PHILADELPHIA — After more than two years of beating the odds with the Phillies, Jeff Hoffman seems to be in line for a major financial reward in the offseason.
He just doesn’t know if it will come from the Phillies or not.
“From a family perspective, I think about it a lot,” Hoffman said of his baseball future beyond the playoffs. “Just, where my kids are going to live next year, where they’re going to go to school and stuff like that.”
Before giving the impression that he’s open to taking the next best offer, however, Hoffman quickly added, “No, I want it to be here. I love it here. I want to be here. The Phillies have been amazing to me, giving me the opportunity that they did. I kind of took it and ran with it and I feel like this is my family, all these guys in here.”
Indeed Hoffman, a former first-round draft pick of the Toronto Blue Jays, can feel fortunate. He kicked around in the bullpens of the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds, who DFA’d him in Nov. 2022 after a decent season (2-0, 3.83 in 35 appearances).
After a failed spring with Minnesota, the Phillies were moved to sign him, but he seemed headed out of here via an opt-out clause in May after a terrible start for Lehigh Valley. Instead, the Phillies asked him to practice-pitch to a rehabbing Bryce Harper for a few days before May 1, when Hoffman would trigger the opt-out and take on a standing offer to pitch in Japan.
Instead, at Harper’s urging, the Phillies offered Hoffman a major league contract, put him in their bullpen, and Hoffman hasn’t looked back since.
He’s been one of the Phillies’ most effective bullpen artists of the past two seasons. He worked a clean eighth inning Saturday night against the Braves for his 18th hold of the season, worked another clean eighth Sunday night for his sixth straight scoreless outing. He has also converted eight straight save opportunities, the last Thursday against Atlanta.
Hoffman, who along with lefty reliever Matt Strahm made the NL All-Star team this year, leads the Phillies with 60 appearances, going 3-2 with 10 saves and a fine 1.85 ERA and .097 WHIP.
For a contract season … not very bad at all. But he says he isn’t necessarily out to command “closer” money from any team. In fact, he seems to rather enjoy the way the Phillies handle their little group of high-leverage relievers.
“I think us, I guess you can call it a sub-group of relievers, we’re a hot commodity right now,” Hoffman said. “It’s somebody that can pitch in the sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth, it doesn’t matter. I think you saw that in us getting voted in (as All-Stars). The players are noticing that, and understand how valuable that role is to a team, especially a good team.
“There are teams that are choosing to go the route the Phillies have gone, having your guys on the back end rotate through depending on the matchup, or depending on the situation. And there are teams that go the old school way. It depends on a lot of different things.”
It’s clear Hoffman will mull over options when the time is right, but considering the chance the Phillies took on him, he might not be averse to giving them some special consideration.
“Baseball is really a small community. You have close friends that have played everywhere, so you’ve seen what it’s like on the other side, and then you get to a place like this, that’s run pretty smoothly, and it’s nice,” Hoffman said. “You want to be in a place like this.”
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NOTES >> Rob Thomson isn’t calling it a setback, but for the third straight night Alec Bohm was unable to play. He hurt his hand Thursday swinging a bat, and Thomson said medical officials are still calling it a strain. “Getting better but he’s not quite ready yet,” Thomson said. “His grip strength is getting better, it’s not hurting as much, but he’s not ready to put a bat in his hand yet.” … After an off day Monday, the Phillies play two in Toronto. Tyler Phillips will go for them Tuesday.
Source: Berkshire mont