Hoffman lowballed?

[Tavish]

Honestly I could care less who is better right now. If I am going to drop anything close to $10 million per season on a guy who only pitches 70 innings a season what I care about the likelyhood he will still be this good in '08. The Yankees can only bail GMs out so many bad contracts.

[DK]

I agree with the people who say wagner and ryan (he's actually 29) are better pitchers right now. Wagner and Ryan are just more dominating pitchers and that's what managers and fans like to see from closers. When closers can get that k it's exciting. Aside from that, it can bail pitchers out of trouble. And with Hoffman giving up more hits lately and getting less k's it'll be harder from him to bail himself out. One thing I don't understand is that Hoffman could be considered a better pitcher than Wagner. Put the saves aside. Who's been more dominant over their career? It's Wagner.

Wagner

IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA
630.1 409 182 168 59 217 840 2.40 0.99 .183


Hoffman

IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA
822.1 627 280 252 74 237 915 2.76 1.05 .208

The Padres should sign Hoffman no matter what though because it sounds like he's fan favorite, but there's no way I'd take him over Wagner or Ryan.

I agree that Wagner's a better pitcher right now but you're comparing two different beasts. Hoffman's gone through the decline phase of his career, Wagner's at his peak. A comparison of Hoffman and Wagner up to the age of 30 (31? Whatever age Wagner is now) would be more relevant.

Wagner's no young guy in his "prime." He's 34.

Granted Mariano Rivera did have a career year at 35, but Wagner at 34 is more relevant than you're making it out to be.

My mistake. I thought Wagner was younger. Regardless, there is a 4 year difference in age between the two, which is significant (although not as significant as I had originally thought.)

[baseball6791]

Hoffman is an incredible closer, one of the best, but regardless of that, he is not what he was at his peak. Is he the best available FA RP? Maybe. Is he the best value? Probably not. Is he the best option for the Padres organization? Yes. As much as I would like to see him leave the NL West, Hoffman is the Padres. I would have a hard time believing you if the first player that came to mind when you heard "Padres" wasn't Hoffman (exculding Tony Gwynn). Hoffman is their star and it would be a big hit to the Padres fan base (and as a result their bottom line) if they let Hoffman go.