San Diego Padres: Re-visiting the Trevor Hoffman trade

The San Diego Padres acquired Trevor Hoffman from the Marlins in 1993, and he went on to become the best closer in franchise history

Initially drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 11th round of the 1989 draft, Trevor Hoffman was a shortstop prospect at the time of his selection. Similar to San Diego Padres’ Javy Guerra, he was converted to a relief pitcher and was selected by the Florida Marlins as part of the 1992 expansion draft.

He made his big league debut in 1993 with 28 appearances out of the ‘pen to the tune of a 3.28 ERA while striking out 26 batters in 35.2 innings. Hoffman also walked 19 guys, and that was enough for the Marlins to pull the trigger on acquiring Gary Sheffield from the Padres mid-season.

Sheffield was taken by the Milwaukee Brewers with the sixth overall pick in the 1986 MLB Draft out of high school. After making his debut in September 1988, he was eventually uprooted from his natural position at shortstop.

After several tiffs with the organization about his playing time, he was shipped off the Padres before the 1992 season. When the Friars eventually sent him to the Marlins, Sheffield was batting .292 with ten home runs and 36 RBI in 68 games. He was dealt, along with Rich Rodriguez, to the Padres for Hoffman, Jose Martinez, and Andrés Berumen.

Hoffman, of course, went onto have a Hall of Fame career with the Padres, recording at least 30 saves between the 1994 and 2008 seasons. He missed the majority of the 2003 season after having shoulder surgery, but it never impacted him long-term.

In total, he collected 552 saves with the Friars and finished out his final two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, becoming the all-time saves leader in MLB history (601). He would later be surpassed by Mariano Rivera.

As a seven-time All-Star and two-time NL saves leader, Hoffman had his number 51 retired by the Padres. He was also inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 2018 with a 79.9% majority vote.