Madison Bumgarner has never found the success he established in San Francisco with the Diamondbacks, and they may be ready to cut ties with the southpaw.
Bumgarner, 33, has two years and $37 million remaining on the contract he signed with Arizona after the 2019 season. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Diamondbacks plan to try to trade him during spring training.
“(Arizona) will bring struggling veteran Madison Bumgarner to spring training, hoping he can pitch well enough to trade him,” Nightengale wrote. “He’s owed $37 million over the next two seasons, and the D-backs would likely have to eat most of it. Barring a dramatic turnaround, it will go down as the D-backs’ worst free-agent signing in franchise history, paying him $85 million over five years.”
The four-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion with the Giants is 15-29 with a 4.98 ERA in three seasons with the D-Backs. He signed a five-year, $85 million deal as a free agent in 2020.
Last year, Bumgarner posted a 4.88 ERA and was in the bottom-10th percentile in average exit velocity, strikeout rate, whiff rate and fastball velocity.
Asked what went wrong this season, Bumgarner told reporters that the year was “a little bit of a grind.”
“I don’t know,” Bumgarner said via AZ Central. “I’m getting older. I’ve thrown a lot of innings. Maybe that’s got something to do with it. I don’t know.”
Although he’s only 33, the heavy load of innings when he broke into the bigs with the Giants may have caught up to him. He ranks sixth among active pitchers in innings, tied with 36-year-old Johnny Cueto and one spot behind 40-year-old Adam Wainwright.
Since the Diamondbacks have a burgeoning young core of exciting, athletic position players, contending could be on the horizon. Given how he’s performed so far with the franchise, it makes sense that the Diamondbacks would try to turn the corner without Bumgarner.