Braves miss the boat on Bumgarner
Madison Bumgarner grew up going to Turner Field, watching the Braves as a kid. From all accounts, his first choice this offseason was to return to the south and pitch for that same team.
It won’t happen. Bumgarner reportedly is staying out west and will sign with the Arizona Diamondbacks for a five-year, $85 million deal.
Obviously, Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos had no interest in giving Bumgarner a five-year contract. Anthopoulos signed Cole Hamels to a one-year contract, and the only long-term deal he’s handed out in his two-plus years as GM went to reliever Will Smith earlier this offseason.
A 30-year-old starting pitcher who has never really had an arm injury evidently didn’t interest Anthopoulos to change his stance. Had Bumgarner been younger, perhaps he would have done it. But if he had been younger, Bumgarner might have gotten even more years and more money.
The Braves had interest in Bumgarner before the July 31 trade deadline, but the Giants felt they were still in the race. They fell off and looked silly holding on to Bumgarner when they could have gotten at least some prospects in return.
Atlanta’s rotation still needs one more piece. It has Hamels, Mike Soroka, Max Fried, Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb, who wants the chance to be a starter once again.
The Braves need more. Can they count on Kyle Wright to emerge like Soroka did last year? Will phenom Ian Anderson be an option later in the season?
Or is there another starting pitcher out there on the free agent market who would not require a multi-year contract?
Jon Heyman linked the Braves with free agent Hyun-Jin Ryu last week, but he’ll likely get several years. Could 33-year-old Wade Miley be an option? He’s more of a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher at this point.
Could Felix Hernandez be a reclamation project on a cheap contract? Maybe Shelby Miller or Matt Moore? Could they bring back Alex Wood, who likely will need a prove-himself contract, on a one-year deal?
Well, those are other options, but can any of those pitchers be near the top of Atlanta’s rotation? Analytics probably scared the Braves away from Bumgarner, who at 30 is not the pitcher he once was. But if he could repeat what he did last year for the Giants, that would have definitely been an improvement on what Atlanta had in their rotation last season.
Especially in October.
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