While he hasn’t played for the Padres in a while, long time closer and the all time saves leader, Trevor Hoffman, retired this week. Hoffman was picked up by the Marlins in their expansion draft and he was traded to the Padres in a deal that included a young Gary Sheffield. He became the full time closer in 1994 and that’s the job he held until he was cut loose back in 2008. He’s a seven time All-Star and he’s the all time leader in saves (601) and games finished (856). He’s also fifth all time in strikeout rate (9.361 per nine innings) and he’s seventh all time in hits per nine innings (6.990).
He had a nice comeback year in 2009 with the Brewers but he struggled in 2010. While I’m disappointed to see him go, I’m also happy he’s not going to drag things out and have another bad year if he’s not in top pitching form. Now we’ll get to discuss his Hall of Fame candidacy in a few years.
