Madison Bumgarner is becoming a bigger and bigger bet for contending teams. Not only will it take trade compensation to land the 29-year-old lefty, but a recently-leaked no-trade list paints this picture: If a contender wants to land Bumgarner, compensation will likely be necessary. That, of course, could come in the form of something small and innocuous to make the veteran feel at home outside of San Francisco down the stretch of the season. Or, more likely, it could mean money in the form of a contract extension. With free agency looking more and more barren (Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel are still both out of work) by the year, Bumgarner may have no interest in heading out to the open market. For teams like the Yankees and Phillies, that could mean sizing up Bumgarner before he actually pitches an inning for their respective teams, and dropping millions of dollars to secure his services for the future. Could a two-year, $40M deal work? Would the soon-to-be 30-year-old want market value and years, possibly pushing a potential deal well over $100M? Buy Yankees tickets: StubHub, SeatGeek, PrimeSport, Ticketmaster In theory, Bumgarner made himself money by concocting a list of contending teams. Even if no long-term deal is agreed to, a Bumgarner trade will remove him from the list of free agents that require draft pick compensation. But unless the Yankees or Phillies are hell bent on Bumgarner now and in the future, it’s hard to imagine a huge deal happening when a trade commences. Bumgarner owns a 3.88 ERA across 55.2 innings this season for the Giants. Joe Giglio may be reached at jgiglio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports. Find NJ.com on Facebook.<doc-sep>When San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner submitted his no-trade list to the franchise, there was one important team allegedly left off the list: the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported on Twitter that the list the Giants' ace submitted included the Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. "Bumgarner chose teams strategically; list comprised solely of contenders that might want to acquire him from #SFGiants, not teams he wants to avoid," Rosenthal wrote. A no-trade clause, which MadBum has in his contract with the Giants, allows the player to veto trades to certain teams. Players normally use it to decide specifically where they want to go, if traded, and leverage incentives in exchange for them to withhold their veto of team on their no-trade list. All of the teams Bumgarner included on the no-trade list are leading their division or within five games of the lead in their respective division. They're all "contenders," as Rosenthal put it. But the Dodgers, the notorious rival of the Giants, are currently the leaders of the National League West division; the Giants are at the bottom of the standings. Bumgarner wouldn't say whether or not he was in conversation with the Giants about a possible trade when asked in March. "I have too much respect for this organization to talk about contractual stuff publicly," he told reporters at the time. The Giants fan favorite has been with the franchise for the entirety of his 11-year career, but is available as a free agent in 2020.<doc-sep>The Red Sox are among the eight teams on Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner’s no-trade list, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Bumgarner can block any trade to the Sox, Braves, Cubs, Astros, Brewers, Yankees, Phillies or Cardinals. Bumgarner, who is a free agent after the season, is expected to be one of the top players available on the trade market this summer. The soon-to-be 30-year-old owns a 3.99 ERA in eight starts this year and his postseason track record would make him attractive to any contender. The Red Sox don’t look like a great fit for Bumgarner considering their deep rotation, but an injury could change things quickly. The group is already depleted by the short-term losses of David Price and Nathan Eovaldi. According to Rosenthal, Bumgarner strategically built his no-trade list with teams he believed could be interested in making a deal instead of marking teams he didn’t want to join. That move will increase his leverage near the trade deadline, when the Giants are expected to shop him and other veterans. If someone gets injured and the Red Sox do have a rotation need come July, they’ll likely gauge the possibility of getting a deal done for Bumgarner. The no-trade list is an additional obstacle Boston will have to deal with if things get to that point.<doc-sep>
Earlier today, a no-trade list came out for Giants’ ace Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner, who has a partial no-trade clause, can block trades to eight teams, and he opted to block trades with eight contending teams, per Ken Rosenthal. Those teams are the Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, Astros, Brewers, Yankees, Phillies and Cardinals. Bumgarner is clearly taking the rumors that he will be traded this season seriously, and making plans accordingly. As Rosenthal notes, he chose teams that would be most likely to want to trade for him so that he can control a number of factors if a trade ends up happening. It’s a lot easier to narrow down the potential trade landing spots when so much of the league is either tanking or rebuilding, so this is a pretty standard move. And as Alex Pavlovic points out, he’s not the first Giant to form their list accordingly. Just because he has blocked these teams doesn’t mean he won’t accept a trade to one of them, but it does give him the power to approve a trade to any of them. So he can choose his destination, if there are multiple offers. He could also expect some form of compensation to waive his no-trade protection. Additionally, with Bumgarner in the last year of his contract, should the Giants part ways with him mid-season he would enter free agency without a qualifying offer and without costing another team a draft pick, something that has held up quite a number of players on the free agent market over the last couple of years. Most notably, the still-unsigned Dallas Keuchel, as Casey pointed out yesterday, who will likely be signed as soon as the draft pick for his qualifying offer expires on June 2nd. Should Bumgarner opt to test the free agency market next year, a trade mid-season would actually be in his best interest, as sad as it would be for many Giants fans to see him go.