The Angels have quite possibly run their veteran closer into the ground

It's a good thing that the Los Angeles Angels added Luis García and Andrew Chafin at the trade deadline, as the team's starting pitchers simply cannot provide adequate length to preserve the bullpen. Since August began, Angels starters are averaging 4.2 innings per start and they have not made it past 6 innings in an outing yet. As a result, the team's veteran closer is beginning to break down.

The Angels have quite possibly run their veteran closer into the ground

Per Jeff Fletcher of The OC Register, Kenley Jansen said he is dealing with something physically that he will monitor every day the rest of the way. After he was the losing pitcher of record against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, Jansen blamed his phantom injury for his pitches not being as nasty as they have been all season. Jansen's velocity and induced vertical break on his cutter are relatively steady in August, but its horizontal movement (cut or sweep) is the smallest its been all year.

The Angels slow-played Jansen's workload well the first half of the season, even with set-up men Ben Joyce and Robert Stephenson missing virtually every game this season. The 37-year-old won American League Reliever of the Month for July even with 62 other MLB relievers throwing more innings than him in that time. However, Jansen is ramping up in a major way since the Angels' playoff chances are pretty much out the window, and every game is more important than the last here in August.

The Angels' closer is one of 16 relief pitchers with six or more appearances out of the bullpen since August 9th. Jansen looked like Iron Man when he pitched in all three games of the Angels' sweep against his former team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, he has looked gassed in his last two outings against the A's and Reds, which he is now attributing to a malady of some sort. He already has thrown more pitches in August than he did in July and April.

Unlike many other closers in baseball, the Angels rarely deploy Jansen in non-save situations. The potential future Hall of Famer is attempting to bolster his CV via racking up saves in Anaheim, and in order to preserve him the team tries to use the non-Jansen relievers as much as possible. However, the season is hanging in the balance and Jansen is now being run out to the mound more and more. Well, both the closer and the team are leaking in a major way and things are looking worse than ever for both entities.

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