San Francisco Giants: Top 5 teams targeting Madison Bumgarner
After playing his entire career with the San Francisco Giants, Madison Bumgarner might be on the move. Here are the top five destinations he might wind up at.
Madison Bumgarner has cemented himself as one of the most storied players in San Francisco Giants history.
But with the Giants in the midst of an offseason of immense change, fans may have to come to terms with Bumgarner dawning another team’s colors.
So far this offseason, names have been flying off of the free-agent board — completely unlike last season’s offseason slog. Zack Wheeler has secured his massive contract. Veterans like Cole Hamels and Adam Wainwright are already off the board.
It’s only a matter of time before the biggest of fish settle in with their new teams. The New York Yankees appear like they may be closing in on Gerrit Cole. Stephen Strasburg should follow close behind.
The feeling around the league is that Bumgarner may sign before next week’s Winter Meetings.
There are plenty of suitors in the mix so far — and likely more that have yet to be publicly linked with him. That isn’t surprising considering the track record that he’s put together in his career thus far.
In his 11-year career with the San Francisco Giants, Bumgarner has posted a 119-92 record, a 3.13 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, and nearly 1800 strikeouts across about 1850 innings.
He’s accrued four all-star nods, two silver sluggers, and three World Series rings.
Most impressively, Bumgarner won the NLCS and World Series MVPs in the 2014 playoffs, where he had one of the all-time greatest runs of pitching dominance in MLB playoff history.
There’s no doubt why teams are interested in what Madison Bumgarner brings to the table. He’s a bonafide workhorse. He’s been to and succeeded in the highest of pressure situations in the postseason.
While he isn’t on the level he once was, he is only a step below the likes of Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg.
There is some risk in signing an aging starter with significant innings to a long-term deal, but Bumgarner’s regression isn’t jarring enough to deter bidders.
Even last season, the 30-year-old ace posted a 3.90 ERA across 207.2 innings.
His peripherals don’t look like they’ve dropped off too badly either. His average fastball velocity and overall strikeout rate have both declined slightly, but that’s to be expected.
His command is still enough to get by, and he’s proven that he’s healthy after injuring his shoulder in a dirt-bike incident back in 2017.
Could some of the decline be hidden thanks to pitching primarily in a pitcher’s park? Perhaps. But Bumgarner has proven himself to be a pitcher who can lead his team to victory.
He might not be the ace he was back in 2014, but he’d be one heck of a No. 2 or No. 3.
With reports indicating that there are several teams interested in Bumgarner, it will be interesting to see just how big of a contract he’ll be able to secure.
Speculation around baseball is that he’ll look to secure a contract north of $100 million.
Wheeler’s five-year, $118 million agreement preemptively set the market for the likes of Bumgarner and others. There will be no savvy, short-term deals that lure him away from the money.
Here are the top five teams that are in the mix as top suitors to land Bumgarner this offseason.