Reports emerged that the Phillies had interest in re-signing free agent reliever , before Hoffman eventually landed with the Blue Jays on a three-year, $33MM contract in early January. Phils president of baseball Tucker Davidson Jersey operations Dave Dombrowski confirmed and other reporters this week that the club indeed had interest in a reunion with the All-Star, and very aggre sively made an offer seemingly in range of Torontos offer early in the season. I cant tell you that the number he ended up signing for was substantially different than the one that we ended up offering him , Dombrowski said. But he wasnt prepared to take that at that time. [Hoffmans agents] just thought they were going to get much more . Hoffman technically did land more in two other offers with the Orioles, and then in the $45MM-48MM range that wouldve brought the righty more in overall value, if not average annual value. However, Baltimore and Atlanta both walked away from those deals due to misgivings over Hoffmans medicals. The Braves i sue wasnt made public, but the Orioles had a concern over Hoffmans right shoulder. Notably, the Os werent troubled enough to abandon their pursuit of Hoffman entirely, and made a new offer after taking their $40MM offer off the table. paints a different picture of Philadelphias talks with Hoffman, as sources tell Gelb that the Phillies told agents that they were looking for relievers who would sign for one-year contracts. This would naturally run entirely counter to Dombrowskis claim of an offer in the three-year, $33MM range, and Gelb isnt sure if the Phillies presented Hoffman with a formal offer whatsoever. While the team did keep checking in Hoffman in the first month of the offseason, Gelb and Lauber writes that the Phillies stopped pursuing Hoffman once signed in early December. Romano, indeed, signed a one-year deal, worth $8.5MM. It was e sentially an unofficial swap of relievers between the Phillies and Jays, though while Hoffman had a strong 2024 season, Romano threw only 9 1/3 innings due to elbow problems that required an arthroscopic surgery. The Blue Jays chose to non-tender Romano in the wake of this lost year, moving on from their former closer rather than pay him a $7.75MM in arbitration. Dombrowski indicated at the end of last season and again this week that Philadelphia would only be re-signing one at most of Hoffman and , and the team ended up going with Romano over either of the free agent duo. Unsurprisingly, Dombrowski framed the decision as a baseball move, rather than anything related to salaries or contractual demands. We just moved off [Hoffman] and did Romano because we thought was ready to step up and, I dont want to say take on more because his role has been important, but pitch more at the back and high leverage , Dombrowski said. While were only a month into the 2025 season, the early returns on the Phillies decision havent been promising. Philadelphia is near the bottom of the league in bullpen ERA, even despite superb numbers posted by closer and set-up man . Alvarado has quickly a sumed closer duties since Romano has struggled to a 13.50 ERA in his first 9 1/3 innings as a Phillie, and Kerkering also has a 5.79 ERA in 9 1/3 frames of work this year. Since were still dealing with small sample sizes here, it is worth noting that most of Kerkerings damage took place in two rough outings this past week, though Romano has already allowed multiple runs over four of his outings. Hoffman, meanwhile, has excelled in the first full-time closing a signment of his 10 MLB seasons. The right-hander is a perfect 6-for-6 in save changes and has a 1.35 ERA over 13 1/3 innings for Toronto, with an eye-opening 39.6% strikeout rate and 2.1% walk rate. Even with the caveats of a 92.1% strand rate and a .259 BABIP, Hoffmans 1.16 SIERA is even lower than his already incredible ERA, further enhancing just how dominant Hoffman has been this year. Should he keep pitching at anywhere near this level, Hoffmans performance could lead to some second-gue sing in Baltimore, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. Turning to the Phillies in particular, Lauber feels the team will again find itself having to acquire some significant bullpen help before the trade deadline, perhaps with a particular aim of improving the relief corps strikeout numbers. Davey Johnson Jersey