MILWAUKEE — Trevor Hoffman, baseball’s all-time saves leader who spent the last two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, announced his retirement Tuesday.
An official announcement will come Wednesday in San Diego.
Hoffman finished his 18-year career with 601 saves, 42 more than New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who is still active. Hoffman, 43, told MLB.com that he will take a front-office job with the San Diego Padres, where he spent 16 seasons before signing with the Brewers.
"It’s time to retire. It’s time to move on," Hoffman told MLB.com. "This is more of a self-evaluation. I expect to pitch at a certain level and I had to be honest with myself that I wasn’t certain I could maintain that anymore."
Hoffman has reason to believe that.
After making the all-star team in 2009 and finishing that year with 37 saves and a 1.83 earned-run average, Hoffman nose-dived in 2010. He blew five of his first 10 save chances as the Brewers plummeted in the standings and he finished with only 10 saves and a 5.89 ERA.
He eventually lost his closing job to John Axford but recorded his 600th save Sept. 8 at Miller Park, a milestone he said was important to him.
The Brewers offered Hoffman arbitration for the 2011 season, knowing he would decline in a gentlemen’s agreement. As a Class B free agent, if Hoffman had decided to sign with another team, the Brewers would have received a supplemental first-round pick in the next draft.
Hoffman said he wanted to continue playing only if he could close again. A few teams kicked his tires, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, but nothing materialized.
"We weren’t sure whether he was going to sign with Arizona with (former Padres general manager) Kevin Towers there or with San Diego to finish his career," Brewers GM Doug Melvin said Tuesday from the organization’s scouting meetings in Arizona. "We didn’t really expect it. If we got the pick it would be nice to have.
"If you look back over his body of work for us the last two years, it was pretty good. It was a rough three weeks at the start of last year, but if you look at the year before, he had an outstanding year. He gave us reason to believe he’d do it again last year."
Hoffman’s work ethic and his daily workouts with his bullpen mates became famous around Brewer Nation and the front office. Melvin also praised his leadership within the clubhouse.
"His work ethic, his character, his leadership," Melvin said. "Pitchers will look up to other pitchers, but he was one that both pitchers and position players looked up to. Position guys looked up to Trevor Hoffman as much as they would with any positional player. That’s not usually the case, but with Trevor it was.
"We talked today (in our meetings) and we hope our young bullpen learned something from him."
Report dates: Major League Baseball announced the formal schedule of workout dates for spring training, for both pitchers and catchers as well as full squads.
The Brewers’ first workout for pitchers and catchers at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix will be Thursday, Feb. 17. The first full-squad workout will be Tuesday, Feb. 22.
An official announcement will come Wednesday in San Diego.
Hoffman finished his 18-year career with 601 saves, 42 more than New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who is still active. Hoffman, 43, told MLB.com that he will take a front-office job with the San Diego Padres, where he spent 16 seasons before signing with the Brewers.
Hoffman has reason to believe that.
After making the all-star team in 2009 and finishing that year with 37 saves and a 1.83 earned-run average, Hoffman nose-dived in 2010. He blew five of his first 10 save chances as the Brewers plummeted in the standings and he finished with only 10 saves and a 5.89 ERA.
He eventually lost his closing job to John Axford but recorded his 600th save Sept. 8 at Miller Park, a milestone he said was important to him.
The Brewers offered Hoffman arbitration for the 2011 season, knowing he would decline in a gentlemen’s agreement. As a Class B free agent, if Hoffman had decided to sign with another team, the Brewers would have received a supplemental first-round pick in the next draft.
Hoffman said he wanted to continue playing only if he could close again. A few teams kicked his tires, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, but nothing materialized.
"We weren’t sure whether he was going to sign with Arizona with (former Padres general manager) Kevin Towers there or with San Diego to finish his career," Brewers GM Doug Melvin said Tuesday from the organization’s scouting meetings in Arizona. "We didn’t really expect it. If we got the pick it would be nice to have.
"If you look back over his body of work for us the last two years, it was pretty good. It was a rough three weeks at the start of last year, but if you look at the year before, he had an outstanding year. He gave us reason to believe he’d do it again last year."
Hoffman’s work ethic and his daily workouts with his bullpen mates became famous around Brewer Nation and the front office. Melvin also praised his leadership within the clubhouse.
"His work ethic, his character, his leadership," Melvin said. "Pitchers will look up to other pitchers, but he was one that both pitchers and position players looked up to. Position guys looked up to Trevor Hoffman as much as they would with any positional player. That’s not usually the case, but with Trevor it was.
"We talked today (in our meetings) and we hope our young bullpen learned something from him."
Report dates: Major League Baseball announced the formal schedule of workout dates for spring training, for both pitchers and catchers as well as full squads.
The Brewers’ first workout for pitchers and catchers at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix will be Thursday, Feb. 17. The first full-squad workout will be Tuesday, Feb. 22.
Photo by AP (File)
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