도서관에 책반납할일이 있어서 컴터를 잠깐 사용하러 왔다가 호프만의 소식이 있어서 깜짝놀랐네요.




▲ 방어율이 전년도에 비해 0.8정도 상승하긴 했지만 나쁘지 않았는데
   400만불에 이런 마무리 쓰기가 쉽지 않을 터..

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=116034


▲커리어의 거의 전부를 샌디에고에서 보냈었던 그가 이번에 본인의사와 다르게 떠나야 할지도 모른다는군요.
http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?playerID=116034&statType=2



구단주의 재산분할 때문에 한창 시끄러운 샌디에고에서 피비,그린에 이어서 호프만까지도

작별을 고할것이라는 소식이 있네요.

얼마전 호프만이 구단주와 직접대화를 하겠다는 말도 있어서 앞으로의 갈길을 의논하는 정도로 될줄 알았더니.

완전 팀을 바꿀려나 보네요. 얼핏 들리는 인터넷 기사로는 케빈타워스 단장이 문자메세지로 작별의 메세지를

보냈다는 이야기도 있고... 400만불에 재계약도 어렵다니 참 ...하네요.

파드레스가 다음시즌에 마무리를 누구로 하고, 리빌딩을 어떻게 할지 귀추가 주목되네요.


<원문>

11/14/08 8:22 PM ES

Hoffman wanted to stay, ready to move

Set free by Padres, but not about to retire, 'I don't have any other options'

With the free-agency signing period open in earnest on Friday, Trevor Hoffman said that he's ready to move on after his break up this week with the Padres.
"I'm absolutely open to anything," Hoffman, the all-time leader with 554 saves, said in a phone interview with MLB.com. "National League, American League, just something that's a good fit in a number of arenas. A lot of it is going to depend on what teams come into play."

Hoffman said his chances of returning to the Padres are "not even 99-1" after the club last weekend pulled a one-year, $4 million deal with a 2010 club option off the table.

Now he's in uncharted territory. It's the first time in his career that he's facing free agency perhaps without San Diego as an option.

Three years ago, Hoffman went through tumultuous negotiations with the Padres, but in the end he decided to stay put for what turned out to be a three-year deal worth $21 million. The Indians, who may be suitors again, offered him $11 million more over the same period. Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro said during last week's GM Meetings in Dana Point, Calif., that he'd talk to the 41-year-old right-hander if he doesn't return to the Padres. And now that it seems to have come to pass, the Indians already have been in contact with Hoffman's Los Angeles-based agents.

Hoffman knows he's facing a market flooded with relievers such as Francisco Rodriguez, Kerry Wood, Brian Fuentes, Brandon Lyon and Eric Gagne.

"But I think there's a place for a guy like me who will not be able to command what some of the big boys are going to get," Hoffman said. "It's an opportunity for somebody to take a chance. I'm not going to discredit what I can do, but I understand the limitations that I might have. I can't compare to a 27-year-old. Let's put it that way."

He also knows the list of teams that are looking: the Mets, Brewers, Angels, Indians, Cardinals, Rays and Tigers, among others.

The Mets, who lost Billy Wagner at the end of this past season and for all of 2009 because of Tommy John surgery on his left elbow, are probably eying Rodriguez high above Hoffman's pay grade. K-Rod, 26, set the single-season record for the Angels this past season with 62 saves in 69 opportunities.

But the remainder of the field is wide open. With his San Diego tenure seemingly at an end, Hoffman said that where he plays next will be a pragmatic, non-emotional decision.

"In the past my heart strings were getting tugged because I always wanted to stay in San Diego," said Hoffman, who saved 30 games in 34 attempts for a team that lost 99 games this past season. "I had to look at other offers and then put them against the Padres' offer. This time there's no connection with anybody and I'm not dealing with San Diego. It's definitely a different approach to the free-agent process."

The irony of all this is that Hoffman said Friday that he was willing to take the Padres' initial offer before it was taken out of play. What certainly may be a 16-year, Hall-of-Fame career in San Diego seems to have ended with a fax to his agent Rick Thurman, stating that the Padres had decided to go in another direction. GM Kevin Towers restated that intention when the two finally connected via phone while Hoffman was in Puerto Rico on a promotional tour earlier this week.

Hoffman said he wanted a meeting with owner John Moores before signing simply to discuss the direction of the team and a possible personal services contract with the organization once he retires from active play.

That never came about. And while Hoffman was waiting for a response to that request, Sandy Alderson, the team's chief executive, pulled the offer off the table, saying it had been out there too long without Hoffman responding to it.

"This is not going to be rancorous," Hoffman said. "I'm not depressed. I'm just disappointed how this played out. I think they must have gotten the sense that I was ready to take the deal. I figured I wasn't going to get that much better an offer somewhere else. Is it really much more after taxes? Is it worth moving the family? I wanted to remain a Pad. I might not have seen this team win, but I'll at least have known the kids coming. I'd have been playing with them. But that's when they ripped it off the table."

Now that seems to be all behind him.

And if Hoffman gets more than a one-year contract as a free agent to play elsewhere, he's ready to do what was once the unthinkable: move his wife and four boys somewhere else in the country where he can play at least two more years and record his 600th save.

Hoffman said from a selfish standpoint that the 600 plateau is significant to him. But more important now is Hoffman finding another place to play baseball with a team that could have a chance to win.

"I know I'm taking a chance," he said. "It's not going to look good if I don't finish my career up very well someplace else. There's a risk there. But I also really don't want to retire. So I don't have any other options. At this point in time I can put myself with a ballclub that has a little bit better chance of winning next year. I have to seek that out."

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081114&content_id=3680469&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd