. I feel like we should be at least six games over .500. The next couple weeks are going to be important. I want to do something special and turn this team around.”

The underlying stats show that the Angels are in real danger of falling off the playoff picture entirely. They have a run differential of -62 that suggests they should be around five games worse than their record at the moment. Fangraphs has their playoff odds at 4.3 percent at present.

Jansen and the Angels better start turning things around now if they were to convince the front office to give this team a shot at mounting a push for the playoffs.

Kenley Jansen says what every Angels fan is saying: do it for Mike Trout