Where Will Madison Bumgarner Be Traded To?
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Trade talk has circulated around San Francisco Giants’ Madison Bumgarner for some time now. With the Giants already 8.5 games back in the NL West and not expected to contend, they are in a prime position to trade away some of their veteran players and begin a rebuild. Most people fully expect for Madison Bumgarner to be traded by this year’s trade deadline and today it was reported by Ken Rosenthal that Madison Bumgarner has submitted a no-trade list to the San Francisco Giants.
His current contract with the Giants allows for him to block trades with up to eight teams. Today we discovered that those eight teams chosen by Bumgarner are the Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, Astros, Brewers, Yankees, Phillies, and Cardinals. Now, at first glance you’re probably really confused and are wondering why it seems that Madison Bumgarner isn’t interested in winning. All eight of these teams are considered contenders and are teams that you would think any veteran would want to play for. But after looking a little further, it’s actually a very smart move by Bumgarner.
The only teams that will be interested in trading for a veteran pitcher like Bumgarner are teams that expect to contend. If a team isn’t expecting to contend, it would be more of a waste to give up young, potential talent to acquire a veteran. So Madison knows these teams will be after him this summer, and he is interested in them too, even though he put them on his no-trade list. If any of these teams work out a trade with the Giants that includes Bumgarner, then Madison can waive the no-trade clause to that team if he is interested in going there. Essentially, Madison Bumgarner has given himself more of a “say so” when it comes to him being traded this summer. Instead of him being traded to any of these teams without any input, he can rank these teams by preference and waive the no-trade clause with a team he prefers. For example, if he wants to play as close to his North Carolina-home as he can, and play with the Braves, he will waive the no-trade with them if a trade were to get worked out. On the flip side, if the Phillies are one of the last contending teams he would prefer to play for, he wouldn’t waive the no-trade clause if a trade were to get worked out with them, and wait for another team higher on his list to trade for him.
So where will Bumgarner end up later this summer? Nobody has any clue, but it’s fun to speculate. I would say the Atlanta Braves are the front runner if I had to guess because of the proximity to his hometown. The Braves won the division last year and are ready to do it again. They could use an ace on that staff, especially a veteran to be around all those young arms. If the Braves were to make it back to the postseason, nobody can argue the postseason success of Bumgarner, and that trait is highly coveted. I can also see him going to Houston helping the rich get richer. That would be a very dangerous staff come postseason time, and it’s almost a guarantee that Houston will be there. Lastly, I could see him going to Milwaukee and that being a nice fit for him. The two teams on the list I can’t see him with are the Phillies and the Yankees. I could be proven wrong, as both these teams are built to win a World Series now and could use a starting pitcher, but I just don’t see him preferring to go to those ballclubs. With me being a Braves fan, I believe Atlanta needs to make the necessary moves to make this happen. It will be interesting to keep an eye on for sure.
Garett