During the past offseason, the Philadelphia Phillies had to make a tough decision on whether to re-sign dominant and reliable reliever Jeff Hoffman. After all, Hoffman had been a key cog in the bullpen, helping them to much success in each of the past two seasons.
In the end, Philadelphia decided to let the 32-year-old veteran walk in free agency with hopes that they could find more affordable yet solid options as his replacement. But after seeing what he has done so far with the Toronto Blue Jays this season, the Phillies surely are regretting their decision to some extent.
However, Philadelphia might not be the only team that wishes they could go back and reconsider signing him. Hoffman managed to pass through the Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves as well before finally landing with the Blue Jays this past winter.
Orioles and Braves might be right there with Phillies regretting the offseason decision to pass on Jeff Hoffman
Hoffman was actually one of the hotter commodities in terms of free agent pitchers because he drew interest as potentially both a relief and starting option. However, apparently both the Orioles and the Braves backed out of deals on the table with the right-handed reliever due to flagged physicals. The Blue Jays, on the other hand, had full confidence in their former draft pick and ended up giving him a much-deserved multi-year contract.
So no hard feelings, right? Not quite…
This past weekend, the Blue Jays were in Baltimore for a three-game series. Hoffman finally got his first chance to face the team that turned him away in the finale on Sunday. All he did was hold the Orioles to just one hit with four strikeouts over two innings to close out a 7-6 victory for Toronto. In the heat of the moment, Hoffman made this gentle yet noteworthy gesture to Baltimore's bench, blowing a kiss to the team that passed on him:
For the season, the star reliever has been lights out, compiling a 2-0 record with four saves, along with a sparkling 1.74 ERA and 0.68 WHIP, with 14 strikeouts in just 10 1/3 innings over nine appearances.
More importantly, Hoffman has been pitching like a man possessed and there’s no messing around with him, as MLB.com's Keegan Matheson would like to agree. This fiery attitude is exactly what the Phillies and both the Orioles and Braves could really use to prop up their pitching just about now.
Hoffman continued his revenge tour on Wednesday, when he slammed the door on the Braves, handing them their 13th loss.
Both of the Phillies’ offseason replacements for Hoffman in Jordan Romano and Joe Ross have been off to rough starts with their new club. As for Baltimore and Atlanta, their pitching has been a disaster as they rank in the bottom third of the league across the bulk of the pitching categories. Especially for the Orioles, whose rotation is currently among the worst in MLB.
Therefore, the more and more Hoffman exudes his dominance this season, the more the Phillies will likely suffer from their offseason decision to let him go. As of right now, the move is certainly backfiring on everyone big time.