FanPost

Trevor Hoffman Leads All-Time Arbitrary Stat

I know it's not Phils, but it's baseball and I would think it'd start a good discussion.  Here's something I wrote a day or two ago:

That's right, Trevor Hoffman got his 479th career save last night to pass former Saint Louis Cardinal Lee Smith (now 2nd on the list). And this means...not fucking much. It means he's stuck around long enough and he's been the Padres `closer' for a long time, but the stat itself is crap. Is the last 3 outs of a game any more important than the first 24? Maybe only because it's the `last chance' to score, but then that's only because baseball itself has put such arbitrary importance on it.

Hoffman is one of the best relievers ever, has a great career ERA, WHIP, K per 9, and hasn't given up many homers or walks. The guy's a great reliever, pitcher, and will be a hall-of-famer. But it shouldn't be because of he was able to hold some 3 run leads. Hell, a save is technically acquired if one goes the last 3 innings in a 9 run game. It's just inconsequential. Derrick Turnbow has a 6.71 ERA and 1.66 WHIP and 24 saves this year. Todd Jones has a 4.20 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and only 23 Ks in 59.1 innings and yet has 36 saves for the Tigers. If you're on a winning ballclub and you're the closer, you're going to get 30-40 saves no problem.  A reliever that can't save 15 games by holding onto a3 run lead for one inning shouldn't be on your team anyway.
But Trevor Hoffman is a beast. We don't know that by the saves total other than he's had so many over his career so he must be good enough to stay designated as a `best reliever' on the Padres...but ERA, WHIP, Ks, BBs, HRs, etc. all show that he's been damn good.

Huge Tiny Mistake