Bumgarner’s legend secure, but what’s next for Giants?
Madison Bumgarner’s legend with the Giants will be preserved in amber. Now the stuff of myth and memory.
We will never have to see him stumble or grow old in an orange and black uniform. Never see him flail terribly on the mound or be yanked because of pitch count or upstaged by an opener or whatever other analytic-based noodling awaits this franchise.
He will always be the tall country kid who stepped into October, without fear or failure, and helped deliver three
World Series championships to the San Francisco Giants. So, there’s that. The news that Bumgarner, the greatest postseason Giant of all time, has agreed to a fiveyear contract with the Diamondbacks broke under cover of two local NFL games Sunday, to fans already beaten down and prepared for his loss. He’ll be officially introduced Tuesday in Arizona. Giants fans had tightened their abdominal muscles, readying for the gut punch.
Everyone knows the Giants’ glory era is long over, sealed away in the history books. Even though the Giants clearly could have afforded Bumgarner, that’s not the way the franchise works now. We all know that.
In that way, Farhan Zaidi has already won.
He can let Bumgarner walk away for a lower amount ($85 million) than many expected. Zaidi can make it seem like a win because he will have four draft picks before the third round in June, because of losing two lefthanders to whom the franchise tendered qualifying offers. (Reliever Will Smith was the other.)
Zaidi’s in charge. These are Zaidi’s Giants.
If he doesn’t seem to care about ticket sales or nostalgia or fans’ heartstrings in the way that the team has valued such things in the past, so be it. There’s no turning back.
Giants owners could have overruled Zaidi on this move. Or his other moves. They have not. They trust that Zaidi knows what he’s doing, and they are letting him rebuild the Giants in his particular way, ignoring the blueprint of the past. They are confident that if he succeeds, you will be back.
There’s resignation among the fans, sure, but also plenty of unhappiness. Many fans will vote with their pocketbooks — and already are declining to renew season tickets.
To be honest, I’m disappointed. If Bumgarner was going to stay in the National League West, I would have hoped he would be wearing Dodger blue. Not to spite Giants fans, but for two reasons: It would be a fascinating and dramatic dynamic to see the Dodgers’ nemesis in their clubhouse. But also, we would be virtually guaranteed to see Bumgarner in the postseason.
And really, isn’t that what we all want? To see baseball’s greatest postseason pitcher in recent years, striding to the mound in October? To see what he can do now, conjuring up all those memories of 2010 and 2012? And, of course, of 2014, when he almost singlehandedly won a World Series?
Selfishly, that’s what I want to see. He wasn’t going to get to the postseason with the Giants any time in the foreseeable future. But will he get to October with the Diamondbacks? Arizona has been to the postseason twice in Bumgarner’s 11year career, winning one wildcard game and losing two series.
Of course, it would have been strange to see Bumgarner in Hollywood, hobnobbing with celebrities. It’s easier to picture him in the Arizona desert, which he and his wife enjoy, a place where they can keep their horses. He’ll still be able to swing a bat in the National League. He’ll still be able to be matched against Clayton Kershaw and, of course, his former team. Buster Posey stepping in against his old friend might be about as much entertainment as Giants fans can hope for next season.
The Bumgarner who won those World Series doesn’t fit into Zaidi’s analyticsdriven world; his value does not compute in the modern game. On Oct. 26, 2014, Bumgarner threw a shutout, throwing 117 pitches in Game 5 of the
World Series. Three nights later, on Oct. 29, he strode out of the centerfield bullpen in Kansas City to throw five scoreless innings on 68 pitches. In today’s world, he probably would have been pulled after four innings in Game 5 and not pitched again that October.
There would be no legend. No myth. No memory for the ages.
It’s been a matter of only weeks, but with the retirement of Bruce Bochy and the exit of Bumgarner — two throwbacks in a game that no longer values them — the Giants’ past has receded quickly.
Vanished into a sepiatoned past. Preserved in amber.
Oh, what a time it was. Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion