Jeff

Hoffman

It was just a precaution, manager Rob Thomson said, and he’s expected to be good to go on Saturday. The sim game ended up being a 5-5 tie, with Nick Castellanos and Bryce Harper homering off Tanner Banks.

If Hoffman had been needed in the eighth, Estévez would have come in the ninth. Since Hoffman wasn’t needed then, Thomson didn’t see any reason to have both get up tonight.

Hoffman’s save was his 10th of the year. He struck out one batter and lowered his ERA to 1.92 on the year. It’s Hoffman’s first save since July 10th, well before the Phillies traded for Carlos Estevez. Estevez hasn’t been racking up saves since coming to the Phillies either as he has just two saves since he was acquired at the end of July.

Jeff Hoffman, who had been the favorite for saves of late, worked a scoreless seventh tonight. Estévez lost fantasy value with the trade from the Angels to the Phillies, but he would seem to be the current favorite for saves in a Phillies pen that will often deal with mixing and matching.

Estévez, 31, has been outstanding in the closer’s role for the Angels again this season — posting a 2.38 ERA, 0.74 WHIP and a 32/5 K/BB ratio over 34 innings of work while converting 20 saves. It seems likely that he would take over as the Phillies’ primary closer with Jeff Hoffman and Jose Alvarado falling back into setup roles, though the Phillies could opt for a full three-man committee much to the chagrin of fantasy managers everywhere.

The Phillies will reportedly send pitching prospects George Klassen and Samuel Aldegheri to the Angels in the deal. It’ll be interesting to see how the Phillies’ late-inning mix shakes out with Estévez joining Jeff Hoffman and Jose Alvarado who have been sharing the load in the ninth inning.

This was a classic Alvarado implosion as he allowed the first two batters to reach base and then could not regain his composure. This was his first save opportunity in two weeks as Jeff Hoffman has taken the lionshare of them lately.

Hoffman was called upon this time after Jose Alvarado worked the eighth inning and the first-time All-Star made it look awfully easy in this one — getting Chris Taylor on strikes, Gavin Lux on a pop up to shortstop and Will Smith on a fly ball to right to end it. The 31-year-old right-hander now boasts an exceptional 1.17 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and a 48/8 K/BB ratio across 38 1/3 innings on the season.

It’s the first of what should be many All-Star game nods for the studly 22-year-old hurler who has gone 5-0 with a 2.12 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and a 78/12 K/BB ratio through his first 10 MLB starts. He’ll be joined on the N.L. All-Star squad by fellow pitchers Ranger Suarez, Tyler Glasnow, Shota Imanaga, Reynaldo Lopez, Logan Webb, Chris Sale, Zack Wheeler, Ryan Helsley, Tanner Scott, Robert Suarez, Matt Strahm and Jeff Hoffman.

Hoffman could be inching his way ahead of José Alvarado in the Phillies’ bullpen pecking order. Alvarado got the eighth inning in this one with a five-run lead. That came against the top of the Braves’ lineup and Marcell Ozuna wound up taking him deep to cut the lead to two. Hoffman closed it out in the ninth inning and now has three saves in his last three appearances.