by Justin Dunbar, Website Manager
The saying that in life, all good things must come to an end. This is a lesson that the San Francisco Giants must realize. San Francisco was a baseball powerhouse from 2010 to 2014, winning three World Series. However, in the last two years, the Giants have just a 137-187 record, and their core has continued to age. It is clear that they can no longer contend for a World Series championship, so they must do what all non-contenders must do — rebuild. During a rebuilding phase, teams tend to trade their top players in exchange for younger, cheaper talents. It’s a process that sacrifices winning presently for building a dynasty later on. It clearly works when done properly; the 2017 World Champion Houston Astros went through a very long rebuild prior to their success. The problem for the Giants is, due to injury issues and bad contracts, they only have one player that they can realistically trade for a good package of young players. That player is star pitcher Madison Bumgarner, whom San Francisco must ship out of town before it’s too late.
In his nine-year career, Bumgarner has an impressive 3.03 earned runs average (ERA) and has struck out four times the amount of batters as he’s walked. He is also considered one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all times; he has a 2.11 ERA in the playoffs and won the 2014 World Series MVP after giving up just one run in 21 innings. That has made him a fan favorite here in the Bay Area. Don’t be fooled though; it is the time for the Giants to trade him. At the age of 29, Bumgarner is just exiting his prime years. Furthermore, he is a free agent at the end of the season and will surely command a deal north of $100 million. Resigning him is going to be tough for the Giants, considering that they already have the third highest payroll for 2019 and have the second most money committed to 2020, according to Spotrac. This budget wouldn’t be a problem if the Giants were spending that money on quality talent, but a lot of their players (Buster Posey, Jeff Samardzija, Johnny Cueto) are overpaid and are no longer the stars that they were paid to be. Even if San Francisco wanted to contend, they couldn’t with so many bad contracts and few key contributors. There’s no point of keeping Bumgarner when they have zero chance to win with this group of players.
With the combination of his talent and cheap contract (just $12 million), several teams will be interested in Bumgarner’s services. World Series contenders such as the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Philadelphia Phillies are in the market for a quality starting pitcher. In return, the Giants could get a package of young players that could boost their rebuild. San Francisco has just the 24th ranked farm system in the MLB, according to Bleacher Report. That means that they contain very little quality players in the minor leagues that are ready to make an impact in the Majors. Any player the Giants would get for Bumgarner would instantly become one of their best young prospects. The Yankees, for example, could offer the Giants 22-year-old pitching prospect Justus Sheffield or 20-year-old outfield prospect Estevan Florial. If they want young players that are practically MLB ready, they will need to pursue some of the Braves’ young pitchers in their farm system, such as Kyle Wright and Touki Toussaint. Either way, these players could become the face of their franchise and could help San Francisco contend for a World Series championship in the future. If they aren’t going to contend now, why would anyone in their right mind destroy this opportunity to get some of the league’s best young talents? The Giants are much better off with 2-3 up and coming players in their early twenties than one player who is getting to the age where pitchers tend to see their production fall off.
“I’m 50-50 on trading him,” says Bryan Lee (11), a fan of the Giants. “I see why they should trade him, but it’s going to tough emotionally for Giants fans to move on.” For an MLB team to compete with the very best teams, their front office cannot be emotionally attached to any player. Take the Philadelphia Phillies as an example. They held onto all of their key players, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins, after the 2012 season, despite it being obvious that they should move on. What’s followed since is six straight losing seasons, where an 80-82 record this season was the closest they’ve gotten to relevancy. If the Phillies could go back, it’s obvious that they would have traded these players instead of hanging on to them. It’s critical the Giants don’t make the same mistake, or their future could be very dark.
It’s time for the Giants to move on from Madison Bumgarner. Sure, it’s been a great run with the 2014 World Series MVP, but the Giants have a chance to acquire several young players that could be keystones of their rebuild. If the Giants decided to hold on to Bumgarner, they could be making one of the worst decisions in baseball history and could be setting themselves up for many more years of losing. It’s critical that they don’t let that happen, and trade him while they have the chance.
