© Steve Mitchell | 2019 Feb 19
The trade deadline is just hours away, and, as of now, no one is quite sure what the Giants are going to do. The conventional wisdom has shifted over the last few weeks from San Francisco to being certain sellers to unlikely sellers, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still interest in their many assets around the league.
One of those assets is Madison Bumgarner, and he is receiving significant interest from the Houston Astros, as reported by Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports. According to Ken Rosenthal, that interest is legitimate, and the Giants are also interested in an Astros prospect as a possible return.
The Astros’ interest, first reported by Yahoo’s Tim Brown, is legitimate; the Giants, according to a source, are intrigued by Astros Triple-A infielder Joshua Rojas. The question with Bumgarner, as I detailed on Monday, is whether the Giants can secure a strong enough return to justify moving him.
Bumgarner’s eight-team no-trade clause – which includes the Astros, Yankees, Braves and Cardinals, as well as the Cubs, Brewers, Red Sox and Phillies – also could be a factor. Bumgarner should be motivated to approve a deal; a player traded in the middle of a season is ineligible for a qualifying offer and exempt from draft-pick compensation. But the list gives him leverage.
Interestingly, Rojas, 25, is just the No. 22 prospect in the Astros system according to MLB.com, but is also considered a super utility guy, something Farhan Zaidi clearly values. Rojas has played every position except catcher and centerfielder, and is posting a slash line of .315/.403/.575 with 20 homers and 32 steals, between Double-A and Triple-A this season. Whether that’s enough to part with Bumgarner, remains to be seen.
