Is Trevor Hoffman a Hall of Fame Player?

Didn't think it was that complicated.

Basically, a 3.00 ERA in the dead ball era isn't as valuable as a 3.00 ERA in the middle of the steroid era. This is just a quick and simple comparison of ERA to league average ERA.

 

I'm torn on this. Yes, Trevor Hoffman's save totals and other overall numbers are Hall of Fame-caliber. But his track record in big games was simply horrible. Even closers like Jonathan Papelbon or Robb Nenn who had a fraction of Hoffman's shelf life were more trustworthy in big games.

What makes Mariano Rivera so special is not just his overall stats and longevity, but the fact that he was even more dominant in the playoffs than in the regular season. Hoffman matches Rivera's longevity but can't begin to compare to Rivera's big game track record.

I suppose you put Hoffman in eventually, but maybe on his 4th or 5th attempt.

 

He did blow a lot of big saves; heck, he even blew an All-Star Game one year. That said, he deserves to be in.

And in the for-what-it's-worth category, he's a prince of a guy. I approached him before a Padres road game one time -- after he did his running, well before BP, in the outfield on a 90-degree day -- and he couldn't have been a more willing, expansive interview subject. And he didn't know me at all, either, something that tends to be a big issue with major league players.

Again, that means nothing in terms of the discussion here. But it meant a lot to me on that particular day.

 

Nobody was or has been in any hurry to get him in.

 

How the hell many big games did the Padres have to blow? I remember the one in Milwaukee to Tony Gwynn, Jr., but usually they were out of the hunt way earlier than that, except for when he did help carry them to the pennant in '98.

 

ERA+ is a really good stat. It gives historical context to, say, Bob Gibson's 1968 ERA of 1.12 in the Year of the Pitcher (Gibson's ERA+ was 258) vs. Pedro Martinez's 2000 ERA of 1.74 in the Steroid Era (Martinez's ERA+ was 291 ... greatest of all-time in the modern era).

 

Joe Pos tweets: "Trevor Hoffman press conference should start without him, Hells Bellls plays, he enters for last 3 questions, calls it a career."

 

No. Absolutely not.

But I'll back up MoCheeks on the great guy comment. Couldn't have been nicer to me when I was a complete zero. Wait, was?

 

He's no Curtis Martin.

 

A friend of mine was a Padres coach. He said Hoffman was just about the best guy he's ever met. One game he got lit up, blew a save, blew the game. After answering every question, he iced, then spent a half hour pitching wiffle ball to teammates' kids in the wives room.

 

Not to sound like spnited here, but who the hell needs ERA+ to know how historically great Gibson and Martinez were? Particularly with Martinez. We all saw it with our own eyes. He took on the biggest and most grotesquely swollen hitters in the history of the game and ate them up.

 

You fucking got that right, asshole!!!!!