Padres closer Trevor Hoffman blew his second save in six chances last night, denying Greg Maddux his 350th win. Hoffman is baseball's all-time saves leader.
ANTHONY: THE HALL OF FAME STANDARDS NEED TO BE HIGHER
Trevor Hoffman in the Hall of Fame? I say no way. On most of these HOF debates, I’m going to come down on the “no” side. I think there are two many people in the HOF as it is. Our standards have eroded year after year after year and now we have many, many very-good-but-not-great players in the Hall.
Who gets in the Hall? Glad you asked. Immortals. The greats. Not the very goods. Not the compilers. Longevity doesn’t do it for me.
Hoffman, the all-time saves leader, is very good at a very specialized job. For the most part. But he’s fallen apart almost every time he’s been in the postseason, or the All-Star Game, or the regular season when the Padres are three outs away from making the playoffs on the day after the regular season (2007).
If Hoffman had pitched in the American League, he probably wouldn’t be the all-time saves leader. But he is. So be it. Lee Smith didn’t get in when he was the all-time saves leader. The writers got that one right.
Vote no on Hoffman, brethren!
JIM: EAST COAST BIAS!
I'm always surprised when I hear people vehemently fall on the side of Not A Hall of Famer for Hoffman. Listen, I get it. The save is a bogus stat. You won't get an argument from me there. But that doesn't mean it's easy to, ah hem, compile 528 of those saves.
If it was easy, then Mel Rojas would have done it.
But, hey, I agree with you on longevity. The Hall of Fame should be about immortals, not the guys who hung around to have a great career. Even before the positive drug test, I didn't think Rafael Palmeiro was a Hall of Famer. And he's the perfect example of a number compiler.
But Hoffman is the real deal. We're spoiled here with Mariano Rivera. Yes, no one compares to Rivera. But Hoffman is one small notch before him, maybe the third best reliever of all-time if you put Eck in that category. And Hoffman definitely deserves major props for doing it this long.
A career 2.77 ERA... a 1.05 WHIP... 1,017 strikeouts all coming as a reliever. And spare me the 'he came up weak in big spots.' Yes, he did. But so did Alex Rodriguez. Try that argument when A-Rod's on the ballot. Bottom line: Hoffman still does have a 3.20 ERA postseason ERA. So we're not talking 10.43 here.
This will be an interesting vote. I bet the writers will surprise you, Anthony.
Who do you agree with?
Comments (6)
Living out here, I would vote for Hoffman ... but only after some misgiving. That's because Anthony's right: Hoffman too often clutches in the clutch.
And Anthony's right about the standards (although Gossage's exclusion for so long bothered me). I could understand at one time the cases against Munson and Mattingly: I'm less inclined to accept those now, given what I see (and catchers no longer get any recognition for defensive play or handling pitching staffs).
I don't think he belongs. Even Billy Wagner is better, and I'd take Lee Smith in his prime over Hoffman.
But he'll probably get in because, by the numbers, he's ahead of Smith.
Now, if you want a really good debate, here's my thought. There are plenty of players in the HoF who don't really belong. Put a cap on membership -- say 300 players. Then, when you want to bring someone new in, you've got to decide whose plaque you take off the wall and put in storage.
Delaware, I love that idea. Then in addition to induction ceremonies, they can have ceremonies where they take people out. I love it!
Guys, I love these debates. Anthony, I agree with you 100%. It has become the Hall of Pretty Darn Good. Hoffman in the Hall? When is Dante Bichette's ceremony. But I have two other major grumbles that I'd love you two guys input.
1) How much better Did Gossage become over the last 14 years?? Did he strike out any more people or get any more wins/saves? This whole, for 13 years he wasn't a HOF and now he is is ridiculous. Either put standards on what a first ballot HOF is and so on or they should be put up once and thats it. Imagine if everyone said Gossage wasn't a HOF his first year, then he never would have been on the 2nd. I would have no problems saying only the elite should be voted on the first time, but they dont say that.
2) Media Bias. There is a person who was the most dominant player of his decade. Every year of his career but his rookie season he had 100 RBI's. 10 straight years of 100 RBI's. He also had some 150 RBI seasons and had 50 HR's and Doubles many times. Had his name been Don Mattingly or Kirby Puckett he'd be in without questions. But this person doesn't even get a sniff, and its not because of steroids (though he probably was juicing).
Who am I referring to?
Albert "Don't call me Joey" Belle?
And a big NO on Hoffman, not even if he gets to 600.
And Rieber, don't even get me started on Mike Mussina...
Sorry Rieber groupie...forgot to look at this. Yup, Albert "Don't stare at me because I'll think you're calling me Joey" Belle.