The Giants may trade Madison Bumgarner after all, per report

With all of the chatter surrounding who is and who isn’t available on the trade and free agent markets, one name that didn’t come up as much as it should was Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner is entering the final year of his deal with the Giants and at $12 million, it is a contract that is perfectably reasonable given his level of production over the course of his career. He has had some fluky injuries over the last couple of season, but beyond that he has established himself as one of the more formidable starters in baseball, in particular in the playoffs.

So for a Giants team that is in pretty desperate need of a rebuild given the state of their farm system as well as their aging roster, trading Bumgarner made all the sense in the world. However, the Giants had previously resisted the temptation to move Madison....at least until now.

It is worth mentioning here that new director of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi does not have the personal attachment to Bumgarner that the previous front office may have. Zaidi knows what the Giants need (at the very least a significant retooling if not a full rebuild) and Bumgarner is an easy way to jump start that process as he would provide a substantial return despite having just a year left on his deal.

So far, the Brewers, Phillies, and Braves have at least checked in to see what it would take to get Bumgarner with Milwaukee and Philly seen as the more likely destinations at this moment in time.

Stay tuned, folks. This offseason is going to be an interesting one.