Trevor Hoffman Retires

[FedEx227]

WAR also favors Hoffman over Fingers and puts him slightly below Sutter. For the record, Fingers is one of the worst in the HOF in regards to WAR:

Fingers: 1.4 WAR/year, 24.4 career
Hoffman: 1.7 WAR/year, 30.7 career
Sutter: 2.0 WAR/year, 25.0 career

[Senser81]

WAR also favors Hoffman over Fingers and puts him slightly below Sutter. For the record, Fingers is one of the worst in the HOF in regards to WAR:

Fingers: 1.4 WAR/year, 24.4 career
Hoffman: 1.7 WAR/year, 30.7 career
Sutter: 2.0 WAR/year, 25.0 career

But how accurate is WAR when you are using it on guys who pitch 65 innings a year?

[FedEx227]

It's relative to other closers in baseball so it's fairly accurate unless Hoffman was the only closer/reliever in baseball throwing 65 innings while others were throwing 120.

[Senser81]

It's relative to other closers in baseball so it's fairly accurate unless Hoffman was the only closer/reliever in baseball throwing 65 innings while others were throwing 120.

One, such a small sample size (65 innings) would lead to greater variations of relativity, no?

Two, your statement is ironic since Sutter and Fingers were the only closers throwing 120 innings while most other relievers were only throwing 65 innings.

[FedEx227]

One, such a small sample size (65 innings) would lead to greater variations of relativity, no?

No doubt, but it's relative to other closers of the same year. So everyone is on a relatively small sample size. It's the nature of closers in this era. I see what you're saying but I still think his numbers hold up despite the low IP.

[Warner2BruceTD]

It's relative to other closers in baseball so it's fairly accurate unless Hoffman was the only closer/reliever in baseball throwing 65 innings while others were throwing 120.

But what defines "closer"? Does the calculation make a disticntion between closers/relievers/longmen/spot starters/etc?

I've always been skepical of certain metric stats when applied to specialists.

[FedEx227]

That I can't really tell you with 100% certainty... here's an article about how closers' numbers are calculated but still doesn't address exactly what defines a "closer".

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/article/how_to_calculate_war/

[PepperNY]

bout time Hoffman retired. I dont see him getting in the HOF until someone like Lee Smith gets in.