Someday – perhaps someday soon – the Padres will erect a statue to celebrate Trevor Hoffman’s impact in San Diego. Like it did with Tony Gwynn and Jerry Coleman, Hoffman’s bronzed likeness at Petco Park will revel as much in his accomplishments as the National League’s leading save artist as in what he’s meant to both a floundering franchise and a community ever in search of a sporting identity.

He’s already in the Padres’ Hall of Fame. His No. 51 jersey is retired. In San Diego, Hoffman – not AC/DC – owns Hell’s Bells.

Of course, outside this sunny vacation destination, the debate surrounding one-inning specialists wages on as voters, pundits and fans prepare for Wednesday’s unveiling of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2016. They’re armed with statistics (saves, innings pitched), new-age metrics (WAR, ERA-plus), postseason narratives, precedent and generational trends to defend their positions, and the gist of it all is this:

In the face of the saves debate and a growing backlog of PED-connected candidates, the ballot of Trevor Hoffman is hardly a slam-dunk case in 2016.

“I respect what he’s done, but I see the other side of it,” Dennis Eckersley, a 2004 inductee, said with a sigh. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t get in this year, but when I think of dominance over a long period of time, I think of Trevor Hoffman. I think he’s special. I think he’s a Hall-of-Famer; I just do.”

The logic extending beyond Hoffman’s 601 career saves is easy to follow.

HALL PASS To gain entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, candidates must appear on 75 percent of the ballots turned in by eligible members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Candidates who do not garner at least 5 percent of the vote fall off the ballot the next year, as do players who do not gain entry after 10 years (Lee Smith and Alan Trammel were grandfathered into the previous 15-year window). Only six relievers – Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage and John Smoltz – have been elected into the Hall of Fame, two of whom pitched for the Padres. Fingers entered in 1992 as a member of the Athletics and Gossage entered in 2008 as a member of the Yankees .

Armed with a devastating change-up, Hoffman entrenched himself in the Padres bullpen upon arriving in 1993 and zoomed past long-time closing king Lee Smith to become the first to reach 500 and then 600 saves. Along the way, the failed shortstop allowed just 6.99 hits per nine innings (seventh-best all-time), struck out 9.36 batters per nine innings (eighth-best all-time) and saved games at an 88.8-percent success rate, third-best among closers with at least 300 saves.

He finished as the runner-up in Cy Young voting twice, led the National League in saves twice and earned seven trips to the All-Star Game in a career that ended at age 42 after 18 seasons.

“I think people always want to discount longevity,” 32-year-old closer Huston Street said in September as he headed toward his 315th career save, good for 20th all-time. “But you can ask anyone who played the game longer than six years and they'll tell you that longevity is the hardest thing to do – to be good in your 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th year.

“He did that for what 18 years? To me Trevor Hoffman is a first-ballot, sure-fire Hall-of-Famer.”

Yet the argument against Hoffman’s inclusion – right away or ever, depending on who you ask – persists, with much of it stemming from the very job he did so well.

A one-inning pitcher for the bulk of his career, Hoffman’s 1,089 1/3 innings top only Bruce Sutter (1,042) among pitchers already enshrined. As such, the .211/.267/.342 batting line he held opposing hitters to didn’t generate nearly as much value – a 28.0 WAR (wins above replacement) again ranks ahead of only Sutter (24.5) and Rollie Fingers (25.0) – as Curt Schilling (80.7) and Mike Mussina (82.7) did as this year’s on-the-bubble pitchers.

Given the opportunity, such skilled hurlers would have surely stockpiled saves at record paces, too, Hoffman’s naysayers declare. Heck, even fellow candidate Billy Wagner, with a better WHIP (.998 vs. 1.06) and career strikeout rate (11.9 vs. 9.36) might have had Hoffman’s career with the same usage and durability, they say.

Then, the staunchest of that group – those who discount Edgar Martinez’s candidacy as a designated hitter – might argue against Hoffman’s entry because he thrived in a role generally viewed as beneath a starting pitcher in baseball hierarchy.

Tony La Russa views things a bit differently.

“Times have changed,” said La Russa, the Hall-of-Fame skipper who put Eckersley in the bullpen for good in 1988 and is credited, along with pitching coach Dave Duncan, with the advent of the specialized bullpen. “When a team that has contending aspirations puts a roster together, they pay as much attention to the front of the rotation as they do the back of the bullpen. In my opinion, one of the most important players on a team is that shutdown closer – he’s right there with an MVP or a Cy Young pitcher – and Trevor Hoffman was a shutdown closer.”

How Trevor Hoffman stacks up to other notable closers How Trevor Hoffman stacks up to other notable closers

Nevertheless, Hall voters – perhaps not quite sure what to make of a stat that didn’t exist until 1969 – could still shut out Hoffman.

At least to start.

After all, only six dedicated closers have ever gained entry and the only two to land in Cooperstown on their first ballot (Eckersley and John Smoltz) started their careers as impact starting pitchers. The only pitcher in the Hall of Fame who appeared exclusively in relief required 13 ballots (Sutter), the man who held the saves record 13 years before Hoffman seized it (Lee Smith) is on the ballot for the 14th year and the reliever with the fourth-most saves (John Franco) fell off the ballot after one year.

For some, simply not matching Mariano Rivera’s career – 51 more saves, twice the WAR (56.6), the best ERA in postseason history (0.70), all on a New York stage – warrants putting off Hoffman’s entry until Rivera lands on the 2019 ballot at the very earliest. This despite the Padres closer owning a better success rate (81 percent) in one-run games than Rivera (79.8), according to data that Stats Inc. began tracking in 1991.

Of course, the more hairs you split – 55 four-plus-out saves for Hoffman vs. 119 for Rivera vs. 169 for Smith vs. 188 for Sutter – the more voters begin to consider the likes of Barry Bonds’ and Roger Clemens’ PED-clouded resumes on this overstuffed ballot, the easier it is to see Hoffman winding up on the outside looking in on his first ballot.

La Russa, naturally, isn’t distracted in the least. Then again, the Diamondbacks’ chief baseball officer doesn’t have a vote, either.

“Easy call: Trevor Hoffman, Hall-of-Famer,” La Russa said. “He’s got the credentials, he was a great professional and a great person – and those are some of the criteria that’s supposed to be looked at.

“Trevor Hoffman covers it all.”

jeff.sanders@sduniontribune.com; on Twitter: @sdutSanders