What should the San Francisco Giants do with Madison Bumgarner?

Ok San Francisco Giants fans, it’s time to have an honest conversation about Madison Bumgarner. It’s a difficult conversation, but one that has to happen. So, let’s begin.

The San Francisco Giants have hit that cross-roads with Madison Bumgarner. Do you pay him? With the current situation in terms of talent ready to compete at the big league level, do you trade him and try a quicker rebuild? It’s a tough conversation the Giants have to have.

They want to compete, and they’ve been vocal about that from the start of this offseason, making it a point with who they hired, and that person has also followed suit with ideas of how to compete. The Giants have frankly been miserable since 2016, and are relatively devoid of young talent, especially for position players, that can come in and remedy an aging, expensive roster.

On the other hand, the San Francisco Giants possess one of the best pitchers in baseball, and the best postseason pitcher in recent history. It’s an asset that teams who are on the fringe of making it to the big time would salivate over, and likely pay a pretty penny in prospects.

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You’ve heard all the “trade ideas” that have been thrown out about Bumgarner. The Braves have prospects, the Yankees have a ton of prospects and are looking for an elite starter to anchor their World Series hopeful rotation, and then there are teams like the Brewers who are looking for that one big arm to help push them over the hump in the N.L. All the ideas, all of them speculation. That’s fine. But what happens with Bumgarner ultimately lies with the front office.

Trading Bumgarner this offseason likely signals the Giants are attempting a quick rebuild. But it also signals a lack of intention on competing in 2020. It’s also likely the best way for the franchise to move forward with Bumgarner if they don’t intend on re-signing him. So what’s the best move?

Let’s break down the possible scenarios and their pros-cons.