San Francisco Giants Pick Up Option on Madison Bumgarner — Now What?

In one of the easiest decisions a front office could ever make, the San Francisco Giants exercised a club option for Madison Bumgarner on Monday.

The San Francisco Giants didn’t even need a general manager in place to know picking up the $12 million option on Bumgarner’s was a no-brainer.

Despite a couple of ‘down years’ by Bumgarner’s standards, which could be linked to injuries, he’s still one of the best pitchers in the game and an ace.

Not only that, he’s been part of three World Series championships with the Giants and is now the heart and soul of this team.

Speaking of people who helped the Giants win World Series, the San Francisco Giants also picked up the team option on Pablo Sandoval at league minimum.

As for Bumgarner, his future with the Giants is starting to get questioned by those in the media. There are those who think the Giants will look to move him this offseason.

A lot of that will depend on who the Giants hire as their next general manager, and the direction they see this team going.

If the Giants decide to go through a rebuild, then it makes a lot of sense to move Bumgarner this offseason and try to get the greatest return possible.

On the flip side, you could also hold onto Bumgarner and see how things go in the first couple of months. If the Giants once again look like a team that has no business being in the postseason, then you could move Bumgarner during the season and probably still get a solid prospect or two in return.

The more I think about it, I don’t think the return for Bumgarner will be much different during the offseason compared to in the season. Teams that are desperate during the season will usually give up just as much for half a year as they would for a whole year.

Now what Giants fans want to hear, is the front office is considering extending Madison Bumgarner to make sure he stays a Giant forever.

In the past, the front office has been very good about rewarding players who have helped them win championships. I don’t know if that’s a smart strategy going forward, especially with all of the terrible contracts they still have on the books, but Bumgarner might be the one player it makes sense for.

The injuries he’s suffered over the past two years are somewhat freakish. He’s proven to be super durable throughout his career, so I still think he gives you five solid years as a starting pitcher.

Picking up the option on Bumgarner was the easy decision, what to do with him next will be much more difficult for the new regime.