Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants say that Madison Bumgarner’s season — and with it, perhaps his Giants career — is finished.
Bruce Bochy went on record saying the pitcher who has meant more to him than any pitcher he’s ever managed has thrown his final game this year. All along the plan was for Bumgarner to start Bochy’s career finale, and the Giants had shuffled their rotation so Bumgarner would be on regular rest for Sunday.
Two days prior, the Giants announced a change of heart.
“I talked to him, discussed the whole thing,” Bochy said after the Giants’ 9-2 loss to the Dodgers at Oracle Park on Friday. “I’d just as soon him hang with me and watch the game with me. I didn’t want him to feel like he had to get out there. We’re covered on the pitching side.”
Bumgarner has thrown 207 2/3 innings this season, and the stat that means the most to the throwback lefty is innings eaten. Stephen Strasburg leads the NL with 209 innings.
Bruce Bochy said he's not starting Madison Bumgarner on Sunday because he wants him to "hang with me and watch the game."
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— KNBR (@KNBR) September 28, 2019
But Bochy appeared to disqualify using Bumgarner once more as a reliever, even if he’s only five outs away.
“He’s pitched enough,” Bochy said of Bumgarner, who will be a free agent. “The game’s not going to determine anything. He’s got a lot of baseball left. I’d just like to take care of him. So he’s not going to pitch.
“I didn’t want him to feel like because it’s going to be my last game that he had to get out there — which he would have.”
If Bumgarner the pitcher is indeed finished a few outs shy of the NL innings mark, perhaps Bumgarner the hitter will be tapped by Bochy on Sunday.
Bumgarner was not around after the game, and Bochy said the 30-year-old will speak Saturday about his feelings in being shut down.
Without Bumgarner, the Giants will have a bullpen day to close out Bochy’s and perhaps Bumgarner’s Giants career. Bochy mentioned Dereck Rodriguez as a possible starter, though it will depend on Saturday’s pen usage.