© Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
The month of May is underway and the Madison Bumgarner trade rumors continue to swirl. The San Francisco Giants ace has had a rather up and down season thus far, before bouncing back in a big way Tuesday night at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies.
Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow joined Murph & Mac Wednesday morning to discuss Bumgarner’s win against the Rockies, and if he is back to feeling like his old self.
“All of last year he said he never felt right, and when a pitcher says that, he’s talking about his mechanics. He said that all this year, ‘I’m getting close, I just don’t feel like I got it’. Now what that means is that you’re not getting complete extension, because your mechanics are not allowing you to crack the whip very loudly.”
Bumgarner’s delivery and mechanics have allowed him to have the success he’s had without blowing away batters with high-velocity pitches. Was Tuesday’s start a sign of what’s to come?
“That crack of the whip gives you maybe another mile-per-hour on your fastball, but the most important thing is it gives you finish, it gives you late-movement and that’s always been what Bumgarner’s all about. It’s the best he’s been in the past two years, and that’s such a great sign for this club.”
If you’re Bumgarner, the constant trade rumors might be hard to ignore. But on the contrary, if you’re Bumgarner, you probably own a flip phone and stay off social media completely. For the rest of us, Krukow offers up some advice.
“Well, we’re just taking it one day at a time because of that. We don’t really want to get too far into the future, because we don’t know what’s going to happen. I do know this, the last time he signed a contract with the Giants, they got a deal. This time, if they sign him, they’ll probably pay more than what the market will pay him.”
It remains unclear if Bumgarner and the Giants can work out an extension, and what it would look like. Because of Bumgarner’s heroics and what he’s brought to San Francisco, his value is more than just what he brings to the mound every fifth day.
“I hope they can work out an agreement, I don’t know if the extension they would give him would be a two, three, four, five year one, I don’t know. I don’t even really know what he’s worth. When you have such an iconic figure like Bumgarner who represents so much more than what he takes out on the mound to this franchise, I would think that the Giants would pay more than anybody else, and I hope that would be the case.”
Bumgarner along with other Giants may be on the move this season. Under the guidance of Farhan Zaidi, the Giants may be in a position to make tough decisions and move on from their beloved core of World Series heroes.
“These guys are our guys, and what they gave this city, you can’t put a value on it for what they’ve done for San Francisco.”
Listen to Krukow’s full interview here: