How Kenley Jansen became one of Dodgers' most respected leaders
PHOENIX - His job requires him to finish what someone else starts, so Kenley Jansen proposed a solution. Major League Baseball wants to improve the pace of games? Here's an idea.
"Start fining organizations," he said.
He was serious. Set a length of game that is unacceptable - say, 3 1/2 hours, he said. Tally up the teams who exceed the limit most often. Punish them. "I'm telling you, they would start developing guys in the minor leagues. That makes more sense than to put in a clock, or all this."
Jansen, the 30-year-old Dodgers closer, was sitting on a cart in the shade of Camelback Ranch as a handful of teammates pitched behind him. His teammates wore their uniforms; Jansen sported a T-shirt and shorts. In his hands he palmed a Wilson football, the only object he would throw on this day. His schedule afforded him the time to ponder other people's problems.
His suggestion was radical and thought-provoking and utterly farfetched. It illuminated Jansen's theory on what ails baseball. The problem, he
