Is Kenley Jansen the best closer in baseball?

Welcome back to The Red Seat Podcast, episode #277. On this episode, Jake Devereaux, and Bob Osgood discussed yet another major hit to the middle infield, Chris Sale’s continued struggles, if Jarren Duran is here to stay, and Kenley Jansen’s return to greatness.

We opened the show with the Yu Chang injury, which thins out an already thin middle infield. Enmanuel Valdez doesn’t appear to be able to make a simple catch and throw, so what options remain? Chris Sale went from an 11 strikeout performance to a zero strikeout clunker. What has been the difference between Good and Bad Chris Sale? Also, Jarren Duran had some interesting things to say about the clubhouse in 2023, compared to last year, and attributed it to his hot start.

In the rotation, Brayan Bello was temporarily sent down to aid the bullpen, Corey Kluber finally had a quality outing and James Paxton keeps getting shelled at Worcester. We took our best guess at how long of a leash these starters will get, and in Paxton’s case, if he gets any chance at all.

Finally, Masa Yoshida is red hot, Triston Casas still looks lost, and we give some love to Kenley Jansen. He’s returned to an elite level of closer, up there with the best in all of baseball.

If you have a question for The Red Seat pod, you can email us at redseatpodcast@gmail.com or tweet us. Jake is @DevJake, Keaton is @TheSpokenKeats and Bob is @BobOsgood15.