Tag: Madison Bumgarner

What Is Madison Bumgarner Worth in Upcoming Giants Megadeal?

There’s what Madison Bumgarner is making, what he’s worth and how much he might make in his next contract.

Spoiler alert: These three things are very different.

What’s certain is the San Francisco Giants have gotten a lot more than they bargained for when they extended Bumgarner in April 2012. The left-hander’s contract guaranteed $35 million through 2017, with two club options in 2018 and 2019 worth at least $12 million and at most $16 million depending on his performance in Cy Young voting.

In five regular seasons since, this has paid for a 2.96 ERA across 1,072 innings. Bumgarner has further earned his cash by helping deliver World Series titles in 2012 and 2014. He won the latter championship almost single-handedly.

By Baseball-Reference.com’s version of wins above replacement, Bumgarner has only been the 11th-best pitcher in the league over the last five years. This is somewhere between hogwash and codswallop. He’s at worst a top-10 pitcher and more realistically a top-five pitcher.

Oh yeah, he’s still only 27.

It would be fun to speculate about what Bumgarner might earn on the open market in any offseason. But such a conversation is especially fun this offseason.

This is not only the winter he would have been a free agent had he not signed his extension but also a winter in which the demand for his services would’ve been elevated by the lack of other free-agent aces.

The total record payout for a free-agent starter is the $217 million David Price got from the Boston Red Sox last offseason. Bumgarner would have beaten that with room to spare, becoming easily the most expensive pitcher in history.

Of course, Bumgarner isn’t a free agent right now. There are thus only two ways he can land a contract more befitting of his talent: He can either ride three more healthy and productive years into free agency after 2019 or hope the Giants come calling with a second contract extension before then.

Not surprisingly, the Giants are very much interested in keeping him.

When the topic of Bumgarner’s future with the club was raised last October, Giants general manager Bobby Evans confirmed to Andrew Baggarly of the Bay Area News Group that preliminary conversations had taken place with Bumgarner’s representatives.

“When they’re interested in talking, we want to make sure we’re available,” Evans said. “But we don’t have a timeline. We want Madison to be here for a long time. At the right time, we’ll address this when his camp is ready to talk.”

In all likelihood, the right timeline for extending Bumgarner isn’t imminent.

The Giants are coming off their second straight year over the luxury tax threshold and are slated to be over the threshold again this year. The best time for them to extend Bumgarner would be after 2017, when they’re slated to have a fair amount of money come off their books.

Assuming his $21 million option for 2018 doesn’t vest, it’s a virtual lock the Giants will pay Matt Cain his $7.5 million buyout after 2017. Even more money would come loose if Johnny Cueto opts out of the final four years of his six-year, $130 million contract.

If Bumgarner and the Giants do indeed see a window after 2017, he’d be in a similar position age-wise to Stephen Strasburg when he signed his seven-year, $175 million extension with the Washington Nationals last May. That’s set to begin in his age-28 season in 2017. Bumgarner will be going into his age-28 season in 2018.

Of course, Bumgarner is a better, more durable and generally more accomplished pitcher than Strasburg, so an improvement on his deal would be in order. Say, something more like seven years at over $30 million per year.

While that wouldn’t match Bumgarner’s value on this winter’s market, he’d get the same going rate as Price, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer, who are very much his peers.

However, there’s a rub.

Strasburg was only a couple of months from free agency when he inked his deal, so he had some leverage in his talks with the Nationals. Bumgarner will still be two years away from free agency if he negotiates next winter, giving him considerably less leverage.

“You’ll never get your value if you renegotiate early,” one agent told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle at the winter meetings, although he also admitted, “Bumgarner might be the exception because he is so unbelievable.”

As unbelievable as Bumgarner is, he’d likely have to hold off on signing and continue being himself in 2018 and 2019 to gain enough leverage to squeeze market value out of the Giants. That would require him not to break down. His track record bodes well there, but no pitcher is unbreakable. He’d be taking a chance.

Alternatively, Bumgarner and the Giants could make it easy on themselves and find the middle ground next winter.

My best guess is that would involve going back to 2013 and taking a cue from Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners. When they agreed to a seven-year, $175 million extension, what they actually agreed to was a five-year, $135.5 million deal on top of money Hernandez was still owed in the final two years of his original contract of five years and $78 million. Although he signed coming off his age-26 season, his new deal wouldn’t begin until his age-29 season in 2015.

The ages won’t quite line up if Bumgarner and the Giants go this route after 2017. He’d be coming off his age-27 season and negotiating a deal that would start in his age-30 season in 2020. But since the timing and talent similarities are there, the only other big difference would be the passage of time and corresponding inflation.

So, let’s see…call it five years and $150 million, starting in 2020 and running through 2024?

That plus the money in Bumgarner’s 2018 and 2019 options would mean at least $174 million and at most $182 million over a seven-year span. That would be good money for him and also a considerable discount for the Giants. Ergo, the middle ground.

Since this is a complicated case with lots of ins, outs and what-have-yous, my best guess is obviously less than a promise. The Giants could choose to be more generous despite their leverage advantage. Or, Bumgarner could be the generous one. Or, he could choose to bet on himself in 2018 and 2019, either to gain leverage on the Giants or boost his value for free agency.

Regardless, Bumgarner is only going to get closer to some kind of big payday as time passes. When it comes, it’ll put his first payday to shame.

    

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. Contract and payroll data courtesy of Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

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Madison Bumgarner Contract: Latest News, Rumors on SP’s Negotiations with Giants

Madison Bumgarner has a team-friendly contract that features two team options for 2018 and 2019, but that’s not stopping the San Francisco Giants from getting an early start on extension talks with their ace.

Continue for updates.


Giants Want to Talk Extension

Thursday, Oct. 13

Per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, Giants general manager Bobby Evans has already spoken to Bumgarner and told his agents the team is ready to discuss an extension when they are.

Bumgarner has been one of the best bargains in Major League Baseball since signing his original five-year, $35 million deal in April 2012.

That deal bought out Bumgarner’s first three years of free agency if the Giants end up exercising both of their options.

Per Baseball-Reference.com, next year will be the first time in Bumgarner’s career that he makes more than $10 million in a season.

Bumgarner is scheduled to make $11.5 million in 2017. For perspective, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, Kansas City Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy will make $13.5 million next season.

There aren’t many pitchers in baseball who warrant an extension more than Bumgarner, who has been named to four consecutive National League All-Star teams.

After finishing in the top 10 in Cy Young voting in each of the previous three seasons, Bumgarner has a strong chance to make it four straight in 2016, setting career highs in starts (34), innings (226.2) and strikeouts (251).

The Giants could end up having to pay Bumgarner a record amount to lock him up. David Price signed the largest contract for a pitcher in history last year, when the Boston Red Sox gave him $217 million over seven years.

Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Zack Greinke of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals are the only other pitchers who have signed deals worth $200 million or more.

At just 27 years old, Bumgarner doesn’t figure to slow down anytime soon. He’s been one of the most consistently dominant pitchers in the big leagues since 2011 and is as valuable as any other player the Giants have.

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Madison Bumgarner Is Now Tied for 2nd-Most CG Shutouts in Postseason History

Fact: San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner threw a complete-game shutout against the New York Mets on Wednesday night, the third of his postseason career. He is now tied for the second-most complete-game shutouts in postseason history.

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Another Giant October Win Shows Bumgarner, SF Could Be Challenge for Cubs

NEW YORK — If the Chicago Cubs are the team that wants to spend this month rewriting their history, the San Francisco Giants are the team that can spend October embracing theirs.

This is the team that knows no October disappointment, at least since their run of championship baseball began six years ago this month. This is the team that expects every big game to go the way Wednesday night’s Wild Card Game went at Citi Field, when Madison Bumgarner pitched a four-hit shutout and Conor Gillaspie hit a ninth-inning home run and the Giants beat the New York Mets, 3-0.

The Giants expected this, and no matter how many times anyone says this is finally the Cubs’ year, the Giants will expect to go into Wrigley Field and win there, too, starting Friday night in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

“When it comes to playoff baseball,” Brandon Belt said Wednesday, “we feel we’re the best team.”

They were the best team Wednesday, no matter how good Noah Syndergaard looked. “Dominating” and “unhittable” were the words the Giants used to describe the Mets’ ace, but they never said “unbeatable.”

Syndergaard didn’t give up a run in the seven innings he pitched. He only allowed two hits. He struck out 10.

He doesn’t get an “L” next to his name in the box score, but he lost this battle of aces with Bumgarner simply because seven shutout innings isn’t as good as nine shutout innings.

“If I had a choice of one pitcher I’d want on my side in the postseason, it would definitely be him,” Giants center fielder Denard Span said of Bumgarner.

The best news for the Cubs is that Bumgarner won’t be on the mound Friday or Saturday at Wrigley. He’ll pitch just once in the Division Series. Then again, that’s exactly the situation the Giants faced two years ago, when Bumgarner threw a four-hit shutout in the Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh and the Giants headed to Washington to play the Division Series against the team with the league’s best record.

Sound familiar?

Span remembers it well. He played for that Washington Nationals team.

“I was like, ‘We’re going to crush this team,'” he said. “I’m being honest.”

The Nationals actually beat Bumgarner in Game 3. It was the only game he lost in six postseason starts that year. It was also the only game the Nationals won in that best-of-five series.

They went down, just as the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies and Texas Rangers did in 2010, just as the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers did in 2012, just as the Cardinals and Kansas City Royals did later in that October 2014.

The Cubs are good, but are they better than all those teams that went in thinking they were going to crush—or at least beat—the Giants?

“I know how good they are,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “You just want a shot. We’ll be ready.”

As interesting as it might have been to see the Mets and Cubs play in a rematch of the 2015 National League Championship Series, Giants-Cubs was always the matchup that posed a greater threat in the Cubs’ pursuit of history. While the injury-riddled Mets would have had to begin the series with some combination of Bartolo Colon, Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman in Games 1 and 2, Bochy can pitch Johnny Cueto against Jon Lester in Game 1, then pick between Jeff Samardzija and Matt Moore for Game 2 against Kyle Hendricks.

The Mets were the defending National League champs, but with so many guys hurt, they should be celebrated for even getting this far. The Giants, in contrast, are the team that reached the All-Star break with the best record in baseball.

Yes, better than the Cubs.

It’s true that the Giants were nothing like that for most of the second half, when they had one of the worst records in the major leagues. But it’s also true that sometime during the final week of the regular season, that team from the first half seemed to magically reappear.

“This team plays well when it matters the most,” pitcher Jake Peavy said. “I think it showed.”

They kept telling each other that they still controlled their own destiny, that they only had to find a way to start winning and keep winning. A week ago Wednesday, they were a game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the final National League playoff spot.

The Cardinals didn’t lose again, but neither did the Giants.

“It seems like it took getting our backs against the wall to see that team [from the first half of the season] come back,” Belt said. “It’s not the way you want it to happen, but right now, we’ve got all the confidence in the world.”

They had it Wednesday, helped by having the best postseason pitcher in recent memory on the mound. But you’d better believe they’ll have it again when they show up at Wrigley Field.

They might not beat the Cubs, whose 103 wins are deserving of their status as favorites. But after all the big October wins in those years since 2010—yes, in all the even-numbered years—would it really surprise you if they did?

 

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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Giants, Dodgers Benches Clear After Madison Bumgarner-Yasiel Puig Argument

The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers are archrivals, and tensions boiled over Monday during the first game of a three-game series.

Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner and Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig exchanged words before the teams’ benches and bullpens cleared after the end of the seventh inning. MLB shared video of Puig grounding out to Bumgarner and the ensuing scuffle:

Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times passed along the interaction between the two:

“I just ran,” Puig said, per MLB.com’s Jack Baer and Chris Haft. “He was looking in my direction. He asked me why I was looking in his direction, and I then asked him why he was looking at me. That’s it.”

“I didn’t hear what was going on. He tried to stare me down or something. That’s what it looked like to me,” Bumgarner said, according to Baer and Haft.

This is not the first time Bumgarner and Puig have gotten into an argument on the field. They exchanged pleasantries in 2014, after Puig hit a home run and celebrated with a bat flip:

On Monday, Puig notched the Dodgers’ only hit off Bumgarner, a two-out double in the second. The San Francisco ace tallied 10 strikeouts in seven innings before exiting, but the Giants bullpen surrendered two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning in a 2-1 loss.

“All I know is Yasiel took a check swing, ran hard down the baseline and didn’t say a thing. He heard something from Bumgarner and he responded. I know our guy didn’t initiate,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, per Baer and Haft.

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Should the Giants Be Worried About Suddenly Mortal Madison Bumgarner?

The second half of the season has not been kind to the San Francisco Giants, to put it mildly.

Since the All-Star break, they’ve gone 11-25 with a minus-29 run differential and watched a 6.5-game lead over the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers evaporate into a three-game deficit. There are problems all over, from slumping hitters to bullpen blowups.

But this might be the most concerning development of all for San Francisco: uber-ace Madison Bumgarner suddenly looks mortal.

Bumgarner took the loss Tuesday to the Dodgers, surrendering nine hits and five earned runs in five innings in a 9-5 defeat.

It’s one game, sure. And Bumgarner’s overall stats remain exemplary, as we’ll delve into shortly.

But August, overall, has not been kind to the Giants lefty. In 30 innings this month, Bumgarner has yielded 30 hits and 18 runs—14 of them earned.

He mixed in a couple of strong outings Aug. 7 and 13 against the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles. But he was tagged for 10 hits and eight runs Aug. 2 against the Philadelphia Phillies. And on Aug. 18, the New York Mets hung four runs on him in five innings.

“He wasn’t Bum-like,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after Tuesday’s dud, per MLB.com’s Chris Haft. “He wasn’t quite himself. That was pretty evident.”

Here’s the question now: Is this an anomaly or the start of a disturbing trend?

Again, Bumgarner’s overall numbers are great. He ranks second among qualified pitchers in ERA (2.44) and third in strikeouts (202). He paces the pack with 180.2 innings pitched.

That last number, however, hints at one explanation for his recent struggles: fatigue. The other “F” word.

Bumgarner is the definition of a workhorse. He’s eclipsed 200 innings every season since 2011. He’s logged another 88.1 postseason frames since 2010, including a historic run of dominance in 2014.

Add it up and Bumgarner has carried a much heavier load than most 27-year-old pitchers. He’s absorbed it like an invincible, tree-chopping demigod so far.

Is it possible he’s finally tuckered out?

McCovey Chronicles’ Grant Brisbee floated the possibility Tuesday:

The curve was sharp, but the slutter [slider/cutter] was never buried on the hands of the right-handers. He couldn’t do anything but chuck it down the middle against left-handers.

He looked tired, in other words. No idea if he is, at least to a greater degree than most starting pitchers in August, but he looked it.

Because of the small sample, the eyeball test is all we have. Bumgarner’s average fastball velocity has dropped from 92.0 in 2015 to 90.6 this year. Again, though, he’s putting together one of his best campaigns even with the diminished zip. Despite the August speed bump, he’s squarely in the National League Cy Young conversation.

More than anything, Bumgarner has struggled against the Dodgers, who have tagged him for 10 runs in 19 innings over three starts this season.

As Fox Sports’ Chris Bahr noted, “Dating back to last September, Bumgarner is 0-4 in his past five starts against L.A., allowing seven homers and 36 hits in 28.2 innings.”

Do the boys in blue have his number?

“If that continues, maybe there is something,” Bochy said of L.A.’s MadBum ownage, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The same could be said for Bumgarner’s troubles overall. Give it another start or two. If he keeps coughing it up, let the handwringing commence.

Johnny Cueto has thrown like a co-ace in his first year with the Giants. Jeff Samardzija and trade acquisition Matt Moore also have the talent to be front-line starters, though the results have been up and down.

The offensedespite some haplessness, particularly with runners in scoring position—ranks fourth in the NL in batting average (.260) and third in on-base percentage (.333).

Make no mistake, though: San Francisco’s fortunes rest on Bumgarner’s shoulders. He authored the club’s last even-year run in 2014, single-handedly at times.

If that’s going to happen again, he needs to prove his uneven August is more a fluke and less a fatigue-induced harbinger.

In other words, he needs to be Bum-like.

 

All statistics current as of Aug. 24 and courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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Madison Bumgarner Gave Up 5 ER to Dodgers on Tuesday, His Highest of the Season

Fact: San Francisco Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner gave up five earned runs to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, his highest total of the 2016 season.

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Madison Bumgarner Will Not Participate in 2016 Home Run Derby

Despite a public campaign to become the first pitcher to participate in the Home Run Derby, San Francisco Giants southpaw Madison Bumgarner will not be part of this year’s event on July 11.  

Connor Grossman of KNBR was among the first to report the news, citing Giants manager Bruce Bochy’s comments before his team’s showdown Thursday with the Oakland Athletics.

“There’s no Home Run Derby with Madison,” Bochy said. “That’s been nixed.”

Bumgarner told ESPN’s Buster Olney on June 5 that he wanted to join the event, but Bochy shut down the idea because of safety concerns for his ace. Bochy said last week he was “open-minded” about the idea, per Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, but that sentiment now appears to be gone.

Bumgarner was part of a contingent of pitchers lobbying to be in the Derby. Chicago Cubs ace Jake Arrieta and the New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard also expressed interest, per USA Today‘s Scott Boeck. Both players have hit multiple homers this season.

Bumgarner’s hitting stats are among the best in baseball for a pitcher. He has 13 career dingers and 45 RBI in 407 at-bats. 

On the mound, Bumgarner is 8-4 with a sparkling 1.99 ERA.

Bumgarner is pitching and acting as the designated hitter Thursday. It is the first time a team purposefully put its pitcher in that role since the Chicago White Sox did so with Ken Brett in 1976, per the Associated Press (via ESPN). 

This is justified, according to ESPN Stats and Info:

Having Bumgarner participate would have been a nice jolt of energy for an event that could use a new dynamic. However, San Francisco has legitimate World Series hopes, as it sits atop the National League West with a 49-31 record, so Bochy is right to be cautious with his best pitcher.  

 

Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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Why MLB Needs Madison Bumgarner in the 2016 Home Run Derby

Every time Madison Bumgarner hits a home run, the baseball gods smile. 

So it stands to reason that if Bumgarner were to participate in the Home Run Derby, there would be grins all over the place.

First, the background: Bumgarner, the left-handed ace of the San Francisco Giants, recently put on a display in batting practice at Busch Stadium, as is his wont.

And then he said this to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney about the Derby: “I want to do it.” 

There’s someone else who’s not so keen on the idea.

“No, to be serious, I couldn’t let him do it,” Giants skipper Bruce Bochy told Olney. “We couldn’t let him do it.”

That’s understandable. Bumgarner is the Giants’ rotation-anchoring stud, the guy who carried them to their third World Series in five seasons in 2014 and now is flashing his dominant October form in June.

Why would they let him potentially injure himself in a meaningless fence-clearing exhibition?

They probably won’t is the answer, even though it would be great for MLB when the Derby rolls into San Diego next month.

Last year, remember, MLB tweaked the Home Run Derby rules in an effort to add more excitement to an event that had vacillated between stale and irrelevant.

But while television ratings inched above 2014’s rain-interrupted snoozefest, they fell slightly below 2013, per SportsBusiness Daily‘s Austin Karp. Clearly, the Derby needs something more to make it must-see TV.

Enter Bumgarner. 

Now, granted, this whole thing reeks of too-cute novelty. A pitchereven a big, strong, tree-chopping one—competing against actual MLB sluggers? 

Well, yeah. On June 2, Bumgarner clubbed his 11th home run in his last 190 plate appearances, matching the total posted over that same number of plate appearances by Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout and the Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper, per Ace of MLB Stats

Or there’s this, from Sports Illustrated‘s Jay Jaffe:

[Bumgarner’s] 6.0% rate of home runs per plate appearance over the past two seasons (incorporating five homers last year plus two this year) exceeds all but 14 players with at least 100 PA in that span, not to mention every participant in last year’s [Home Run Derby] field, with both Todd Frazier (who beat Joc Pederson in the final round) and Edwin Encarnacion tops at 5.8%.

More than anything, Bumgarner passes the eyeball test. There are pitchers who run into a homer on occasion or Bartolo Colon types who light social media on fire with their unexpected exploits

When Bumgarner swings the lumber, however, he looks like a hitter. Heck, the .743 OPS he put up last season was higher than 53 qualified position players.

Consider the fact that Bumgarner has taken Los Angeles Dodgers southpaw/demigod Clayton Kershaw deep twice, including this shot fired on April 11:

With that homer, Bumgarner joined an elite fraternity of 17 players who have sent more than one Kershaw offering over the wall, per FanGraphs’ August Fagerstrom. In today’s least surprising news, Bumgarner is the only pitcher on the list.

What would he do in the Derby? He’d swing from the heels, that’s what. And while he might not win, he’d surely light up the crowd at Petco Park and lure more eyeballs to screens.

Whether you like this idea probably depends on where you come down in the “Make Baseball Fun Again” debate. 

For purists who abhor the bat flip, one of the game’s elite pitchers stooping to participate in a glorified batting-practice session probably sounds like stupid on stilts. 

If you’re in the other campthe one that wants MLB to loosen up a bitthis is precisely the type of Twitter-breaking phenomenon you’re rooting for.

And why not? What’s the harm, really? Sure, the Giants have every right to be protective, and even if there’s only a one percent chance Bumgarner will hurt himself, that’s one percent too much for San Francisco.

For the rest of us, however, this would be a giddy, popcorn-popping diversion. Perhaps it’d even spawn a second, pitchers-only Derby. The Chicago Cubs’ Jake Arrieta recently said he wants in, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (h/t Bleacher Report’s Brian Marron). Maybe Colon could be tempted as well.

Here’s the bottom line: In a crowded sports marketplace, baseball needs to do what’s necessary to stay relevant. Some gimmicks are beneath the game and its rich history, but others merely add to the fun. Like, for example, Bumgarner in the Derby.

He wants it. We want it. The world wants it.

Make it so, baseball gods—please?

 

All statistics current as of June 13 and courtesy of MLB.com, unless otherwise noted. 

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Jake Arrieta Comments on Madison Bumgarner Wanting to Be in MLB Home Run Derby

Add Chicago Cubs ace Jake Arrieta to the list of National League pitchers who want to participate in the Home Run Derby. 

Arrieta joined San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner as star hurlers hoping to show off their swing, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“If [Bumgarner]’s in it, I need to be in it,” Arrieta said. “He can hit the ball a long way, but I can too.”

He also mentioned that taking part in the event would be a greater thrill than some of his pitching accomplishments, per ESPNChicago.com’s Jesse Rogers:

Arrieta displayed his power when he launched this bomb off Arizona’s Shelby Miller on April 10, courtesy of MLB.com:

The jack came on Arrieta‘s first plate appearance of the season.

For his career, he has three home runs and 13 RBI in 169 plate at-bats.

Bumgarner told ESPN’s Buster Olney this week that he wants to be in the Derby. However, Giants manager Bruce Bochy would not let that happen, per Olney.

“No, to be serious, I couldn’t let him do it,” Bochy said. “We couldn’t let him do it. 

“And [Bumgarner], he’s convinced he could win it,” the manager continued. “I think he would wear himself down in the first round; he’d try to hit it so hard.”

Bumgarner noted that suffering an injury in the competition would not be an issue, as the team let him ride a horse when he carried the team’s World Series banner before San Francisco’s home opener last April, per Olney.

“I mean, they had me ride a horse on the field, so if they trust me with something like that with 40-some-thousand people going crazy and I can’t do baseball activities, that’s a little bit different,” Bumgarner said. “We’ll talk about it for sure. I’m not trying to say that this is a done deal or anything like that.”

In 401 career at-bats, the 26-year-old has 13 dingers and 45 RBI. Two of his homers have come off Clayton Kershaw, including this one from last year, courtesy of MLB.com:

According to former MLB player and Fox Sports Midwest’s Rick Ankiel, Bumgarner could win the competition:

Arrieta or Bumgarner would be a fun addition to an event that could use a spark. If it came down to only one pitcher being allowed entry into the Derby, then MLB should choose Bumgarner. He has proved to be more of a threat at the plate.

 

Statistics are courtesy of ESPN.com.

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