Kenley Jansen’s latest bout with an irregular heartbeat left the Dodgers closer more irritated than scared, he tells ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne. Jansen had dealt with similar heart issues in 2011 and 2012, the latter resulting in heart surgery. After the problem arose again last month, his immediate reaction was that “I thought my season was over. I’m like, man, f— this. Not again. We’re trying to go back to the World Series. I have a chance to win another Trevor Hoffman award. Man!” Shelburne’s piece details how Jansen dealt with the heart problem that evening, and how he has been trying to balance staying healthy while also making an earlier-than-expected return to the field.
Interestingly, Jansen noted that he likely wouldn’t be playing if the Dodgers weren’t in contention. “To tell you the truth, I wanted to have the second surgery right now so we could just fix it and I’d know everything was OK,” Jansen said. “But I know what an opportunity our team has this year and my responsibilities here.” That second surgery could come after the season is over, though while Jansen continues to play, he is sitting out the Dodgers’ road series against the Rockies this weekend on doctors’ recommendation, as his last two irregular heartbeat episodes occurred while in Denver’s thin air. Jansen is hopeful, however, that he would be cleared should the Dodgers end up facing the Rockies in a postseason series.
Here’s more baseball news from around the Golden State…
- With Wil Myers still very much a work in progress at third base, “the Padres seem to be leaning toward moving” Myers between positions in 2019 rather than make him a full-time option at the hot corner, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. Myers has spent much of his six MLB seasons at first base or right field, though he has also played multiple games as a center fielder (33 starts), left fielder (28 starts) and third baseman (18). Of course, he has yet to provide much defensive value wherever he has played, though if Myers is at least a passable option at multiple positions, the Padres can shift him around the diamond every day while opening up playing time for others. For his part, Myers feels he is making progress at his latest position and feels he can still contribute to the team as a primary third baseman.
- The Giants should explore the idea of trading Madison Bumgarner this offseason, ESPN’s Buster Olney opines. Bumgarner is controlled through the 2019 season via a $12MM club option that is sure to be exercised, and the Giants would certainly get a good return for even just one year of the star lefty’s services. Of course, the team declined offers for Bumgarner at the trade deadline and has given every indication that it plans to contend in 2019. Olney, however, sees parallels between the Giants and the Phillies teams from earlier this decade, who suffered for holding onto a veteran core too long rather than recognize that a rebuild was necessary. Keeping Bumgarner next season or extending him may not make sense, Olney feels, for a Giants team that could soon face its own rebuild.
Does anyone know what Jansen’s actual heart condition is? It almost sounds like he has a-fib and got a cardiac ablation. Which would make sense with why he’s dealing with it again because they don’t always work the first time.
Myers should stick at third. He’s already signed long term and even with the best farm in baseball they don’t have a clear cut choice to replace him at that position. He is also incredibly injury prone so moving him all around the diamond to accommodate others really doesn’t make much sense.
As for MadBum, I’d be hard pressed to give up a huge haul for him. His recent injury and decline in performance are huge red flags imo.
Padres have a lot of options at 3B. Villanueva had mixed results his first season, but still managed to hit 20 HR before breaking a finger. A lot of scouts think Tatis will end up at 3B as he fills out, but even if he sticks at short, Ty France is ready in triple A while Hudson Potts was recently promoted to double A after demolishing the Cal League (A+ ball). France also needs R5 protection, so he’s likely to be added to the 40 man, possibly as soon as the end of El Paso’s playoff run. Further down the system, the team has about a half dozen 45+ FV middle infield prospects that could play 3B, though none is likely to be ready before 2020
Hudson Potts and Ty France are fringe prospects
Potts is not a fringe prospect, France however is.
Potts is also a fringe prospect
Once again no he isn’t not.
He is the 23rd overall prospect in by far the deepest farm system in the game. Could easily be top 10 in over half of the systems in the league, but he is fringe? Okay bro.
Ty France was a walk on to SDSU, he was a local kid who got a shot with the home team organization who took a flier on him. Feel good story? For sure. Fringe prospect? Also, for sure.
Potts was a supplemental first round pick who at the age of 19 played at advanced A ball and AA this year combining for an OPS of .789 and batting .260 with 19 and 75. Playing a very challenging position for a young kid coming up against older competition. Fringe prospect? Okay. Potts and France aren’t even in the same stratosphere.
If none of the options are ready till 2020 …then we don’t have many current options. Villanueva is way too shaky at the plate, Spangy is a AAAA player and Tatis is next year’s SS. We NEED Myers to stick at 3rd if not hell be traded and the Padres will be stuck with the majority of that stupid contract.
Myers is as good as gone. He doesn’t fit this club and I guarantee his comments about Andy Green are being swept under the rug now because it’s not the time to do anything about that right now. I bet Preller is on the phones exploring ideas as soon as the season ends.
I proposed something on here the other day about a Wil Myers for Kyle Seager deal. The money is about the same, and they both could benefit from a change of scenery after getting nice paydays and failing to live up to them for the most part. Myers slots in as the everyday 1B in Seattle, or they can put him in LF if the choose. Seager fills a hole at third for the Padres and gives them another solid veteran guy to go with Hosmer.
Love the idea of trading Myers for Kyle Seager. Both of those dudes need a change of scenery and at least Seager can play third.
Myers comments on Green weren’t swept under the rug. Myers already apologized to Green and if you look it up you’ll see that Green already talked about it and he was in his shoes when he was younger and that he understands his frustrations. “Chip Hale probably impacted my career more positively than any other coach or manager I had,” Green said. “I remember complaining like crazy to teammates when he made me go out in August to do (fielding practice) and turn double plays with pitchers in 120 degrees in Tucson. I didn’t understand. I was upset and frustrated. … That makes me just like everyone else. We look at our boss at some point in time and say, ‘Why are you doing this?’ ” You app make it seem like no player complains about their coach in their life and that coaches will take it personally
There’s a lot of things to like about Myers, but his defense isn’t one of them. Especially at third base. I’ve seen better third basemen playing high school ball. And I’m not exaggerating.
You know that Myers has a well documented history regarding his attitude, right?
What bothered me most about his latest comments was that he referred to his team in the third person. It shows detachment. A lot of other teams would be trying to get rid of him for that alone.
Ive never really liked Myers because of this. He always seems like hes so ‘BLEH whatever i guess i HAVE to play baseball for a living and make millions of dollars. Ugh gosh…’
Great idea
See that’s fan using brain^. Padre fans saying trade him don’t get it’s not simple only way he’s the traded is above, prospects, or include lots of $
I want to know why MadBum is starting to decline, and why everyone has been saying that. His production has been similar to his previous years, and both of his injuries were freak accidents.
He’s lost roughly about 1.3 MPH fastball velocity since his shoulder injury. His fastball is also seemingly being squared up a lot more by opposing hitters. His ERA and ERA estimators are clashing mainly because he can still hit his spots well (ERA is low and estimators are high). When his ability to be so fine with his control regresses however the results may not be so pretty.
Not to mention Bum’s a hot head. As a Giant fan he’s getting back to where he was but his anger is going to bring him down.
He’s had one ablation. Need 2nd.
We will probably never know the exact details of Kenley’s medical condition for privacy reasons—nor should we.
What has been reported by Kenley is that he has had atrial fibrillation in 2011 and through medication he returned to a normal (sinus) heart rhythm. A year later the afib returned and he again return to a normal rhythm with meds. He also had an ablation and it is not certain if that ablation was necessary to restore a regular heart rhythm or if it was just done as a precaution to prevent the afib from returning. The afib returned this year and through medication and a cardioversion (electrical shock) treatment he returned immediately to a normal heart rhythm. It now appears based upon the recommendation of cardiologist (and probably electro cardiologist) another ablation is needed.
I have been treated for afib for the past four years. I’ve had two ablations (2014 and 2017). While medication was able to restore me to normal (sinus) rhythm each time, my cardiologists recommended ablations to reduce the chances of recurrence. This appears to be the case with Kenley.
Afib is a progressive disease. There is no cure. All we can do is manage the problem. That Kenley has seemingly been able to return to normal rhythm each time he has experienced afib with meds and a cardioversion is a good sign. As a professional athlete, Kenley’s challenges are more complicated. While not surprising, it appears that Kenley, his doctors and the team are all working together to manage his condition well. I wish him the very best!
There’s a lot of things to like about Myers, but his defense isn’t one of them. Especially at third base. I’ve seen better third basemen playing high school ball. And I’m not exaggerating.
Sorry about the duplicate post. Getting acquainted with the mobile ap.
Giants and other large market teams stayed under the tax threshold this season for a reason. Bold prediction: he’s not traded and re-signs.
True, but the Giants have a lot of holes to fill. Might be best for the Giants to wait another season in order to clean up their payroll and build up their team.
I strongly agree the giants should trade everyone besides Posey, Crawford and Panik. Crawford and Panik are the best defensive duo of SS/2B in the league, and defense wins championships. Trade everyone else for pitching/outfield depth, and hope to compete in 2020 when the young kids are starting to breakout (Slater, Duggar, Suarez,) I think the only REAL untouchables however are Derek Rodriguez and Buster Posey. I think the giants are open to trading everyone else.
Defense does not win championships if you are defunct in key aspects of the game
Giants will not trade Madbum instead they will over pay for a high priced over the hill FA. They will end up with a record around .500 and miss the playoffs again. That is what they have done the last few years.
“ . . . defense wins championships.”
Bullcrap. Prove it. And I don’t mean anecdotally.
Yahoo
Giants lost
Get use to it
Especially madbum
No good anymore
Trade him while you can
Wtf are you talking about, last year they had 98 losses and the year before they made the playoffs.
Are you kidding me? They would have been contenders this year if they broke spring training with a healthy squad! Longo, Bum, Belt, Panik, Strickland, Posey, shimmy shim, Shark, all have been hurt! They’ll add maybe a Harper, or another big bat this offseason and be right in there next year!
I sure hope the Giant FO is thinking exactly the way you are thinking.
Longo has experienced his share of injuries and is a shell of the Longo he once was, Cueto had TJ and won’t be there next year, Posey is getting older and well as the tole of catching catches up…, Shark/Bum there’s a clear pattern evolving here. Guys don’t suddenly get younger and healthier as the miles start to rack up. I feel like your also forgetting that teams in the division have also experienced major injuries. So saying they would have made them contenders, seems like a major reach. The problem remains the Giants depth has not been there and as they are getting older. While getting older they are pushing the upper limits on what they can actually buy. Not only are they pushing those limits it’s not as though they are infusing impact talent. A Harper does not suddenly make them contenders especially if you’re going to play “the every question mark” is going to remain healthy. I hate the Giants, but respect the fact that they contended for so long and their willingness to trade prospect capital. Quite simply the Rockies have clearly passed the Giants and the Dodgers are not going anywhere. As far as AZ they most likely are still better than the Giants next year. I don’t see the Giants being contenders.
So you think that having a healthy Bum, Cueto, Shark, and Posey and Panik along with Belt for the whole season still wouldn’t have put them as contenders? They played .500 ball without there full squad all year until they traded Cutch and broke down. I disagree with you on that note. I agree with you on the aging. But for a club that has an open check book and always will, they will never rebuild, they will trade, and buy around the core group. I think adding another #2 starter to battle with Rodriguez and Bum along with a Harper or Machado would definitely put them back in contention next year. Colorado is up the creek next year also with there group, so i see Giants over Rocks, and Arizona is declining along with the Giants so that’s 50/50, Dodgers are one to beat!
Panik has been bad on both sides of the ball. In his defense, he looks hurt to me, but he also looks like he’s at a career crossroads. Considering he’s lost playing time and no longer starts against lefties; there’s a chance he won’t be tendered a contract from the Giants (though I think they will; perhaps decline arbitration and then offer a lesser contract).
Posey isn’t going anywhere; he has a full no-trade and they’ll want him to help Joey Bart.
Crawford also has a full no-trade clause — but if I were the Giants I’d entertain the option, if he’d agree. He regularly has nagging injuries to his shoulder and now his knee and when you look at the last two seasons and his age; it’s hard to see what the upside is. He had a fantastic 7 week stretch in June/July this year but has otherwise been just abysmal.
Rodriguez isn’t going anywhere — he’s one of the few bright spots this season. The only real concern I have is his strikeout rate, but AT&T is a good place for contact pitchers.
Shut up major flaw. No one likes you
David Murphy. Second Base.
Yes, defense matters. Does defense alone win championships? No. But it can lose them.
Not sure if the RedSox are open to the idea, but I wouldn’t mind packaging Bumgarner and one of Smith/Strickland for a package headlined by Devers. 1 yr of Bum/2 of Strickland for Devers and a couple throw ins seems like something the Giants should explore, especially since Devers is an oppo field hitter and would work well in ATNT.
Bumgarner and Posey to Atlanta for Newcomb, Infante, Soroka and Alex Jackson. Who hangs up first?
The braves don’t even pick up the phone
Bahahahahahaaaa, Braves don’t even pick up the phone?!!! I get being a die hard fan, but the Braves have already gone after Posey, and if we included Bum too? Yeah I think it would be all ears for the Braves!
Why don’t you include Furcal and Blauser too? What is Lemke doing now? Infante??
Rafael Furcal? Hahaha
Correction – Ender INCIARTE. … thanks for pointing that out
Brain freeze – not Infante … Edgar Inciarte.
Also would be open to the idea of Bumgarner and Belt for Andujar, Montgomery, Bird, and Florial.
Then again doubt the Yankees do that, unless they get Machado.
That’s not even close to being enough from the Yanks. The Giants don’t have a need for Andujar, Bird has zero value, Florial is at least 2 years away, and Montgomery is coming off of TJ surgery.
1 year of Bumgarner and an expensive Belt off the books who’s starting to age for Andujar and Florial whom both have great upside, Bird for depth, and Montgomery who is controllable and would work well in ATNT once he recovers. This is coming from a Giants fan who would be content with this return, considering that not many others would give a good package for Bumgarner.
Here’s the thing no one wants to look at. All this talk about trading Bum makes no sense from the Giants stand point because as everyone likes to point out they have Belt, Longoria, Crawford, Posey, Samardzija, Cueto, and Melancon all signed to contracts that take them through at least 2020. So why would the Giants trade their top pitcher if they are still going to “have to” run those other guys out on the field?
I know some will say they get a couple of prospects for the future, but it also means not you have no #1 starter, a kid Rodriguez as #2 and a bunch of 4s and 5s. If they don’t want to be a 60 win team the next two seasons they need a healthy Bum.
Andújar is not going anywhere – get real. Young & solid stay at 3rd for Yanks and a R of Year top candidate.
I don’t think Wil Myers is the type of player who can handle a super utility role. He needs to be able to keep his focus and it’s hard to do that if you don’t know what position you are going to play on any given day. Ideally they would just trade him, but they’d probably have to throw in some top prospects or take back an equally bad contract to do that.
Why would they need to throw in prospects? I’m sure Myers is an intriguing option for the Cardinals, Rockies, Athletics, Twins, and Mariners, who all would have an open spot to take him in. Trade him for salary relief and a lottery ticket to one of those teams I dont see why it won’t happen.
Because he’s owed $22.5m a year starting in 2020. He’d be an intriguing option if he were making like $10m but no one is interested in paying $22.5m to a good-not-great hitter with no position.
Myers has an albatross contract. He is getting like 22m for three years straight starting in 2020.
I have this feeling he will somehow end up on the Cardinals where he will rake. That kind of just happens to the Padres a lot.
The Hosmer contract is horrible, yet most novice Padres fans seem to only hate on Myers. What goves?
I would like to see him on the cards, what would be a good return? Power hitting 3rd baseman Patrick wisdom,kevin herget and andrew Morales for myers and alittle cash? Maybe cards throw in another better minor leaguer or Greg garcia?
For Wil Myers? A signed Yadier Molina jersey and two vintage Albert Pujols bobbleheads.
Hosmer been here 1 year and isn’t drama dope that Myers is
Cardinals won’t go near Myers they like intelligent players.
If they like intelligence, why’d they go after Khalil Greene? He and Myers both seems like surfer head cases.
There is absolutely nothing to compare between Myers and Khalil Greene. Nothing.
Giants should pull a Chapman with Madbum
are you going to say this on every article?
Like I said, I’ll keep saying it until other people stop saying “What if they want to sign him?” every time the idea of a bad/mediocre team trading a player with dwindling control is mentioned. The Yankees demonstrated that you are allowed to do both.
The player has to actually want to come back. If they trade Bumgarner in a rebuild why would he want to go back to a losing team
If what you are saying is true, that Bumgarner doesn’t want to sign with SF, then they should definitely trade him. The alternative is to lose him in a year for nothing but a draft pick.
Till at least 2020.
Downvote all you want. You know it’s completely true.
If they knew it was completely true then they wouldn’t be down voting
It is completely true. Look at the Yankees with Aroldis Chapman. He was traded to a team that went on to win the World Series that year and then signed back with the team that traded him despite being offered more money elsewhere.
How is it completely true? You’re literally comparing two scenarios that sound similar but are not the same. All you’re saying is “Well Chapman did it, so Bumgarner most likely will do the same thing”. The Giants are not going to compete any time soon, not with their current roster anyways, and not with their untalented farm system either. If Bumgarner gets traded, at least the Giants will get some young talented in return, but don’t expect him to sign back. He most likely will test FA where he would get a ton of offers from teams that will most likely compete in the playoffs. Unless he wants to be a Giants player for the rest of his career and is okay with the idea of not winning another championships any time soon, then I can’t see him coming back. He must really love SF and be very loyal to them. If Chapman was in the same shoes as Bumgarner he wouldn’t have signed back with an old team with no talent in the farm system
Well I mostly agree with you here, but that’s not what I was arguing. My whole point was that if the Giants want to sign Bumgarner and the interest is mutual, trading him wouldn’t bar them from doing that. Just like it didn’t with Chapman, Hammel, etc.
I don’t know Bumgarner. Maybe he has zero interest in staying in SF beyond his current contract but if that’s the case he’s not going to change his mind if they keep him and waste another year of his prime in 2019.
The chances of the Dodgers and Rockies meeting in the postseason are practically nil. The team that doesn’t win the NLW would have to be in the wildcard game, win that game, then both teams would need to win their respective NLDS contests to advance to the NLCS. Most likely scenario at this point is the NLW winner plays the NLE winner and the wildcard winner plays the NLC winner. So, FWIW, it’s highly unlikely that Jansen will have to pitch in Denver again this year.
San Francisco giants are falling apart fast
Sinking faster then Titanic
Time to tear the whole team down
Including front office
General management etc
Those eight high pay salaries are just sitting on the bench collecting money
Disgusting
Terrible team
Most of these trade comments are just to funny. Best thing for the Giants would be put him on the open market right after the season is over. Open it up to a bidding war for him. Some team will flinch and give the Giants a ton of prospects for him. Instead the Giants will hang onto him and instead pretend they are 1 player away from contending. Over spending on 1 big name player. Once mid season arrives and they are out of contention they again trade him for 1 good prospect instead of a ton.
I’ll be surprised if the SF FO spends even one fleeting moment considering a trade of Bumgarner. The organization marries itself to its home grown players for better or worse (more worse than better). Sure they stayed under the LTT this year which will enable them to be more active in free agency, but when you look at their needs it’s clear that whatever they do will be futile. Too many starters in decline, too many high $$$ contracts to injured players (Samarzdija, Cueto, Melancon), and too few quality players coming up through the system. Hate to cloud the issue with facts, but the Giants have already waited too long to rebuild, and they’ll be at the bottom of the NL West for many years to come.
Giants are to afraid to lose any attendance if they go through a rebuild is why they hang onto players to long. Anyone could see Pence is not very good but fans still love him. Who they should have traded at the start of the season was Shark. I read they had some teams ask about him. They wouldn’t have received very much but get rid of a over paid player. I have no idea where Olney thinks they will trade Madbum when everything coming out of the office they will not even listen to offers. Madbum is still a very good starter but probably not a ace anymore.
That’s Giants Baseball!
Wil Myers is owed 73 million through 2022, Kyle Seager is owed 57 million through 2021. The Padres would save 16 million dollars by cutting bait with Myers and banking on a comeback attempt from Seager, change of scenery, gets to play in warmer weather, and competing in the same division as his brother should light some fire under him.
Myers, as injured and as mediocre as he has been this year has still produced 1.8 war oppposed to Seagers 0.8 war. If we figure war is 8-9 million dollars per year, times the 3 years of each player, the Padres gain an extra 24-27 million in potential future value if each player continues their current trajectory. Now you figure the 16 million in the original difference swings into a positive 8-11 million on the Padres side, which might even mean Seattle should add to the deal.
OF/1B Wil Myers and 3B Corey Spangenberg to Seattle for 3B Kyle Seager and OF Kyle Lewis. No money exchanges hands.
San Diego gets out from under Myers’s albatross. Spangenberg goes as depth at 3B Incase Seager replacement isn’t available post free agency.. Moustakas, Donaldson, etc.
Seattle gets rid of the black hole they have had at 3B at the expense of their best prospect but their window is slim and they need to take advantage of having an aggressive GM coupled with a rebuild in the near future most likely.
Why not take a chance on a Myers rebound if you are Seattle? The offense can survive with the current pieces if you add him and possibly Moose or JD on a two or three year deal. The bullpen is fine, rotation needs a sidekick to Paxton but their window is now. Lewis can help San Diego if Margot continues to struggle or if they want to package him plus more for a frontline starter.
Thoughts?
Why would Mariners want Myers? Seager had 1
bad year
Why would anyone want Myers? You can pick up .240 hitting first basemen with power and lots of strikeouts pretty much every year on the cheap. Chris Carter was playing AAA this year, 2 years after leading the league in HR’s. The only reason they keep him is to not admit the mistakes of the trade for him and then the long-term contract.
Myers must go to AL….be a DH. He shot his big mouth off about the manager….hit the road jack! Padres have a good young catcher to throw in and not have to eat money.
No AL team wants him as DH with bloated contract
I guess Olney didn’t get the message that the Giants dont rebuild.
Buster is saying what they should do, not what they do. Maybe if they lose all the rest of the games, they will be motivated to clean house.
Damn Kenley… as a fan, I appreciate it, but your health is more important than a game. Take care of yourself first.
Any opinions on MLB.com eliminating their commenting boards?
IMO, it was the best thing about the site.