In the spirit of taking riches away from one team and giving them to others, how about Madison Bumgarner in a Los Angeles Dodgers jersey? Hard to imagine, right?
Well, it has a slight chance of becoming a reality this offseason.
With the Dodgers always seemingly in need of starting pitching help, and a few of their arms, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Rich Hill set to take their chances on the open market this winter, the opportunity for fresh blood has opened up for the Dodgers to take advantage of. And what better way to do that then to snatch up not only a divisional rival but a long-time hate rival’s best pitcher for a few seasons and make them wish they had never let him leave town?
The issue here more lies with the willingness of MadBum wanting to do that to his former team, especially since there have been no real public mentions of beef between Bumgarner and the team. But if there happened to be anything happening behind the scenes, with the type of player that Bum is, it is definitely within the realm of possibilities that could happen this offseason.
With reports of the Atlanta Braves going all in and putting their chips into the middle of the table for MadBum, his trip across town to the Dodgers is not easily done or wrapped up at all. But the need is there and so is the money, so with how this league has been lately, anything is on the table.
If MadBum were to join the Dodgers, he would minimally be teaming up with their franchise stalwart Clayton Kershaw and young stud Walker Buehler to form one of the league’s best three-headed monsters in any starting rotation in the league. Rivaling the rotation that the Washington Nationals could have again if Stephen Strasburg was to resign, the Dodgers could finally look to have fixed one of their longest and largest problems that have been plaguing this team for a while.
Having pitched over 200 innings, earned nine victories, and kept his ERA under 4.00, the 11-year veteran has yet again proven the type of pitcher that he is. Another aspect that the Dodgers desperately need is playoff pitching experience, and with the woes that Kershaw experiences on a yearly basis, Bum could be a great arm to help take some pressure off of Kershaw and hopefully let the team’s incumbent ace pitch to the ability that everyone knows him to be able to.
Money and health are the two biggest factors in any deal that MadBum gets this offseason, but a two-year agreement in the $24 million neighborhood would probably be a safe bet as to what a deal would likely look like for him this offseason. The Dodgers always seem to have money concerns, but when a talent like Bumgarner comes around, sometimes money takes a backseat.