Trade market for Madison Bumgarner starting to take shape

As we move ever closer to the July 31 MLB trade deadline, the market for San Francisco Giants starter Madison Bumgarner is starting to take shape.

There will be plenty of scouts in attendance when Madison Bumgarner makes his next start for the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.

Not only is he one of the top rental starters on this year’s trade market, but he also left his most recent start after he took a liner off his pitching elbow. While X-rays came back negative and he has some added time to rest over the All-Star break, teams will want to see first hand that there are no lingering effects of the injury.

So which teams might be in attendance?

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic: “The Astros, Twins, Braves and Brewers are among the clubs interested in Bumgarner, according to major-league sources. ”

The Twins are the only one from that group that is not part of Bumgarner’s eight-team no-trade list, which also includes the Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies, Cubs and Cardinals.

Prior to leaving his most recent start early due to the injury, Bumgarner had been on a bit of a roll.

The 29-year-old struck out a season-high 11 batters while allowing three hits and two earned runs against the Colorado Rockies on June 25. He followed that up with seven innings of one-run ball against the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 30, allowing just four hits and zero walks.

While his 4.03 ERA on the year is far from ace-like production, he’s still been a reliable workhorse who keeps his team in the game, tallying 13 quality starts in 19 appearances.

That inning-eating ability, along with his legendary postseason track record, makes him a potential difference-making addition for a contender.

There’s also reason to believe he’s capable of taking his game up a notch with something to play for after toeing the rubber for a team that has been well out of contention for the past year and a half.

Contenders are starting to line up for a chance to add Madison Bumgarner for the stretch run. Where will the San Francisco Giants homegrown ace ultimately land?