"I'm glad to get the opportunity," Bell said Jan. 8 after the 41-year-old Hoffman agreed to a one-year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.

"But I hate how it has happened. To be honest, how I saw it was Trevor pitching here two more years. I'd be there to see him get his 600th save and after about 605 or 610, he'd hand over the reins.

"I didn't want to take Trevor's spot, I wanted him to eventually hand it over to me."

Bell has been the Padres' eighth-inning man in front of Hoffman for much of his two seasons as a Padre. He was 6-6 last year with a 3.58 ERA in 74 appearances. In 2007, after being acquired from the Mets, Bell was 6-2 with a 2.02 ERA in 81 appearances. He has 173 strikeouts in 171 2/3 innings as a Padre.

Bell was a closer in the Mets' farm system before being traded to the Padres.

Bell admitted replacing Hoffman carries an amount of pressure.

"When superstars leave, like (Brett) Favre, like Trevor, there's going to be questions and a lot riding on the next guy. If I don't do a great job right off the bat, I'm going to be hearing, 'We miss Trevor.'"

Said Padres manager Bud Black to The San Diego Union-Tribune: "The message that Heath has to understand is that nobody replaces a guy like Trevor Hoffman. Nobody replaces that caliber of player. He has to be what he is capable of doing as a major league pitcher."

Hoffman was 3-6 with a 3.77 ERA and 30 saves with the Padres last year. He pitched only 45 1/3 innings in 48 appearances for a team that lost 99 games.

Over his career with the Padres, Hoffman appeared in 902 games with the Padres, posting a 54-64 record with 552 of his career-record 554 saves. His career ERA as a Padre is 2.76.

Next to Tony Gwynn, no Padre has won more accolades than Trevor Hoffman.