There will be a day when Trevor Hoffman is inducted into the Hall of Fame, after finishing his career with more saves than any pitcher in baseball history, and the cap on his bronzed plaque will naturally bear the insignia of the Padres. He played the past 16 seasons for that team, and beyond his All-Star-caliber success, he has always been well-liked and well-respected by teammates and fans in San Diego for his affability, for his accountability, for his willingness to help.
He lives in San Diego County, and given his personality, it would have seemed natural for Hoffman to return to Petco Park after he retired, year after year, to be introduced to the strains of "Hell's Bells" as he walked out to throw out a first pitch. It would have seemed natural for him to have a relationship with the Padres like the longstanding relationship that Stan Musial has had with the Cardinals.
But his departure from the team, sealed when the Padres withdrew their offer on Monday, was so ugly that it is now unclear whether his relationship with the team will be repaired. This much is for sure:
He will never pitch for the Padres again. "That door is totally closed," said Rick Thurman, Hoffman's agent.
It is closed from the Padres' side -- and from Hoffman's perspective, as well.
"Trevor is upset with the way they've handled the situation," Thurman said.
That the Padres will not re-sign Hoffman is not necessarily a surprise -- probably not even to Hoffman. He is 41 years old and in the twilight of his career. This past season, scouts say, his velocity was the lowest they have seen. At some point, the Padres were going to identify a new closer (and going forward, it appears that it will be
Heath Bell).
But in early September, it appeared that the Padres would bring back Hoffman for another season. General manager Kevin Towers indicated to Thurman that an offer was forthcoming, and he spoke to Hoffman directly, in Milwaukee, during a road trip.
The offer did not come until Oct. 15, as it turned out, and it was for $4 million, or little more than half of what Hoffman made in 2008. Friends of Hoffman thought that the offer was a polite way of nudging the closer out the door -- a way for the Padres to maintain that they had tried to keep Hoffman, while knowing that the offer would not be acceptable.
The last negotiation between the Padres and Hoffman, after the 2006 season, had had some ugly moments, with palpable tension between Hoffman and Padres president Sandy Alderson. This time around, the Padres indicated that their $4 million offer was the best that they could do, so Hoffman asked Thurman to arrange a meeting -- with Alderson, Towers and owner John Moores. If Hoffman's time with the Padres was going to end, his feeling was that he wanted to hear it directly from the team's executives.
But the Padres declined to arrange the meeting, and this past Friday, the day after Thurman spoke publicly about Hoffman's desire for a face-to-face sit-down, Towers called Thurman and indicated to him that the Padres intended to withdraw the offer. The organization was upset, Towers told Thurman, that the details of Hoffman's offer had leaked out.
Hoffman, in Puerto Rico, again told Thurman that he wanted to arrange a meeting, with Alderson and Towers. He wanted to be told by Alderson, man to man, that the Padres were ending his time with the team.
The Padres' response: Towers told Thurman that the offer was withdrawn, the negotiation was over. He spoke to Hoffman over the phone Monday night.
Hoffman, who joined the Padres amid the team's 1993 fire sale, now departs during its 2008 fire sale, without having the meeting and the conversation that he wanted. After 16 years, the relationship between Hoffman and the Padres ended via cell phone.
Buster Olney
