Hells Bells in Los Angeles?
January 7, 2009 at 6:29 am | Posted in Angel Berroa, Jason Johnson, Jonathan Broxton, Trevor Hoffman | 13 CommentsNot that this isn’t an idea that hasn’t already been kicked around for months, but Yahoo’s Tim Brown says that the Dodgers have actually acted upon it…
The Los Angeles Dodgers have offered Trevor Hoffman a one-year contract with a club option for 2010, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
Hoffman, the all-time saves leader, also has discussed a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers, and is likely to have received a formal offer from them, as well.
Discarded by the San Diego Padres, Hoffman is thought to prefer Southern California, having spent 15 ½ of his 16 big-league seasons in San Diego.
Now, let me say this: I don’t believe the Dodgers need a closer, at least not in the sense that they need a starting pitcher or needed to get rid of Andruw Jones. Despite the likely losses of Joe Beimel & Takashi Saito and the already-gone Chan Ho Park, the Dodgers still return their top three relievers in terms of WXRL – Cory Wade, Hong-Chih Kuo, and Jonathan Broxton. Not only that, Ramon Troncoso (who was adequate in his time up last year) is tearing up winter ball (2.25 ERA, 11/1 K/BB in 16 innings) and youngsters Scott Elbert and James McDonald, who both showed flashes in their limited time in the bigs in 2008, are each likely to contribute. Yeah, losing Saito hurts, but no one knows if he’s healthy anyway, and the club was successful without him for most of last year as it was. The point is, the Dodgers pen is strong, and despite the unfounded worry over Broxton as the closer, doesn’t require a major upgrade.
That said, make no mistake – even though closer isn’t a huge need in my book, it’s never a bad idea to upgrade the bullpen if the price and situation is right. Trevor Hoffman might be 41 years old, and he might be coming off his highest ERA since 1995, but he’s still got it. In yet another example of why ERA isn’t always a foolproof method of evaluation, note that despite his ERA jumping nearly a full run between 2007-08 to 3.88, his WHIP decreased markedly (his 3rd lowest in the last 8 years, and actually lower than his career average) and his K rate jumped back up to one per inning. Even better, he got stronger as the season went on, which is always a worry for old players. After a lousy first half (5.08 ERA) he was dominant after the break, allowing just 10 hits in 17 innings for a 1.59 ERA. Oddly enough, unlike every other San Diego pitcher ever, he was much more successful away from PetCo Park.
As I said, I think the bullpen would be just fine without Hoffman, and I have confidence that Broxton can get the job done. But I’d be more than happy to add Hoffman and push everyone back. Then you’ve got Broxton being the best setup man in the league, and Wade & Kuo being a deadly 1-2 punch that you can insert whenever you need. How great does that top 4 sound, and we haven’t even gotten to Troncoso, Elbert & McDonald yet?
So let’s get this done. There’s no word on whether Milwaukee’s offer is superior, but unless they’re not even close, it shouldn’t matter. Hoffman’s a SoCal native, even before pitching for San Diego, and has stated he’d prefer to stay near home. Add in that his brother Glenn is a former Dodger player and coach, and that the Dodgers are much better positioned to compete in the weak NL West than the Brewers (sans Sabathia and Sheets) are against the Cubs in the Central, and there’s no downside here. Besides, throwing a few more dollars at Hoffman would save the club money in arbitration hearings with Broxton, because set-up men never get paid as much as closers with fancy save totals, regardless of how good they are. In addition, just like how we enjoyed having Greg Maddux around for our young starters, perhaps Hoffman could teach Broxton that devastating changeup, which would make him completely unstoppable.
Besides, how great would it be to kick Padre fans while they’re down by taking the second best player in team history away from them?
***In other news, let’s thank the New York Yankees for taking out our trash. Not only did they sign Jason Johnson, who was unlikely to return anyway, they saved us from the looming spector of Angel Berroa 2: Electric Boogaloo by signing him too. Guys, why stop there? Mark Sweeney and Pablo Ozuna are still out there lurking, and I’d love to know they’re contractually barred from resigning with the Blue.
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The LA Times states that our 1-year offer to Hoffman exceeds the $4 million offered by the Pads to resign him in November.
I have to agree, when you get tag-teamed by Kuo & Wade, along with OX acting as fluffer to Hoffman’s money-shot, I think we’d have a kick-ass pen, to say the least.
Comment by GIBBY'S LIMP — January 7, 2009 #
“along with OX acting as fluffer to Hoffman’s money-shot”
Yep, I’m pretty sure this is why I got into the blogging business.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — January 7, 2009 #
Hoffman would be a great signing for the Dodgers. Anytime you can add to a team strength without killing the team chemistry or checkbook it’s a good thing. I think Hoffman would like nothing more than to stick it to the Padres by getting 5-7 saves against his former team. He won’t get that kind of opportunity in Milwaukee.
Comment by Kevin M — January 7, 2009 #
MSTI, Tell me you are not serious!?!? How can you not hate this guy!?!? 16 season of absolutely dominating the Dodgers, that damn music meaning the game was over every visit to San Diego.
The only single good thing I can remember about the guy is the day the Blue blew him up for back-to-back homers on the way to four straight. That game was sweet — but you can’t tell me that it wasn’t even sweeter because it came against Hoffman.
If we do sign him, and he makes us better, that’s great. But I will still boo his ass like crazy when he walks out of the bullpen. Screw that guy. 16 years! 16 Years of kicking out ass! Crimony! Have we forgotten this?!?!
Comment by VegasBlue — January 7, 2009 #
4 – that’s another good reason. If he’s on the team, he can’t be kicking our asses!
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — January 7, 2009 #
With Hoffman on the Dodgers, he would be loving our ass.
Comment by Tripon — January 7, 2009 #
Yeah, but he was never an asshole to Dodger fans like Bonds was. Or somebody else.
He was just good, so it’s hard to hate him for that. Also, hopefully he would be good for us.
Comment by kensai — January 8, 2009 #
So what does it say about the Doyers when they can’t win a $6 bid for a HOF’er who has pitched in So Cal his entire career? He would rather pitch for the freaking Brewers? It is a sad day in La La land when the brewers are a bigger draw than they doyers. I wonder why Manny is so slow to accept a doyer offer? Maybe he is praying some other team with a chance to go deep in the playoffs will make a run at him??? Maybe the brewers should make him an offer?
Comment by Doyer Hater — January 9, 2009 #
If you’re going to be a troll, at least be fun! You’re just boring us.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — January 9, 2009 #
Come on MSTI – yer troll is pretty good for a Gnats fan. Not funny or interesting or anything, but pretty good for a Gnats fan.
As I read elsewhere, Trevor was a “need” for the Brew-hahs, but more a luxury for the Dodgers.
Comment by kennerbuggy — January 9, 2009 #
I have given you ample opportunities to show off your cunning literary ability and knowledge of big blue, but I have yet to see you do much more than try to dismiss me with a lame one liner. You seem to represent the doyers very well as several teams in the west will do the same to them over 162 glorious games this coming season. Lame one liners won’t win games and neither will this team without major changes. Please just face facts, this team has an owner that isn’t in the top half in baseball. He doesn’t want to win, he won’t spend and has turned a classy organization into ruins. Much like your reference to Mike Sciosica in your URL, this loss was the beginning of the end for the doyers. They lost sight of what made them a quality organization. Pitching, home grown prospects, great ownership, home grown coaches and a quality free agent here or there to pull it all together. What has old Frank done to earn doyer fan respect except try to make the team into Red Sox West? Well that time is done now with grady, nomar and lowe all departed, so what is next? Please entertain us all with your thoughts on the future while my team pounds you and the rest of MLB into the ground…and no, I am about the farthest thing from a Giants fan…not even close.
Comment by Doyer Hater — January 11, 2009 #
So, why so afraid to say what team you do pull for then?
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — January 12, 2009 #
[...] he could either get a hold or blow it. The Dodgers actually tried to hedge their bets on this by offering Trevor Hoffmann a contract to come in and be the [...]
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