Bumgarner puts focus on present
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner was joking when he told manager Bruce Bochy he absolutely refuses to follow an opener.
It won’t happen anyway. The ace left-hander is hardly a likely candidate to work behind an opener, baseball’s trendy new position of a bullpen regular who works the first inning before giving way to the true starter.
“If you use an opener in my game, I’m walking right out of the ballpark,” Bumgarner wrote in a text to Bochy after new team president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said in December the Giants were open to the idea.
Bochy recalled the message this month during the team’s fan festival.
“Everybody in this clubhouse knows what kind of teammate I am,” Bumgarner said. “Some people may have forgotten that. Not in here. Outside, according to all this being talked about right now with that junk — it’s OK. All I care about is the guys in here, and that’s it. When it comes to the stuff on the field, I think they all know what kind of teammate I am.”
Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon is curious to see how many clubs this season employ an opener strategy, one that proved valuable for both the Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018.
“Like Bumgarner said, of course you’re not going to do it with him,” Maddon said. “You’re not going to do it with Jon Lester, you’re not going to do it with probably every guy that we have.”
Bumgarner will try to bounce back from two injury-shortened seasons.
The 2014 World Series MVP missed nearly three months two years ago after an April dirt bike accident during an off day in Colorado, and he broke the pinkie on his pitching hand when he was hit by a line drive from Kansas City’s Whit Merrifield in his final 2018 spring training start. He had surgery to insert pins into the finger, returned in June and wound up 6-7 with a 3.26 ERA in 21 starts.
“The first one, I could have made a better decision,” Bumgarner said. “Last year, that’s part of the risk you take standing that close to the hitter. I’m not living in the past, I’m not living in the future, I’m living today. That’s what I do.”
MESA, Ariz. — Khris Davis would like a longterm deal that allows him to stay with the Oakland Athletics for at least three more seasons.
However, he said his desire for a multiyear contract won’t consume him as the A’s prepare to open the season against the Seattle Mariners next month in Japan. Davis led the majors with 48 home runs last year, when he had a careerhigh 123 RBIs, and he hopes to dazzle Japanese fans by hitting at least one homer.
As for getting a deal done, Davis said he knows it’s going to come down to “whatever works best for the organization.”
“For me personally, I just want to focus on this year,” he added. “I don’t like to get ahead of myself or look back in the past and play in the past. I just try to focus on the now. Whatever comes long-term is going to come. If they want me here long-term, they’re going to get something done.”
Oakland general manager David Forst has said signing Davis to a longterm contract is a top priority. The team spent the offseason putting pieces around the star outfielder and designated hitter to try to build another consistent contender.
With the 31-year-old Davis leading them at the plate, the A’s won 97 games last season and returned to the playoffs for the first time in four years before losing the American League wildcard game to the New York Yankees. He received a $6 million raise this offseason to $16.5 million.
“I’d like to be here. I hope something gets done,” Davis said. “It’s not a good thing being a free agent right now.”
Deal for A’s Davis?
Ohtani talks injury
TEMPE, Ariz. — Versatile Los Angeles Angels player Shohei Ohtani hopes to hit off a tee next week for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery.
“That’s the thought, but I’m not trying to rush myself,” the 24-year-old Japanese star — used as a starting pitcher and designated hitter last season on his way to AL rookie of the year honors — said through an interpreter on Sunday.
Ohtani had surgery Oct. 1 to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament, and the Angels think the earliest he could be ready to hit in games is in May. He hopes to start the pitching phase of his rehabilitation at the end of spring training.
“So far, things are going as planned,” Ohtani said. “No problems at all. But maybe once I start throwing, maybe I’ll start having some issues. But as of now, everything has been going well.”
Ohtani went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 10 starts as a pitcher and played 104 games overall as a rookie, hitting .285 with 22 homers and 61 RBIs.
“Physically, he’s a oncein-a-lifetime-type talent,” first-year Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. “Now if we can get him back to where he was at the start of last year, it’d be perfect. The fans love to watch him; we love to have him in a uniform.”