Apparently veteran players like Milwaukee.
On the heels of Mike Cameron saying last week that he “would be willing to make a sacrifice” to re-sign with the Brewers, fellow impending free agent Trevor Hoffman said yesterday that he “would really like to come back” for another season.
I don’t want to start over in an another organization, I can tell you that. Everything has gone very well here. They’ve made me feel more than welcome. If I have the choice, I’d really like to come back here. But that isn’t my decision. And we’ll see what happens.
Hoffman is playing this season under a one-year contract that will end up paying him around $7 million once the dust settles on various incentives, so assuming that he’s willing to accept a similar deal for 2010 the Brewers would be crazy not to welcome him back.
Hoffman turns 42 years old next month, but has converted 32-of-35 save chances with a 1.96 ERA, .200 opponents’ batting average, and 41/11 K/BB ratio in 46 innings.
His current adjusted ERA+ is 215, which would be the second-best total of Hoffman’s career after his amazing 263 mark in the 1998 season that saw him save 53 games with a 1.48 ERA for the NL champion Padres. It would also be the all-time record for adjusted ERA+ by a 41-year-old pitcher, topping the Hall of Fame pair Red Ruffing (196) and Cy Young (194).
