Trevor Hoffman

Through history, many players have entered baseball's most hallowed hall. The list of players is numerous: 54 starting pitchers, 16 catchers, 18 first basemen, 17 second basemen, 10 third basemen, 21 shortstops, and 60 outfielders have plaques in the Hall of Fame. Even nine umpires have gained entrance to Cooperstown.

Some claim third base, or even catcher, is the most underrepresented position in the Hall of Fame.

With Trevor Hoffman finally closing in (pun intended) on career save No. 600, I wanted to definitely to highlight the forthcoming achievement in some way.

I thought about a career retrospective but decided that would be best left for once his career is actually complete.

I considered a chronicle of his year-plus spent in a Brewers uniform, but that too isn't a chapter that is finished being written.

Greetings fantasy baseballers, and welcome to another edition of the Wire.

Hopefully you heeded the past weeks’ advice and picked up Pat Burrell, Mike Minor, Daniel Hudson and others, before it was too late. This week is sort of a special edition with a look at a trio of closers—mostly of the present, and mostly with no future. Regardless, they have one thing in common—they will receive the lion’s share of save opportunities for their respective teams.

It’s been awhile since the last article in this series. I’ve been busy lately, but I’m dead set on finishing it up, and I only have this and one more to go.

One thing that seemed to spark some confusion was the subject of the last article. I had a few people asking why I didn’t include certain players.

Well, throughout each of my articles, I’ve been trying to cover any player who might have a chance at the Hall of Fame by position; with pitchers, though, there were too many to compress into one article.

Milwaukee Brewer Trevor Hoffman isn't available at this year's trade deadline, but that didn't stop Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein from asking after the closer he first met while working for the San Diego Padres, according to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal.

Not remotely effective this season, Hoffman owns a 6.82 ERA over 33 innings and joins a nearly all-inclusive group of relievers that the Red Sox are pursuing in the final days leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline this Saturday.

Coming into the 2010 season, I was sure of three things:

1. The Milwaukee Brewers would improve their record from last season.
2. Trevor Hoffman would reach 600 saves.
3. Ken Macha would eventually be fired as manager.

This season, I'm 0-3, but I've got a shot at No. 3 still going down.

Trevor Hoffman, who totaled 34 saves against just three blown last season, has five blown already. He's been replaced by rookie John Axford, who's really come on strong for the Brewers.

2010 has not gone at all like the Milwaukee Brewers and their fans were hoping for. Several offseason free agent pitching signings gave hope to a staff that ranked as one of the worst in baseball in 2009.

Unfortunately, the pitching has been only slightly better, and the Brewers are 33-40, only good enough for a distant third place in the NL Central.

On a positive note, the Brewers have won five in a row, and the starting pitching seems to be producing the way GM Doug Melvin had expected since being very active over the winter.

Sex and the City 2 and Jonah Hex have not been the only flops this summer. Fantasy baseball has had its fair share as well.  

We are more than two months into the 2010 baseball season, so its not too early to label certain superstars as busts. Sure, they could turn things around. They could play phenomenally from here on out and salvage their seasons, but right now they are giving their fantasy owners ulcers every time they go 0-for-4, blow a save, or get torched for seven runs in four innings.   

Here are the ten biggest busts in fantasy baseball!

On May 23, 2010 against the Minnesota Twins, Trevor Hoffman pitched game No. 1,000 for his career, coming on during the eighth inning in a 4-3 victory. He became the 14th player in major league history to accomplish this.

We then went back to our daily routines.

For a sport so focused on the milestone stats, it's interesting to see this one completely slip by. We have 500 home runs, 3,000 hits, 300 wins, and others. Yet, any milestone for games played is not really looked at as any accomplishment. It's a testament to little more than longevity, right?

It has been a while since I've written anything in this space. The reason for that is two-fold.

First, I am the proud parent to a new baby boy (he's a month old today, as a matter of fact)! Second, the team hasn't exactly given me much in the way of motivation to sit down and really put forth any concerted effort.