D-Backs land Bumgarner
Team, LHP agree to 5-year, $85M deal
The Diamondbacks made a surprisingly big splash on the free-agent market on Sunday, agreeing to terms with left-hander Madison Bumgarner on a five-year, $85 million contract, a deal that will rank as the second-largest in club history.
The pact will fall short only of the sixyear, $206.5 million deal the club gave Zack Greinke four years ago. The Bum
garner deal isn’t unrelated: The Diamondbacks hope his signing will give them the frontline pitcher they were missing after dealing Greinke to the Houston Astros over the summer.
The deal also creates an opportunity, in a way, for the club to consider a variety of other moves. For one, it gives them rotation depth to trade left-hander Robbie Ray, who is set to make close to $11 million in his final year before free agency.
And moving Ray would open up a pair of avenues: One, they could then use the financial savings to plug other holes on the roster – namely, in the outfield – via free agency. And, two, the likely trade return for Ray in the form of prospects could make them more comfortable parting with prospects of their own to acquire an impact bat.
Of course, with $15 million of Bumgarner’s contract deferred – which, presumably, makes it a $14 million annual hit for the club’s budget – the team could opt to keep Ray and would still have some $15 million or so to spend should it look to secure outfield help primarily on the open market.
And, of course, there’s what Bumgarner, 30, could bring. In parts of 11 seasons in the majors – all of it spent with the division rival San Francisco Giants – he has posted a 3.13 ERA while playing an important role in three World Series title runs. If he can perform like the pitcher he was, he would give the Diamondbacks a top-of-the-rotation caliber starter who somehow manages to elevate his game in October.
There is, of course, risk involved, as there is with any pitcher – particularly an experienced, free-agent pitcher. He comes with a lot of miles on his arm, having thrown 1,846 innings in the majors, with more than 1,700 of them coming over the past nine years.
Moreover, Bumgarner’s results have begun to trend in the wrong direction. In addition to posting a career-high 3.90 ERA this past season, he has seen the batted-ball data on his two best pitches – his fastball and cutter – back up over the past several years. And he has seen his ground-ball rate decrease precipitously, a development that’s less of a concern in a spacious home park like he had in San Francisco but could be more of an issue in Arizona.
The Diamondbacks could be hoping they can get Bumgarner back on track in part because of the firsthand experience of their new pitching coach, Matt Herges, who spent last season as the Giants’ bullpen coach.
During an introductory conference call with reporters in October, Herges described how the Giants were able to get Bumgarner to buy into analytics to make adjustments last season; the Diamondbacks could believe there are more adjustments to be made.
The club might also believe that, even if Bumgarner’s best days are behind him, his current self still is worth the cost. He has been durable – that is, outside of a pair of somewhat freak injuries: In 2017, he crashed a dirt bike, injuring his throwing shoulder, and the following year he broke a bone in his pitching hand when he was struck by a line drive. He has otherwise made every start of his career.
And, given the ever-rising cost of starting pitching, what the Diamondbacks committed isn’t out of whack for a durable, reasonably effective starter. Plus, the club likely sees value in Bumgarner in terms of what he will bring to the rotation from a leadership standpoint; he is known for being tough and competitive, someone who could serve as an example for younger pitchers.
Bumgarner is said to have an affinity for the Phoenix area. The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly wrote last week that Bumgarner owns horses in the area, speculating that Arizona would be one of the pitcher’s top destinations.