Trevor Hoffman has elbow surgery--AP Report

Published on SportingNews.com.10/12/07. Anticipates return in spring.

• "Hoffman said he felt great as he threw his warm-up pitches." 10/2/07, Tom Krasovic, SanDiego Union-Tribune, "Padres on Losing End of Longest One-Game Tiebreaker in History."
• (But in a 10/12/07 MLB Advanced Media (MLB.com) article (following), Hoffman says he talked with the team about surgery for the last 3 months of the season).

For years they've tried to make him more than he was, to get him to the Hall of Fame, but pressure got to him at crucial times. Unfortunate tags like, "The man on the mound was the most reliable closer in the history of closing, Trevor Hoffman."MLB Advanced Media (MLB.com), Mike Bauman, 9/29/07. Hoffman showed he was not, that "save" stats are no substitute for losing percentage and other problematic stats to which he's attached. He showed he was what he's always been, which wasn't bad. It just wasn't how he and the media had been selling him.

• "Even an hour after the Rockies ended his season, Padres closer Trevor Hoffman was at a loss to explain the barrage he endured at Coors Field Monday." 10/3/07, Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Hoffman Took it Hard."

"When asked about the arthroscopic surgery he had on his right elbow on Thursday (10/11/07), Padres closer Trevor Hoffman laughed and called it "a little cleanup.""MLB Advanced Media (MLB.com) reporter and Hoffman supporter Corey Brock wrote, 10/12/07. "

• ***Hoffman said he had been discussing surgery with team staff for the last 3 months of the season. Although he said a week earlier he was at a loss to understand why he couldn't make the pitches his team needed to win.***

"Nothing really prompted it ... other than a little extra mileage," Hoffman said. "That's how I looked at it."

Hoffman said he didn't pitch with pain in his elbow during the season and

• that it wasn't until the final three months where he and the Padres training staff began to talk about surgery."

***(But he was allowed to pitch anyway).***

(MLB.com's Brock): ""Dealing with stuff and needing to get things done are two different things," Hoffman said. "It wasn't a situation where we were thinking of it [surgery] through the season."" (MLB.com, 10/12/07 by Corey Brock, "Notes: Hoffman Downplays Surgery."

• ***(But he just said they were discussing it for 3 months).***

None of this will matter to anyone, but it's here for the record. (sm)

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