Madison Bumgarner’s time in Arizona has come to an unceremonious end, and it’s hard to know what’s next.
It wasn’t something anybody saw coming when Bumgarner signed a five-year, $85 million deal in 2020. Bumgarner still has $37 million left on that deal, and the Diamondbacks are going to eat more than $34 million of that after designating him for assignment on Thursday via ESPN.
At 33 years old it’s unclear how much Bumgarner has left in the tank, but Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly believes he’ll want to play assuming it’s with a big league club.
“I think he does probably,” Baggs said on KNBR Friday. “I don’t think he’s going to necessarily want to go to the minor leagues. I think it will be a situation not to dissimilar from Angel Pagan a few years ago where he’s like ‘look, if there’s a good situation where I can play, then I’ll play. And if you want me to have 150 at-bats or play with your Triple-A team, I’ll just got home and live on my boat.’ And that’s what he did, so good for him.
“We know Bumgarner can hit the team roping circuit and maybe not necessarily have to compete as Mason Saunders, he can do all kinds of different things.”
As far as the Giants are concerned, don’t expect a reunion, but Baggs hopes the two sides can bury the hatchet after Bumgarner left unhappy with the way SF negotiated his extension.
“I just don’t think that there’s gonna be a fit with the Giants, I think that’s pretty obvious,” Baggarly said. “The only thing that I think is going to matter for Giants fans is the ability for him to come back when he’s done playing and to feel welcome and to feel respected, and say yes to the reunions and the Wall of Fame that are coming down the line for him.
“Because that’s the important stuff. You want to have a good relationship with somebody who meant a ton to you as a franchise, he put a whole team on his back and won a World Series. This is not an individual sport at all, and that was one of the most individually won World Series ever.”
You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Murph & Mac weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.
