Jon Heyman tweets that Trevor Hoffman wants to pitch in 2011 if someone will give him a chance to close.
My first thought: what’s with him and Edgar Renteria? One ended 2011 on top, and the other ended 2011 well enough -- 600th save! -- to make everyone forget how much of a train wreck his year was, so why not just ride off into the sunset? The future is way more likely to hold an Apollo Creed/Ivan Drago beatdown for those guys than it is to hold a return to All-Star form.
My second thought -- and it wasn’t my thought: Gleeman told me I was being too hard on Hoffman based on his second half numbers -- is that things could theoretically work out for Hoffman. While all of those early-season blown saves caught our attention, his second half -- a 2.66 ERA in 20.1 innings with 13 strikeouts, six walks and 15 hits -- was decent work. Decent enough to be worth a middle relief job, I’d say. If we wants one and would be willing to take middle relief money, that is.
But as a closer? If Heyman is right and that’s Hoffman’s prerequisite for returning, we’ve likely seen the last of him, because I can’t think of a team that would take that chance.