Though they have been extremely successful in the past decade, the Giants have dished out their fair share of overpaid contracts, both to veteran free agents and young homegrown stars. One player who is certainly not overpaid, however, is Madison Bumgarner. He is in the midst of a 6 year, $35 million deal with two $12 million team options tacked on for 2018 and 2019, and has vastly outperformed his salary since signing the long-term contract early in 2012.
Possibly with an eye toward future contract negotiations, Bumgarner made a move on Tuesday to drop his current representation, Excel Sports Management, and switch to the Legacy Agency.
Representation news: the Giants' Madison Bumgarner has left Excel and has signed on with the Legacy Agency.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 26, 2016
It is the second agency switch for Bumgarner this season, having just joined Excel back in April. Obviously, with personal decisions like these, there hasn’t been and likely won’t be much light shed on the situation from Bumgarner’s point of view, but he is an interesting case because he is undoubtedly in line for a massive raise in the coming years.
His chief rival for best southpaw in the NL, Clayton Kershaw, is currently in the middle of a seven year, $215 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. David Price of the Red Sox recently signed a nearly identical deal this offseason. MadBum would be a no-brainer to sign at more than $200 million if he was a free agent currently, but he will be on the wrong side of 30 when he next becomes a free agent, assuming the Giants pick up his two option years.
His new agency will have the task of securing hundreds of millions of dollars for the big lefty, but given that Legacy also represents young stars like Mookie Betts and Carlos Correa, they are hardly new to having big-name clients.
Bumgarner has little to worry about in the way of contract talks for the foreseeable future, and he will look to continue his strong first half with a steady performance and maintain his current career-best ERA of 2.14.