Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Among the adjectives and four-letter words you want to hurl at Farhan Zaidi right now, don’t let “dumb” enter the verbal assault.
The president of the Giants and his front office knew this was coming. They were not being hounded by Larry Baer to reach deeper into his wallet. They were not deceiving themselves that the franchise’s longtime legend was about to grant them a hefty discount to stay in the only major league clubhouse he’s known.
No, the Giants knew perhaps their most popular player, an unrivaled World Series hero, was about to leave, and an untrusting fanbase was about to explode. They had just seen — and survived — the backlash over allowing Kevin Pillar to become a free agent. They were ready for what was coming next.
“I think our fans want a winner,” Zaidi said last week, when asked about the blowback that would be unleashed the moment Madison Bumgarner landed elsewhere. “… That’s our goal: To get back to having a winning team. And when you have a winning team, there are going to be players for fans to get behind.”
Bumgarner will not be one of them. There will not be a 12th year of marriage, no glimmer of a fourth World Series title the postseason icon can win with the Giants. The 30-year-old is no longer a Giant and no longer a free agent, agreeing to a reported five-year, $85 million deal with the Diamondbacks on Sunday.
This was a mutual decision that it was time to move on. Bumgarner wants to win. The Giants want to build the structure of a winner, which is baseball corporate speak for rebuilding, which is not winning right now. Bruce Bochy is no longer around; he had sensed with the regime change coming, it was time to walk away. So, too, did Bumgarner.
The gunslinging cowboy, as you might know, is not one for theatrics. You hit a home run, you round the bases with your head down. You do not elevate yourself above the game. Which made his final moment with the Giants — that at-bat against Clayton Kershaw, the helmet tip to a standing crowd, jetting out of Oracle Park before he could answer questions about that farewell — feel especially poignant. Even if the Giants matched the $85 million, you wonder if Bumgarner would have returned.
It is unclear what San Francisco offered; the Chronicle reported it was a four-year contract. What the Giants could not offer was much hope to be a contender immediately. What the Giants would not offer was a nine-figure deal to blow the Diamondbacks out of the water, channeling older Giants regimes that followed their heart more than their brain.
No, Zaidi and GM Scott Harris were going to be disciplined. Their plan involves flexibility that allows them to slowly construct the roster, improvements coming more through increments than $100 million splashes. And locking up Bumgarner — a somewhat polarizing pitcher because of the great tread on his arm — was not part of that plan.
The plan is not to infuriate you, the Giants fan, even if it sure feels like that. The plan is to find more Mike Yastrzemskis and Mauricio Dubons, more young players who grow on you rather than the ones to whom you’re already attached.
That’s what Zaidi is gambling by allowing Bumgarner to ride his horses to Arizona. He has just helped close an era, one that Joe Panik and Bochy already had pushed the door closer to being shut. He wants to build a winner by finding values in all places; in a free-agent starting pitcher he thinks has more in him, in a Rule 5 pick, in turning cash into prospects. With no Bumgarner and no Will Smith, the Giants gain two compensatory draft picks. More youth will be coming. Bumgarner was not a bargain, and thus he is not a Giant.
There will be time to give Bumgarner a more formal goodbye. He’ll be coming to town immediately, April 6-9, and might pitch against the Giants in Arizona two series prior. San Francisco fans will be in the awkward position of rooting against a battery of Bumgarner-Stephen Vogt. Kevin Gausman and Aramis Garcia will have some work to do.
There will be time to further unload on Zaidi, who built so much goodwill last year and is watching much of it dissipate in an offseason in which he’s hired an unpopular manager and allowed three of his most popular players to leave. He hears your yells, but he will not be guided by them.
There will be time to stay away from the Giants, who won’t be putting forth a winning team or too much of a nostalgic team. The rebuild — a word the current regime feels is loaded and will not use — is here nonetheless.
Whenever the Giants get to the other side, it won’t include Bumgarner. Actually, it will. He’ll be another threat on a division rival. The folk hero is now a foe.
Zaidi knew this was coming, and he did not shift his eyes. The Giants have a new face, and it’s not a beloved manager with a growl or a throwback lefty with a resume we might not see again.