San Francisco Giants: Potential replacements if Madison Bumgarner walks

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA – AUGUST 13: Madison Bumgarner #40 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning at Oracle Park on August 13, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images) /

There’s still a lot of baseball left in 2019, but it’s never too early to start looking ahead to the upcoming free-agent class. What will the San Francisco Giants to if Madison Bumgarner walks?

It may be hard to believe, but free agency will soon be looming over each of the 30 MLB teams, including the San Francisco Giants.

The biggest name hitting the market for the Giants is ace Madison Bumgarner.

The first step will be to extend to him a qualifying offer, which he will likely reject in favor of a multi-year deal and a chance to test the open market.

As one of the top starting pitchers on the market, there will be no shortage of interest, so even after the Giants held onto him at the trade deadline there’s still a good chance he’ll be playing elsewhere in 2020.

That could prove to be a blessing in disguise. He’s already over the age of 30, which means he has likely peaked, and there are a lot of innings on his arm. Committing to him long-term could mean paying for declining production on the backend of the contract.

If he does wind up walking, there are plenty of viable options for the San Francisco Giants to pursue in their search for rotation help.

Here are a few potential paths the Giants could take should Bumgarner decide to leave San Francisco: