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Now that pitchers and catchers have reported, it’s officially baseball season.

Well, not quite.

We still have to make it through the end of the NHL and NBA season’s, as well as March Madness, which is always an exciting time of year.

However, it’s never too early to start talking baseball.  Furthermore, it’s never too early to start talking about the MLB hot stove and numerous trade rumors.

Spring training is in its early stages, so teams are still evaluating their rosters and determining what they have.  Still, there are a few players who could be on the move before teams break camp and head north for the summer.

Here are some of the latest updates.

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MLB Spring Training has only just started, but the MLB buzz is continuous. There is already buzz about mid-season trades to come. There’s also already buzz about the free agents after this season.

Albert Pujols and C.C. Sabathia will probably continue to dominate the MLB buzz. There are some other buzz stories past Pujols and Sabathia, though.

Here are some of the latest buzz in the MLB world.

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The Boston Red Sox agreed to terms with left-handed pitcher Dennys Reyes on a minor league deal earlier today.

Earlier this offseason, Reyes had a $1.1 million deal in line with the Phillies, before it was nixed for unknown reasons.

The 33-year old and 14-year major league veteran posted a 3-1 record, 3.55 ERA, and 1.45 WHIP in 59 appearances with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2010. He owns a 4.18 ERA and 1.55 WHIP over his lengthy career.

Reyes had primarily pitched in the National League before a three-year stint with the Minnesota Twins from 2006-2008. During that span, he appeared in 191 games (63.7 per season), and posted a 2.14 ERA and 1.27 WHIP.

Reyes joins the ranks of Hideki Okajima, Andrew Miller, Rich Hill, Felix Doubront, and Lenny DiNardo as likely competitors for one of the final two spots in the Red Sox bullpen, including the role of lefty-specialist.

The Red Sox bullpen, which was horrendous last season (4.24 ERA, 12th in AL), now has some much needed depth on the major league level and in the minors. Fans heard a lot of talk about Jonathan Papelbon and his eight blown saves last season, but much of his troubles could be considered a trickle-down effect from having little depth in the middle innings, where the Red Sox certainly lost the majority of their games.

As such, the Red Sox bullpen projects something like this for 2011:

Closer: Jonathan Papelbon

Set Up: Daniel Bard

Set Up: Bobby Jenks

Middle Relief: Dan Wheeler

Long Relief: Tim Wakefield

Lefty Specialist: TBD*

Final Spot: TBD*

*Hidecki Okajima, Andrew Miller, Rich Hill, Felix Doubront, Lenny DiNardo, Scott Atchison, Matt Fox, Matt Albers, Randy Williams, Michael Bowden all in competition for final two spots. Also, prospects Kyle Weiland and Alex Wilson could be ready by the middle of the season if need be.

Dan is a Boston Red Sox featured columnist. Follow him on twitter @danhartelBR.

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Jonathan Papelbon‘s recent “struggles” in Boston have been well documented. Between his increasing contact and walk rate, and his penchant to occasionally melt down in dramatic fashion, Papelbon looked (gasp) downright hittable at certain points during the 2010 season.

The results? A career high in ERA (3.90), WHIP (1.23), BB (28), HR (7), losses (7) and BS, ahem…Blown Saves (8). I still believe Papelbon is one of the best relievers in the game, but the fact that his yearly salary and peripheral stats are ballooning in direct proportion to each other doesn’t bode well for his future in Boston.

With plenty of late inning relief help (Bard, Jenks, Kyle Weiland, Alex Wilson) waiting in the wings, a cost-conscious organization like the Red Sox just isn’t going to tolerate such performances for such a hefty price tag beyond this season.

However, while Papelbon may be letting more batters on base, I’m not so sure it’s his control (hear me out). There’s one theory that I’ve had for awhile now that I’d like to share.

Essentially, I believe that Papelbon’s fastball is no longer as nasty as it once was. Because of this, he’s no longer able to blow the hitter away. He’s had to work harder to get batters out, and as a result, he’s struggled. It sounds simplistic, but allow me to explain further.

If you’re a Red Sox fan, you’ve seen what I mean. How many times have you seen Pap get into a full count, only to have fastball after fastball fouled away before Pap either walks the batter or surrenders a hit?

From 2006 to 2008, Papelbon appeared in 85 total bases loaded situations, an average of 28.3 per season. But from 2009-2010, Pap appeared in 88 total bases loaded situations, an average of 44 per year. It doesn’t take a mathematical whiz to see the increase.

Papelbon started his career with the ability to reach back into the upper 90s (I’m talking 97, 98 MPH). We would see a constant barrage of vicious, nearly unhittable fastballs on a nightly basis. Now, like many relievers, Papelbon doesn’t throw as hard as when he once came into the league. He’s more often in the 94 to 96 MPH range.

But he still throws his fastball the same way he did when he came into the league: with reckless abandon. That, coupled with the fact that his splitter all but disappeared in 2009 and was spotty at times in 2010 has yielded the negative spike in peripheral stats that I alluded to at the top of the article.

Pap got away with certain things earlier in his career that he no longer can get away with. While his fastball is generally fast, there’s not much more to it than that. It doesn’t cut, it doesn’t sink. It goes straight. Plain and simple.

The difference in a couple of miles per hour on a straight fastball in the major leagues is humongous. An elevated fastball at 98 MPH can still be effective if it misses its intended target by a few inches. Not so when it’s traveling (with no deception whatsoever), at 93, 94 or 95 MPH.

But, as you can probably tell by the title, the intended purpose of this diatribe isn’t to blame Papelbon’s decreased velocity for his struggles. I’m perfectly happy with the fact that his velocity just isn’t what it once was; virtually every big league pitcher goes through a dip in speed at some point in his career.

Rather, I have an issue with Pap’s lack of adjustment. He pitches the same way as when he came into the league…only he’s not the same pitcher that he was when he came into the league.

Granted, I still think he’s a very good pitcher, but one who could use a right smack upside the head. He’s got all the talent in the world, but hasn’t yet made the necessary changes that will lengthen his career and could one day put him in the same category as guys like Dennis Eckersley, Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera.

Allow me, if you will, to take another aside, and briefly examine Pap’s current repetoire. He throws a straight fastball, which I have already mentioned, as well as a splitter and a slider. His split is pretty good, even if it was a tad bit inconsistent last season. His slider, as far as I’m concerned, is some sort of ambiguous spinny-thing that he attempts to throw at the bottom of the zone. It’s horrendous, and he rarely throws it.

For all intents and purposes, Pap is a two-pitch pitcher: fastball and splitter. 

The fundamental design of the splitter is to throw it out of the strike zone. It’s most effective when it ends up out of the reach of the batter, preferably somewhere around his ankles. 

So, that leaves just one pitch that is designed to be thrown within the strike zone, his fastball. As I’ve already mentioned, his decreased velocity and lack of movement has made it rather hittable as of late. 

I’m a full believer that all of Papelbon’s problems stem ENTIRELY from the fact that he’s primarily a one (strike) pitch pitcher. Back in the day, when his fastball was in the upper 90s, it didn’t matter that he didn’t have a suitable complement to it. But it does now.

Think about it. Batters are getting deeper into counts with Papelbon than ever before (as I’ve already proved), because his fastball is no longer as deceptive. 

When a hitter works a full count with Pap, they are sitting on his fastball. His splitter poses little threat; a pitcher isn’t going to risk throwing a pitch that is designed to finish outside of the strike zone (his splitter) in fear of walking the hitter, especially if there are runners on base.

Since Papelbon’s splitter and fastball are now closer in velocity then they once were, his splitter is exponentially less effective. A splitter’s value is dependent upon a pitcher’s ability to set up the hitter for it with other commanding pitches. Since Pap’s fastball is no longer as commanding, the splitter is rendered less effective.

Because his splitter isn’t set up properly by his fastball, Papelbon ironically has to throw his fastball more, despite the fact it’s not as good as it once was. And because it’s not as good as it once was, he’s operating in more and more situations where runners are getting on base earlier into outings.

It’s just one vicious cycle that keeps repeating itself.

And, while Papelbon’s walks increased to a career high last season, I would argue that it’s not necessarily a decrease in control.

For instance, his K/9 last season was 10.2, right at his career average of 10.4, and his highest average since 2007. His 66 strike percentage was also par for the course (career average of 67 percent).

His 21 percent swinging strike ratio was actually his best mark since 2007, and his 24 percent balls in play ratio was right at his career average of 23 percent, and tied for his best mark since 2007. His line drive ratio was 19 percent, his lowest average since 2006.

I could keep going with the stats, but, essentially, they all point to one thing. In 2010, Papelbon was getting swings and misses and keeping the ball in play at a similar (or in some cases better) rate to what he’s done across his career.

So, I would not contend that it was inaccuracy that caused the upward trend in walks. Pap is pitching in the same fashion as in the rest of the career. But, (yes, again) his velocity has decreased and batters have started to figure him out.

As a result, he’s had to battle harder, and he’s presented himself with more scenarios to walk batters. I wouldn’t characterize his increase in walks as a result of wildness, rather a result of the fact that the game has become more of a mental grind than it ever has before.

It’s evident that Pap isn’t operating with the same ease of motion and unabashed swagger that defined his persona earlier in his career. He’s still confident as hell, but his struggles appear (at least to me) to have taken him down a notch.

So, finally, we get to the almighty question. Does Jonathan Papelbon need to add another pitch to his arsenal? I think he does.

I think he needs a second pitch that he can throw for strikes, something to distract hitters from his occasionally juicy fastball. 

Changing the eyeline of the hitters and keeping them off balance is one of the most important tools that a major league pitcher can utilize. Jonathan Papelbon’s fastball-splitter combination doesn’t do enough of that.

Unless Pap is going to severely improve his slider, I’d like to see him at least try to bring another pitch into the fold this spring. I’m not a pitching coach, but a fastball with movement (cut, two-seam), or an offspeed pitch (curve, change), could do him some good.

His fastball is no longer as deceptive, and subsequently so isn’t his splitter. The introduction of a third reliable pitch would completely change the dynamic of Jonathan Papelbon’s repertoire. Suddenly, he’s no longer as predictable. The effectiveness of all his pitches, his statistics, and the number of zeros in his contract next offseason will all significantly improve because of this.

It’s rare that we see relievers, especially of Jonathan Papelbon’s pedigree, add another pitch into the fold. I hold only small hopes that he attempts to do this, but I think it could completely revitalize his career if he did.

But then again, what do I know…right?

Dan is a Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics featured columnist. Follow him on Twitter @danhartelBR.

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The title of the article says it all, Red Sox Nation.  Let’s do this.  But first, a few quick ground rules:

Some of the players on this list played part of their careers for other teams, but only accomplishments in a Red Sox uniform will be considered.

The era a player played in will be factored in when considering all statistics.  Players’ numbers will be compared to their contemporaries, not just to players from other eras who played the same position.

Longevity counts, but the biggest factor will be how much a player stood out from the pack during the years they played in Boston.

A player must have played the majority of their career at a position (more games there than anywhere else) to be considered the best player at that position.

This list is meant to depict the best overall player at each position, not to build a functional baseball team.  There will be no attempt made to balance power and speed in the lineup, etc.

That should just about cover it.  It’s time to put together the Boston Red Sox All-Time Team.

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After the Toronto Blue Jays acquired power arm Frank Francisco from the Texas Rangers, it became a possibility that the Jays could run well into the season with a 13-man pitching staff.

Even though running eight relievers seems like the perfect insurance to a very young rotation, it begs one question: Even though there’s quantity, do the Jays have quality in their ‘pen?

Well, I thought, what better way to answer that question than to compare the Jays’ relief corps to those of their major competitors in the AL East, and those who are also thought to have solid relievers—the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox?

Answering the question won’t have the best answer due to the fact that injuries, slow starts, etc. will all have an effect on the bullpen’s seasons, but looking deep into the statistics should help us understand who is projected to have the stronger bullpen based on last season’s production from all the pitchers who are part of the three teams.

Boston Red Sox

Projected Bullpen: Bobby Jenks, Dan Wheeler, Matt Albers, Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, Tim Wakefield

Projected Bullpen Stat Line: 3.94 ERA, .245 BAA, 1.17 WHIP

The Red Sox bullpen can be considered a hit or miss type of relief team. If the team reaches even half its potential, their overall ERA will be much below 3.00, while teams will struggle to hit against them. However, if all their relievers play like last season or close to it, the above stat line is quite realistic.

Jonathan Papelbon will most likely start the season as closer, but if he falters, he will have two other pitchers just as capable in Bobby Jenks and Daniel Bard waiting.

The Sox will also have trouble with left-handed batting, as all their relievers—with the exception of Bard—had ERAs above 4.80 when pitching against lefties last season. They should specialize against righties.

New York Yankees

Projected Bullpen: Mariano Rivera, Rafael Soriano, Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, David Robertson, Pedro Feliciano

Projected Bullpen Stat Line: 3.00 ERA, .226 BAA, 1.21 WHIP

The Yankees most likely have the deepest pitching staff in baseball—in terms of the back end of it. Mariano Rivera will surely have yet another stellar season, while Rafael Soriano is another premier closer who will set up for the veteran. David Robertson is a fine complement to that fantastic duo.

However, when you look at the long-relieving options for the Yankees, well, there really aren’t any. Joba Chamberlain can be considered a long reliever, but his stamina has been questionable of late and can’t be fully relied on. Pedro Feliciano and Boone Logan are better suited as middle or late relief than long too.

The question remains, what happens when A.J. Burnett or Phil Hughes has his trademark “off night?” It’s a question the Yankees are hoping to answer with Chamberlain and perhaps some of their younger arms still in the minors, like Ivan Nova.

The Yankees should be fine when batting against lefties, as even though Soriano’s and Rivera’s strong sides are against righties, their BAAs vs. lefties are still quite respectable. Logan and Feliciano should also help shut down left-handed batting.

Toronto Blue Jays

Projected Bullpen: Octavio Dotel, Jason Frasor, Jon Rauch, Frank Francisco, Shawn Camp, Jesse Carlson, Casey Janssen, David Purcey

Projected Bullpen Stat Line: 3.70 ERA, .246 BAA, 1.30 WHIP

The Blue Jays don’t really have an electric-type arm like the Yanks and Sox have, but they do have something the other two don’t—reliability at both ends of the staff and on both sides of the ball. They will rely on Casey Janssen and Shawn Camp for long relief, while the rest will combine to form a solid middle and late relief team.

Toronto will also have some versatility in their relief team. Relievers Camp, Janssen, David Purcey and Jon Rauch will be able to pitch at both ends of the bullpen, while they will also specialize in certain roles.

Rauch may close for the team, while Carlson and Purcey will be relied on to shut down left-handed batting. Camp should be one of John Farrell’s go-to relievers, given his proven reliability.

Something the Jays don’t have is a sure-fire closer. They will have a bevy of relievers competing for the job, most notably Jon Rauch, Octavio Dotel and Frank Francisco. Others who will battle for the position include Jason Frasor and former All-Star Chad Cordero. However, they do have quantity at the position, so if anyone falters, there will always be a fallback option.

Conclusion

If you match up all the ‘pens against each other, the Yankees are the clear-cut winners based on stats. They have the best closer in the game, probably the best setup man in the game and one of the better left-handed specialists as well. Nonetheless, their long relief will remain a question, simply because of the known inconsistency their rotation will inevitably face.

The Red Sox are also strong at the closing position but will face some real struggles with left-handed batting. No one in their bullpen is really a specialist in terms of lefties. Also, despite completely cleaning the house of relievers in the free market this winter, the Red Sox still don’t have a reliable long relief option either. Most of their better relievers are suited for setup/closing roles.

The Jays, I think anyway, have the best bullpen of the three. Despite not having a sure-fire closer, they do have numerous reliable options at the position to fill in for the dominance the Sox and Yankees have at the position. The Jays also have numerous long relief options, which should pay dividends for a young rotation. The Jays are also strong on both sides of the plate, where the other two are only dominant on one side.

The Jays are committing a lot of money to their relief corps this season, and it should pay off well, as Toronto not only has quantity but has quantity too. This should put them a step ahead in terms of pitching vs. the Red Sox and Yankees.

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Does any other MLB fan find it weird when a team goes out and buys former superstars, seemingly anticipating that putting them back together will magically bring back the spark from seven years before?

It’s happening again this year, and it’s certainly not the first time that two World Series champions have played on entirely different teams together. It’s just weird to have it happen in the AL East and for it to not be the Yankees doing the purchasing.

Today it was announced that Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon (2004 World Series Champions) will be joining the recently depleted/farmed out Tampa Bay Rays. It’s not unrealistic that Tampa Bay would sign a few players (practicality says they needed to do so after losing the talent they let walk out the door over the offseason for nothing in return), but this is not the Tampa way.

As a Red Sox fan in Minneapolis, I take a lot of guff: “They’re just like the Yankees” tends to be the weapon of choice from the loyal Twins fans up here. I don’t understand the argument, and this latest move by the Rays emphasizes the point that I attempt to make every time I am forced to defend a contender in the AL East that doesn’t have the highest payroll. If you want to contend in a competitive division, money must be spent. The difference between the Red Sox and the Yankees, is the Red Sox spend money to keep talent, whereas the Yankees spend money to acquire talent.

In order to amass the team that Theo Epstein has over the last 10 years, talent acquisition had to take place, but talent retention and development also took place. I don’t see the same technique employed by the Yankees nor the Rays. After the 2007 World Series, the Red Sox had some decisions to make – they let Alex Gonzalez walk, but they retained staples (home-grown staples) like Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon, etc.

Of course, not all of the talent of the 2004 and 2007 squads was drafted and developed, Manny, Papi, Curt Schilling, ‘Tek and the gang were acquired through trades and free agency – but it was a balance.

The Yankees transaction history from this offseason alone could easily take an article to chronicle, but the song remains the same in New York – the core four plus the highest paid free agents of any given year.

I thought the Rays were more like the Red Sox (develop and retain) than the Yankees (catch and release, then buy). With these signings today, coupled with the exit of solid talent such as Carl Crawford and Rafael Soriano, I begin to wonder about the managerial know-how of their front office.

I’m not complaining mind you, as a Red Sox fan, I’d love to see Tampa and the hipster doofus that is Joe Maddon fall into last place where they belong, but it is sad to see a team that took the division from the Yankees last year (with one of the smallest payrolls in the league) go from the top to the bottom.

Perhaps it is too early to speculate, but given the performance of Manny and Johnny in 2010, I think it’s safe to say the 2011 Rays can only hope for the same outcome as the Red Sox of 2004 enjoyed.

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Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein has once again kept his record intact—he has never gone to an arbitration hearing with one of his players during his tenure as general manager of the Red Sox.

This afternoon, the Red Sox avoided arbitration with their center fielder and closer, coming to terms with Jacoby Ellsbury and Jonathan Papelbon on one-year deals that will keep the parties out of pending arbitration hearings.

The deal with Ellsbury was the first to be announced earlier today, followed a short time later by confirmation of the agreement with Pappy. Ellsbury, who earned just under one-half of a million dollars last year, will earn $2.4 million (the deal also contains incentives that will pay him an additional $50,000 for each of 600 and 700 plate appearances). Papelbon, who made $9.35 million last year, will earn $12 million.

This was Ellsbury’s first year of arbitration eligibility. It wasn’t necessarily the best time for him to head into arbitration, as he missed the majority of last year due to a succession of rib injuries.

It was Papelbon’s third shot at arbitration; but, as with Ellsbury, it wasn’t the best time for him to get in front of an arbitrator, as he had his worst season last year (he went 5-7, with 37 saves and a 3.90 ERA… but he also blew a career-high eight saves).

Pappy has settled his dispute in each of the three instances he has headed into the arbitration process, but he has previously made it abundantly clear that he intends to go through free agency next winter.

He has frequently said he wants to establish a record for highest contract ever given a reliever in free agency. Of course, that was before he blew Game 3 of the ’09 ALCS and then followed that up with the worst season of his career.

Today’s Papelbon deal didn’t set any records, but it came close – it’s the fourth-highest one-year deal in history for an arbitration-eligible player. The record also came today – a $15.5 million deal for Prince Fielder. It is followed by a $12.5 million signed by Mark Teixeira (2008, with Atlanta) and a $12.4 million deal agreed to by Carlos Zambrano (2007, with the Cubs).

Kudos to Theo for getting these deals done. As a professional negotiator, I can attest to the fact that arbitration is an undesirable and confrontational process that pits an employer against the employee under the worst of circumstances.

The system places the employer in the uncomfortable position of having to diminish the employee’s performance and accomplishments in order to convince the arbitrator to award the lowest salary under consideration. It is a system that NEEDS TO BE revised.

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It happens every year. One team has unreasonably high expectations for their team, signs a couple of free agents, and when they fail to meet their goals, they become sellers at the trade deadline.

Need an example? How about last year’s Seattle Mariners. In theory, Cliff Lee would have been great if they had an offense. However, their lack of success forced them to trade Lee to the Rangers, a team better suited for Lee.

On the other side, there are always buyers at the trade deadline. Maybe a team doesn’t expect to be in playoff contention in July, however now that they are, they need one more player to piece together the puzzle and put them over the edge.

A good example is the Milwaukee Brewers of 2008. It was their acquisition of CC Sabathia that helped them reach the playoffs through the wild card. 

Another common way for players to switch teams midseason is by under performing. By August, if a team is not content with the way one of their players is playing, they have to option to put him on waivers. 

An example of this is the Alex Rios scenario of 2009. The Blue Jays, unhappy with Rios, placed Rios on waivers, where the White Sox picked him up. His .199 batting average in 2009 with the White Sox probably made the Blue Jays happy they let him go.

There are many other reasons that a player is moved during the season—  these are just the main ones. In this article, I will speculate as to which players I believe will be moved in 2011.

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When Trevor Hoffman announced his retirement yesterday, immediate talk about his Hall of Fame candidacy, his 601 saves, and his reputation as a great Padre surfaced. I do consider him worthy of the hall of fame as he, along with Mariano Rivera and Billy Wagner, were the most effective closers who did it for the longest time. But it seems as if they’re a dying breed.

As Trevor Hoffman joins Billy Wagner in riding off into the sunset, the MLB is arguably down to just one great, longtime closer.

Closers are something you find. Something managers create. Saves happen by accident. You don’t try for them; in fact you try not to have them. If your team is winning by three, you want to make it four. That’s just how baseball works, the goal is to spend nine innings making a win as likely as possible until it either happens or doesn’t.

An articles on Yahoo! Sports states, “Hoffman almost always got the toughest outs in a baseball game—the final three.” I assume most of those outs were tough. He was pitching against major league hitters. You cannot quantify how much tougher the ninth inning made those outs.

In fact, of his 601 saves some were probably pretty tough and some were undoubtedly very easy. Sure, he was in situations in which one bad pitch would lose the game for his team. But he also probably often had a cushion of two or three runs.

Let’s consider all those occasions where the final three outs are easier than the first three. Say your starter had to work just a little harder in the first inning to retire Victorino-Polanco-Utley than your closer did when he faced Ruiz-Valdez-Dobbs.

The idea that the closer you are to the end of the game, the more difficult the outs become is dubious. Why would there be extra pressure, aside from the fact that everyone in baseball attaches extra importance to it? It depends on the situation itself, so we have to be careful with the importance we attach to saves. I would still rather have vintage Billy Wagner or Mariano Rivera on the mound in a tough situation than vintage Hoffman.

Is there any real different in pitching with a one-run lead in the ninth inning versus pitching with the same lead in the eighth? Or the fourth? Can we measure things like clutch performance? Like guts? Grit? Heart? We cannot measure them save for counting up the number of times a broadcaster says something like, “man that guy has heart, what a gutsy effort.”

I once read an article suggesting that managers use their best reliever in the first tight situation in a game. For instance, the Yankees might be gridlocked 2-2 with the Red Sox in the sixth inning. Say Boston is up to bat and there are two men on and one out, the starter is pooped, the writers (it was in a collection of essays called Baseball Between the Numbers) suggested Mariano Rivera enter the game in this rough situation as he is the one most able to escape the situation.

What this would do is, a) make it easier for your team to avoid giving up more runs and burying yourself, b) give the Yankees more of a chance to win by keeping the game close longer so they can potentially bury their opponent, and c) limit the chance that the Yankees wind up having to face Boston’s best reliever in the later innings. I wonder how many games were lost when Kyle Farnsworth or Luis Vizcaino were tasked with escaping sixth- and seventh-inning jams.

In short, it could be beneficial to use your best pitcher when you need him most. I wonder how many save opportunities squeaked away because a mediocre reliever gave up a slim lead in the sixth. This especially makes sense for teams with good offenses.

The one hitch in this plan is that the ceremonious quality of the closer’s role would be stripped of him. There’s no glamour in the tough outs of the sixth inning. That’s the dirty work. Fewer flashbulbs are going off then. There’s something special about being a few outs away from a win. It’s like the game is entirely in your hands if you’re on the mound at that time.

So what does Trevor Hoffman have 601 of, if saves are a silly statistic? Well, he has 601 not-terrible ninth innings. Which is more not-terrible innings than many pitchers have in their careers. He has retired 3268 batters, all the while allowing relatively few runs to score. He owes this to the dominance he showed in his prime and impressive control. He owes it to a very good fastball-changeup combination.

I will remember Trevor Hoffman as one of the best relief pitchers of his generation. The silliness of his role aside, I cannot deny an impressive pitching performance (or about a thousand of them). It’s the ceremonious nature of the role that adds to his reputation. How many Padre fans remember Hoffman standing on the mound while their team won a game. How about when they made their way to the 1998 World Series?

As the closers of the past fifteen years prepare to make their runs at Cooperstown, I wonder which number will stand out the most in five years. 601 or something else?

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