Madison Bumgarner to Dodgers? Should LA Sign MadBum? Does LA Need More Pitching?

Earlier this week, the Arizona Diamondbacks made the smart but shocking move to designate Madison Bumgarner for assignment. The club will eat the $34 million left on the 5-year, $85 million deal he inked with the Dbacks ahead of the 2020 season and soon enough MadBum will become a free agent. That has Dodgers fans talking...

Should LA take a flier on the former All-Star?

A recent poll by Dodgers Nation on Twitter shows that nearly 80% of fans absolutely do not want to see the long-time Giants villain in Dodger blue.

Would you want to see the #Dodgers sign Madison Bumgarner as a reclamation project? #DNPolls
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) April 20, 2023

Notably, this poll started before the loss of number 5 starter Michael Grove, but the sentiment remains the same. There's no reason to add a very bad Madison Bumgarner to the mix -- even with the magic touch of Mark Prior and the rest of the LA staff of pitching coaches who, by the way, have enough work already on their plate with the bad bullpen.

Dodgers bullpen:

25th in ERA (5.27)
22nd in FIP (4.46)
25th in K rate (21.8%)
8th-highest HR rate (3.2%)
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) April 22, 2023

In a recent edition of "Designated Twitter" on Dodgers Nation TV, host Doug McKain digs into everything MadBum and the idea of adding him to the Dodger roster.

The consensus opinion on "DT" is Bumgarner doesn't make sense. Not only because of all the baggage that comes with him as a Dodger enemy, but also because he's bad at pitching these days.

Like, real bad.

Since 2020, he's 15-32 with a 5.23 ERA in 69 starts. This year alone he has an ERA of 10.26. Plus there's this from azcentral.com.

"Bumgarner’s struggles were not new to this season. He posted a 7.12 ERA over his final 10 starts of last year. His stuff often appeared noncompetitive; according to a source, players on a rival team talked about adjusting to the quality of his stuff in the same way that they would adjust to a position player pitching."

Madison Bumgarner stats before and after Max Muncy told him to go get the ball out of the ocean:

Before: 3.08 ERA in 1718 innings, 8.75 K/9

After: 4.86 ERA in 491 innings, 7.33 K/9, DFA’d pic.twitter.com/bhSJ4tCmvl
— sky (@GonsolinRBW) April 20, 2023

On the idea of Bumgarner working with Mark Prior, reports have said that the pitcher would routinely disregard Arizona's game plan and didn't see eye to eye with pitching coach Brent Strom.

The reality is that it's a move that makes no sense in any way. Even with how many injuries the Dodgers are dealing with at the moment.