Snub of Hoffman makes no sense

By: STEVE SCHOLFIELD - Senior Sports Columnist | Wednesday, November 15, 2006 12:35 AM PST ∞

I guess consistency doesn't count.

I guess all the good work Padres reliever Trevor Hoffman did this past season carried little weight with some members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Hoffman lost out in the 2006 National League Cy Young Award on Tuesday because the 32 writers, two from each city, felt that Arizona's Brandon Webb had a better season.

Hoffman finished second in the voting just ahead of St. Louis' Chris Carpenter.

I don't see it.

Nothing against Webb, who had a good half-season for the Diamondbacks, but Hoffman had a better year.

Webb was 16-8 with the Diamondbacks with a 3.10 ERA, third best in the league among starting pitchers.

Those 16 wins tied five other pitchers for the most wins in the league, which shows you that there was not one dominant starting pitcher in the National League.

But there was one dominant reliever, Hoffman. He converted 46 of 51 save opportunities and had an ERA of 2.14 for a team that won the National League West. Webb's Arizona team was 12 games behind.

Hoffman, who is in Mexico this week on a promotional trip for Nike, was unavailable for comment, said Padres public relations director Luis Garcia.

But Hoffman's pitching coach, Darren Balsley, had plenty to say about his guy not winning the Cy Young Award.

"Look at all the tight games we were in, and the guy was money for us," Balsley said by phone from his offseason home in Tennessee. "I think he deserved it."

The Padres had a 30-22 record in one-run games last season, and most of the time it was Hoffman getting to call to preserve those one-run victories.

And Hoffman certainly was more consistent than Webb.

The Arizona right-hander had a fine 9-3 record and a 2.65 ERA at the All-Star break. But in the second half of the season Webb was 7-5 with a 3.76 ERA. Webb won just four of his last 10 starts.

For that, he gets the Cy Young? Please.

You might have remembered his last start of the year, the final game of the season against the Padres. The Padres rocked him for seven runs in four innings.

Compare that to Hoffman, who saved 22 games before the All-Star break and 24 after the break during a tight pennant race. He converted 18 of 19 save opportunities from Aug. 1 on.

The only blemish was that famous ninth-inning four home run contest against the Dodgers in September.

Hoffman gave up two of the homers.

Maybe the writers figured it would not look good to give the Cy Young to a pitcher with a 0-2 win-loss record.

I don't have the answer. Hoffman must not have done enough to attract the attention of the majority of voters.

Maybe he should have set an all-time saves record or something like that. Oops, he did that.

The only reason he was denied this award was a marked prejudice against relief pitchers.

"In my opinion, a lot of guys (writers) don't vote for a closer," Balsley said. "When you are a closer you have to have a 1.00 ERA and be perfect, which is not fair."

Balsley brought up another point that has been proven over and over.

"You absolutely need a closer to win a championship," Balsley said. "If you average 10 runs a game, you don't need a closer. But 99.9 percent of the teams do."

St. Louis lost closer Jason Isringhausen during the regular season and didn't miss a beat when Adam Wainwright came on to pitch flawlessly during the postseason, and the result was a world championship.

Balsley offered a small challenge to the writers who didn't vote for Hoffman.

"I just wish they could spend a day or two with him and see his work ethic," he said. "I'm around him all the time and see his work ethic and how he goes about perfecting his trade. There is no doubt in my mind he is the hardest working man in baseball."

A man worthy of the Cy Young.

-- Steve Scholfield is senior sports columnist for the North County Times. He can be reached at (760) 740-3509 or stevescho@cox.net.