Assuming that all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman passes his physical and finalizes the one-year free-agent contract both sides agreed upon Thursday, the Brewers have their closer for the upcoming season and thus have filled their most glaring need five weeks before the start of Spring Training.

Hoffman would remove any doubt about the closer's role. That would move Seth McClung closer to his wish for a spot in the starting rotation -- giving the Brewers five viable arms there -- while at the same time allowing the team to more cautiously develop Carlos Villanueva as a reliever in a seventh- or eighth-inning role.

Before the Brewers landed Hoffman, both McClung and Villanueva were being considered for the ninth-inning vacancy. Instead, the Brewers were poised to add Hoffman, who is 46 saves shy of 600 for his career.

"We have a pretty good team," Brewers catcher Jason Kendall said. "We just got better with Trevor."

Hoffman will earn a $6 million base salary in 2009 with up to $1.5 million in incentives based on games finished, beginning with No. 38 and ending with 52, MLB.com learned. Brewers officials, citing a directive from Major League Baseball, would not acknowledge that they had a deal in place with Hoffman until he passed a physical, but agent Rick Thurman confirmed it was done.

"Trevor's excited about a new beginning in Milwaukee," Thurman said. "The Brewers were aggressive in pursuing him, and that ultimately made a big difference in his decision."

Kendall has known Hoffman for years, and said that when they last spoke during the regular season, Kendall sold Milwaukee as a possible destination for Hoffman were he to reach free agency and decide to leave San Diego. New Brewers manager Ken Macha helped recruit Hoffman more directly with a telephone call last week.

General manager Doug Melvin may still work to add depth to a team that will have to survive the 162-game regular season, but the ninth inning represented the club's deepest hole. In addition to their search for a closer, the Brewers have been in the market for starting pitching, and likely will remain so, though signing Hoffman will make it much easier for McClung to slide into the rotation behind Yovani Gallardo, Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan and Manny Parra.

The team also had sought ways to add left-handed bats, though it appears increasingly likely that the '09 lineup, heavy with right-handed hitters once again, is already intact.

Hoffman is 41 years old, but he converted 30 of 34 save chances for the Padres in 2008, and has notched at least 30 saves in 13 of the past 14 seasons. The exception was 2003, when Hoffman was limited to nine games by a shoulder injury.

With Hoffman anchoring the ninth inning, the Brewers' bullpen appears much more complete, even given the losses of Eric Gagne, Guillermo Mota and Brian Shouse to free agency and incumbent closer Salomon Torres to retirement. The primary setup men could be Villanueva, who established himself as a quality option by posting a 2.12 ERA in 59 1/3 relief innings last season, David Riske, who will try to bounce back from elbow surgery, and offseason addition Jorge Julio, who finished last season with 11 consecutive scoreless appearances for the Braves.

Another right-hander, Todd Coffey, was also very good at the end of last year, when he pitched nine scoreless appearances for the Brewers in September.

If those five pitchers open the season in the bullpen, the Brewers would probably have only two bullpen spots to settle in Spring Training. At least one would presumably go to a left-hander, either newly-acquired R.J. Swindle or in-house option Mitch Stetter.

That would leave one vacancy for a number of possible candidates -- all right-handers -- on the 40-man roster. Eddie Morlan was the Brewers' pick in last month's Rule 5 Draft, and if they do not keep him on the Opening Day roster, they will have to offer him back to the Rays.

Sinkerballer Tim Dillard lights up scouts' eyes, but has yet to find consistency. Veteran Mark DiFelice could be the pick if Milwaukee prefers to have a long relief specialist.

Other options include Luis Pena, who struggled in 2008 but could sneak onto the staff with a strong Spring Training. A 40-man roster newcomer, Omar Aguilar, is an intriguing possibility for the future after he posted a 1.98 ERA last season at Class A Brevard County and Double-A Huntsville. He will probably begin the season in the Minors.

"All I know is that it's a good thing to have the all-time saves leader on our team and in our clubhouse," McClung said when asked about Hoffman's potential impact. "He's going to make our team better."