pods fax a goodbye letter to hoffman

Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:31 pm EST

You stay classy, San Diego: Padres fax a good-bye to Hoffman
By David Brown
They say divorce hurts the children the most.

Trevor Hoffman hasn't been a kid since the mid-'80s, but the very adult business of the San Diego Padres cutting salary, which apparently is tied to the team's owner splitting with his wife, has kicked baseball's career saves leader to the curb.

Several news outlets (among them, the San Diego Union-Tribune, ESPN's Buster Olney and MLB.com) are reporting the Padres have rescinded a contract offer to Hoffman, a free agent, who has piled up all but two of his 554 saves with the Padres since 1993. (He had a couple with the Marlins.)

The Padres say they're slashing expenditures, most notably by trying to trade ace Jake Peavy, probably to the Braves or Cubs, and further scorching the Earth by pushing away Hoffman, the indisputable face of the franchise.

And, get this: The Padres informed Hoffman not in person with a one-on-one conversation, or a hand-written note, or even with a phone call

Instead, they sent his reps a fax.

Hells bells, now that's class.

General manager Kevin Towers, who is stuck in the middle, won't comment other than to confirm the Pads have yanked the 1-year, $4-million offer (plus a $4 million-club option for 2010) to Hoffman. He earned $7.5 million in 2008.

Hoffman had said he wanted to speak with owner John Moores, personally, to gauge where the organization was headed before he considered taking a pay cut.

He got his answer, albeit impersonally.

"Trevor is upset with the way they've handled the situation," one of Hoffman's agents said.

Hoffman's actually been with the club longer than Moores, who came on the scene in 1994 right after the previous ownership blew up the roster to make it more appealing, supposedly, for a new owner.

Hoffman saved 30-of-34 opportunities in 2008, when he made $7.5 million. His 3.77 ERA was his highest since 1995, though it was only 2.39 after June 1. Hoffman, who's 41, did have his lightest workload since 2003, when he had rotator cuff surgery.

He'll be somebody else's closer now.

about as shady as the mets firing their manager in the middle of the night....classless

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: burton2019</div><div class="ubbcode-body">about as shady as the mets firing their manager in the middle of the night....classless </div></div>
it wasnt the middle of the night

they were on the west coast which is 3 hours behind NY time

they fired him after the game which was at about 10:40pm pacific time

it would have been like canning him after a game at home.....it would have been done before the 11:00 news

hardly the middle of the night

"it wasnt the middle of the night

they were on the west coast which is 3 hours behind NY time

they fired him after the game which was at about 10:40pm pacific time"
10:40 is what....1:40 normal time? And you know they made the call in the 9th inning. Yeah, 1:40 am is the middle of the night, it is even getting close to lunch for us. On this, the Mets sucked. They should have mailed a letter, at least the postman might have gotten things right.

it was 10:40 LOCAL time for where they were playing

i have no problem with that at all

i would have had more of a problem if they let him go back to the hotel and sleep only to wake up and can him when he showed up to the ballpark the next morning and not had given the new coaches coming from AAA a chance to get there prior to the game the next day which is what would have happened if theyw anited until he woke up the next morning at 7 or 8 am PST......which would have been 10-11 in NYC

i have no problem with them handling it that way

teams dont have to conform to the time of their local media before making personel moves

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BlueWahooChambor</div><div class="ubbcode-body">it was 10:40 LOCAL time for where they were playing

i have no problem with that at all

i would have had more of a problem if they let him go back to the hotel and sleep only to wake up and can him when he showed up to the ballpark the next morning and not had given the new coaches coming from AAA a chance to get there prior to the game the next day which is what would have happened if theyw anited until he woke up the next morning at 7 or 8 am PST......which would have been 10-11 in NYC

i have no problem with them handling it that way

teams dont have to conform to the time of their local media before making personel moves



</div></div> And no one really cares about the Mets.

haha...excuses!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: burton2019</div><div class="ubbcode-body">haha...excuses! </div></div>
wrong

lets look at this logically

they were going to can willie and some of his staff

they couldnt do it during the middle of the game

they needed time to make sure they could get their new coaches in for the next day and waiting until the morning in cali would have been too late

if they wait until the morning in NYC then they do wake up willie during the "middle of the night" in cali.......but hey its morning in NYC so its cool right?

after the game was the best time for them to tell him he was getting canned

it was only the middle of the night as far as NYC was concerned

it was merely the end of the game in cali.....which is where the team was

They could have done it before the road trip the day before too couldn't they?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 722</div><div class="ubbcode-body">They could have done it before the road trip the day before too couldn't they? </div></div>
if they had decided to file him then......yes

but they say the decision wasnt made until the road trip

RRRIIIGGHHTT. So if they had won that game do you think they would have let him coach another game? yes they would have. They was waiting till he lost, and was glad it happened on the left coast so it would delay being on the NY Times and etc another day.

he should have been fired after that first miserable road trip with that miserable series against the padres

omar didnt travel with the team for that trip because the mets management was meeeting in NY to decide his fate and come up with a gameplan regarding replacements, etc..........the day omar flew otu there he got canned

i dont think it would have mattered much if they won that night or not