San Francisco Giants: Imagining a Madison Bumgarner trade to the Brewers

The Madison Bumgarner Rumors are back at the forefront of the San Francisco Giants Rumor Mill again. We teamed up with Reviewing the Brew to see what type of trade could ultimately work.

The rumors that just won’t go away! Yesterday, Jon Morosi reported that the San Francisco Giants and Brewers have had advanced discussions surrounding ace, Madison Bumgarner. Morosi went as far to say that if Bumgarner got traded this offseason, Milwaukee would be the likely destination.

In the past, we had a fun back and forth with the Milwaukee Brewers site here at FanSided about what MadBum would be worth. We went high, they went low, and both fanbases rallied around their team and argued over what Bumgarner is really worth. It was anything and everything you would expect on Twitter. So we decided to sit down with Reviewing the Brew, and discuss, and come to an agreement on what a MadBum trade would look like.

First off, Keston Hiura is the only Brewer’s prospect that is a Top 100 prospect. While he would be nice, the Brewers likely are holding on to him. With multiple outfielders in the system, Corey Ray could definitely be a possibility, but his numbers are quite concerning. We ended up settling on Lucas Erceg as the main return for the San Francisco Giants.

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Erceg has a ton of raw power from the left side of the plate, and an incredibly strong arm to fit at third base. Within the Giants system, their best third base prospect is Jacob Gonzalez, who struggled mightily in Augusta during his first season in the organization. He’s likely destined for first base anyways, and Erceg is a lot higher up in the Brewers org, meaning he’s closer to the big leagues.

Then we went for a couple nice low level prospects. The first one is a tall, young right hander in Caden Lemons. Lemons is 6’6″ and is just starting to come into his frame. His fastball can touch up to 97 and he has a decent slider to follow. His third and fourth offerings, along with control will need to have some work. However, time is on his side as he’s only 20 years old.

The other prospect was a young outfielder, again a very tall one. The 6’5″ speedster in Je’Von Ward has surprised a lot of people with his bat. He hit .307 in the Pioneer rookie league (equivalent to the NWL) and posted a nice OBP as well. His speed is solid though and if he begins to fill out his wiry frame he could add some power and strength, potentially keeping him in centerfield if he gains some arm strength.

The Giants would likely need to get a third player if they’re going to trade Madison Bumgarner, as they’d lose their compensatory pick and others for if MadBum were signed by another team in free agency. He’d very likely command a deal above the $50 million dollar threshold meaning they’d get their max return on him as a restricted free agent.

While the rumors are flying that the Giants would want one of Peralta, Corbin Burnes, or Brandon Woodruff in return for MadBum, we think this could be the best deal that gets done.