Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
As recently as Wednesday, the Giants confirmed they were still involved in the Madison Bumgarner sweepstakes.
A weekend later, that seems like an awfully long time ago.
For the first time since 2008, there will be no Bumgarner in the Giants rotation. For the first time ever, there will be Bumgarner to compete with. The big lefty agreed to a five-year deal with the Diamondbacks on Sunday, a move that was somehow simultaneously expected and stunning.
It never felt as if San Francisco was hell-bent on a reunion with the three-time World Series champ, as Farhan Zaidi & Co. have allotted their finances toward a rebuild that doesn’t make a ton of sense with Bumgarner around. Still, they were involved in the bidding.
Multiple reports emerged in the aftermatch of Bumgarner taking Arizona’s $85 million, including The Athletic stating the proposal was along the lines of four years and $70ish million. That would be $17.5 million per year — or slightly above the $17 million per the Diamondbacks shelled out. But the Giants did not want to go the extra year.
The possibility exists Bumgarner was not wholly interested in a reunion, either. That last at-bat felt like a firm goodbye, and Bruce Bochy is no longer around. But the Giants offered him a deal he could reject, and that’s what he did.
