the almost daily dodger - kenley jansen

kenley jansen is coming up on his 450th career save. he's already fourth all-time, and hitting that milestone won't move the needle on that list for him, but it's an impressive stat nonetheless. here's his 2016 topps gold parallel

from his dodger days.

jansen has reached 445 saves in 862.1 innings pitched, for a ratio of 1.94 innings pitched per save. the all-time leader, mariano rivera earned a save for every 1.97 innings pitched, and for trevor hoffman (number two all-time) it was one save for every 1.81 innings pitched. that's the lowest ratio on the board as far as i could tell, with craig kimbrel (number five) close at 1.83 ip/sv.

even if he catches and passes lee smith (number three with 478 saves), i am not sure that jansen is a certainty for the hall of fame. kimbrel is right there with him in terms of career saves at this point (just a few behind) and i don't know that he has ever been thought of as a hall of famer. i fully support smith's hall of fame status (he was the all-time saves leader when he retired), but the game and the closer role are different now than in the the past and 478 saves might not be enough even if only two have ever recorded more. i'll leave that to the voters to figure out.