Giants willing to trade Madison Bumgarner?

With the San Francisco Giants quickly sinking in the NL West, they may have to consider doing the unthinkable at this year’s trade deadline.

Bryan Murphy of McCovey Chronicles cited a reported message from an industry source on Monday which read, “Word on the street is that everyone is on the chopping block minus [catcher Buster] Posey and [shortstop Brandon] Crawford.” The message was in obvious reference to the San Francisco roster.

There are certainly a number of notable Giants who could presumably be dealt in that scenario (Brandon Belt, Johnny Cueto, etc.). But perhaps the biggest name would be beloved lefty and career-long Giant Madison Bumgarner.

The 28-year-old Bumgarner, who was drafted by San Francisco back in 2007, is a marquee fan favorite and even arguably the face of the team. He has made a total of four All-Star teams in a Giants uniform and was key to all three of their titles in the last decade, including winning World Series MVP in 2014.

Bumgarner has fallen off a bit in the last couple of seasons however and has a $12 million club option for 2019. Some indications are that talks on a possible extension could be rather dicey, so the Giants may unfortunately have to think long and hard about MadBum’s continued future with them.