After winning 88 games in 2007, most of the baseball world had the San Diego Padres pegged as contenders this season. That was before Jake Peavy and Chris Young got hurt, Khalil Greene was useless and an outfield of Scott Hairston and Paul McAnulty fell flat on their face. Now, in a pivotal offseason for the franchise, the Padres are doing everything they can to completely dismantle the franchise.

We know all about the likely Jake Peavy trade. Even though Peavy has one of the friendliest contracts in baseball for a top-line pitcher, he’s on his way out, likely for nothing more than a bundle of prospects. But the real issue I have is the Padres’ treatment of franchise icon Trevor Hoffman, who has amassed 552 of his 554 career saves for the Friars. After some tense negotiations (and a rejected head-to-head meeting), Hoffman’s lowballed $4 million offer was withdrawn last night…VIA FAX.

Classy. Here’s a franchise that’s had two icons in the last 20 years. One of them, Tony Gwynn, went out as a Padre and is now eternalized in center field at Petco Park. But how awful is this Hoffman situation? Without Hoffman, a great argument can be made that the Padres’ downtown stadium would not even exist. He’s been that pivotal in the franchise’s organization

“Trevor is upset with the way they’ve handled the situation,” one of Hoffman’s agents said. Gee, ya think? This is about more than baseball wins and losses. Sure, the argument can be made that paying a closer $4 milion for a 100 loss team isn’t a great financial move. But giving the finger to Hoffman is an enormous PR hit, and it’s going to hurt them for years. You think Adrian Gonzalez wants to extend his contract after 2010?

You stay classy, San Diego.

Trevor Hoffman, who is baseball’s all-time saves leader, picked up his 500th career save last night against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 5-2 Padres victory. Hoffman, who closed out his 58th career game vs the Dodgers (his most versus any team), recorded his 18th save this season in 20 opportunities.

This is an argument that will probably be thrown around for ages but I’d like to settle it with my opinion right here right now. Trevor Hoffman is the greatest closer of all time. Yes, thats right. Greater than Lee Smith. Greater than Bruce Sutter. Greater than even Mariano Rivera (gasp!). Before you get outraged and start looking up stats, here me out.

How do we define the greatest home run hitter of all time? I define it by the player who has hit the most home runs in their career, i.e. Hank Aaron. The greatest hitter of all time? It has to be Ted Williams, who hit .406 way back in 1941. The greatest closer? It has to be Hoffman, who recorded his 500th, a whole 81 saves more than Mariano Rivera has in his career.

If we’re gonna sling stats, then we can do that as well. Hoffman has the highest save percentage of any active closer, higher than even Rivera. Sure, Rivera has many more post season saves but, lets remember, we’re talking about the Padres and the Yankees. The Yankees haven’t sniffed a losing season since Rivera took over the closers role. Hoffman’s Padres have only had five winning seasons since he came over from the Marlins for Gary Sheffield in 1993.

This may be news to a bunch of east coast fans because most baseball fans on the right side of the United States are asleep when Hells Bells is playing and Hoffman is trotting into the game. And while I’m sure my opinion won’t settle any argument over the best closer of all time, know that when it comes to closing a game, Hoffman is about as much of a lock as it gets.