By Jon Weisman
Kenley Jansen has won MLB’s 2016 Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award.
A panel of eight all-time great relievers — Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, John Franco and Billy Wagner — voted on the winners, ranking the top three in each league (based solely on regular-season performance), using a 5-3-1 weighted point system. The American League award is named in Rivera’s honor.
Jansen had a career-best and MLB-leading 0.67 WHIP along with a 1.83 ERA, his lowest since 2010, and he led all MLB relievers in wins above replacement (3.2). A first-time NL All-Star in 2016, he struck out more than 13 batters per nine innings for the seventh time in as many Major League seasons, and he is fourth in big-league history with a 13.9 K/9. His 9.5 K/BB ratio in 2016 led the NL.
The Hoffman and Rivera awards replaced MLB’s Delivery Man of the Year Award, which was presented to one winner in all of MLB from 2005-13. Essentially, the last Dodger to be named the NL’s top reliever was Eric Gagné, who won Rolaids Relief Man and Sporting News Reliever awards in 2003 and 2004 — along with the NL Cy Young Award in 2003.
Jansen will be eligible to become a free agent next month.
Mark Hagerstrom
Quite the panel that.
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oldbrooklynfan
They’ll have to re-sign him if they want him to continue his work as a Dodger.
smithj874
My bet is that the Dodgers let him walk because (1) they won’t want to pay his market value and (2) the saber stats will tell them, most likely incorrectly, that someone else can replace him for alot cheaper. I hope I’m wrong.