Red Sox Trade Target: Madison Bumgarner could cure starting pitching woes
Could Madison Bumgarner be a player that the Boston Red Sox need in order to find consistency? It’s possible because he has championship pedigree.
Though the Boston Red Sox have been playing better and are starting to heat up as of late, winning 8 of their last 10 games, they need to find some consistency within their starting pitching staff.
To be exact, as of right now, the Red Sox only have four listed starters. Though this has been due to injury, I think this is an area the Sox have quite frankly ignored. It is in my opinion that it would be beneficial for the team to acquire someone like Madison Bumgarner to find and keep the consistency and winning ways.
Bumgarner can give this team some championship spark and a wake up call to get this thing going on the right track. This is the most important quality about the left-hander. What is so underrated about Bumgarner is that he brings an attitude to the game that is not seen often in this day in age in baseball.
Bumgarner has an incredible fire in him to compete and to win. A small but great example would be from just earlier in the month when Max Muncy of the Los Angeles Dodgers had hit a home run off of him. Bumgarner did not like the slow stride that Muncy was making around the bases. As a result, he yelled at him. I think Bumgarner would be a terrific acquisition for the Red Sox because he’s got a lot of fire in him and it’s something the Sox need more of an injection of. He did not get the nickname of Mad Bum for nothing.
In his career, Mad Bum is a 3-time World Champion and a 4-time All-Star. He has a lot of credentials to back up his name as well.
For the 2019 season, Bumgarner is only 3-7 with an ERA of 4.28. He also has posted a career high in walks per nine innings and one of his career lows in strikeouts per nine innings. Though some of these stats are revealing, to some degree, I think Bumgarner has been frustrated with the direction the San Francisco Giants are heading in.
Now would be a terrific time for the Red Sox to jump in and grab Mad Bum from the Giants. Bumgarner will be a free agent next year but now is the time to get him because of what he brings to the team in the postseason.
To shine some light on how terrific Bumgarner really is, all you have to do is look at his postseason numbers. In 16 games, Bumgarner is 8-3 with an ERA of 2.11, throwing over 100 innings, striking out 87 and walking only 18. Mad Bum is someone who the Red Sox need for a postseason run where Bumgarner has made his living and has done it quite successfully.
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I think it is concerning that with all of the injuries the Sox have in their pitching rotation, it will catch up to them. This is why adding a 5th starter to the rotation is key, while Bumgarner would still be an option to start when the rotation shrinks to four in the postseason.
Also, due to the inconsistent play of Rick Porcello and Eduardo Rodriguez (though Rodriguez has looked good as of late), it would be even more important as we head into the summer and into the playoff chase for the Sox to acquire a guy like Bumgarner to keep the team motivated.
Overall, I firmly believe the Red Sox need some more fire in their bellies. Lately, there has been some great signs that the team is starting to slowly find itself. However, with a team who just slowly started to find itself I think it would be a unique idea to bring in a guy like Bumgarner to continue that fighting spirit that this team has shown the last 10 games and hopefully they can play like this the rest of the way through.
With all of this being said, I think it is possible that the Red Sox could find a way to trade some minor league players to get a deal done to get Bumgarner. At this point of his career, it would be hard to imagine that the Giants would be asking too high of a price due to the fact that his best days are behind him. However, Bumgarner can still be a valuable contributor to a team like the Red Sox who need some toughness and a heavy dose of attitude.