Moore: D-Backs’ Bumgarner deal looks good, but he is showing wear,
But there is concern that he’s wearing down at 30
The Arizona Diamondbacks have gone out and grabbed left-handed starter Madison Bumgarner, showing once again that General Manager Mike Hazen is partial to guys who get it done in October.
Bumgarner’s World Series stats would have put him in the Hall of Fame even if he never threw another pitch after 2014. (That is, unless the analytics guys who watch spreadsheets rather than baseball games were to screw up the vote.)
Bumgarner was vital to three championship Giants clubs (2010, 2012, 2014.) In those series, he went 4-0 with a 0.25 ERA and a save. He had 31 strikeouts against just five walks over 36 innings.
And those numbers, frankly, don’t begin to express his dominance. (Especially in 2014, when he posted five scoreless innings for the longest save in World Series history — in Game 7.)
Hazen’s playoff collection
The acquisition shows a pattern for Hazen.
He went out and got Jarrod Dyson before the 2018 season. Dyson played in two World Series in Kansas City, winning one. (Mr. Zoombiya is a hero in that town.)
Hazen swapped prospects for Jon Jay ahead of the trade deadline in 2018. Jay played in a whopping 14 playoff series over six postseasons with the Cardinals and Cubs. He was part of a championship team in 2011 in St. Louis.
He went out and traded for Eduardo Escobar at the deadline in 2018. Escobar went 2-for-4 for Minnesota in the 2017 American League Wild Card Game.
Hazen last year added Adam Jones, Greg Holland and Wilmer Flores. All had playoff experience.
This, obviously, isn’t a full accounting of Arizona’s moves over the last three seasons. Hazen is involved in more transactions than a grocery store clerk.
But the most recent acquisition again shows that Hazen values guys who play big in big moments. It should be a positive sign for Diamondbacks fans after he traded Paul Goldschmidt and Zack Greinke in a seven-month span.
At that point, it looked like the club was having a going-out-of-business sale. The organization had won a legal fight for control of Chase Field. They had ripped up the grass and installed an artificial turf. And then we found out that team President Derrick Hall had been making goo-goo eyes at a Las Vegas suburb that wanted to woo the Diamondbacks to Sin City.
But adding a guy like Bumgarner with top-gun DNA should help Hazen keep the Diamondbacks from tanking even as he tries to finish an overhaul of the farm system that had been considered among the worst in the big leagues when he took over.
The concern with Bumgarner, of course, is that he’s washed up at 30.
He broke into the majors shortly after he turned 20, and he’s been a workhorse, pitching more than 200 innings in seven different seasons.
In Hazen’s tenure, meanwhile, the Diamondbacks haven’t proved that they know how to keep a pitcher from messing up his arm. Just ask Taijuan Walker or Shelby Miller or Rubby de la Rosa or Luke Weaver or Jon Duplantier.
Adding a 30-year-old power pitcher with a decade of wear and tear isn’t likely to improve on that record — or is it?
Bumgarner led the big leagues with 34 starts last season.
Can he do it again?
A financial concern
If he can go, and if the Diamondbacks keep Robbie Ray, and if Luke Weaver is healthy, and if …
Let’s stop with the “ifs” and stick with the very real concern that Bumgarner isn’t going to be a difference-maker. After all, he seems to be coming over pretty cheap.
Bumgarner is signing with Arizona for a reported $85 million over five years.
The other numbers flying around free-agent pitchers provide context.
Gerrit Cole went to the Yankees for nine years at $324 million. That’s $36 million a year, more than twice Bumgarner’s projected annual salary.
Stephen Strasburg signed with Washington for seven years at $245 million total. That’s $35 million a year, exactly twice Bumgarner’s pay.
And Zack Wheeler is linking with the Phillies for five years at $118 million.
For better or worse, spending is tied to winning in baseball.
The perennial National League West champion Dodgers spent $171 million on players last year, according to numbers compiled by USA TODAY.
That put the organization in league with the Astros and Angels, right behind the $200 million Cubs, Red Sox, Nationals and Yankees.
The Diamondbacks spent just $108 million in team payroll by comparison.
The Bumgarner move looks promising.
Mike Hazen clearly values guys who’ve been through pressure situations.
But this isn’t a no-brainer. Bumgarner and his new club have a lot to prove.
We’re rooting for them, both.