Madison Bumgarner has a limited no-trade clause in his contract that would allow him to block a trade to several MLB teams, and there appears to be a very real chance he could exercise that right if the San Francisco Giants try to move him to one of the teams on the list.
The Giants have been on a hot streak as of late and suddenly find themselves just 2.5 games back in the wild card race, but there has still been talk that they could look to trade Bumgarner before the July 31 deadline. One source that ESPN’s Buster Olney spoke with about the situation said he would not be surprised if Bumgarner blocked a trade “just to continue to be part of something he loves for the rest of his deal.”
“He could use the no-trade clause to extract some cash out of the Giants — a going-away present, you could call it, a final chunk of change for a player who has been worth far more to the franchise than he has been paid during his time in San Francisco,” Olney wrote Sunday.
Bumgarner’s no-trade list reportedly includes the Red Sox, Yankees, Astros, Cubs, Braves, Phillies, Brewers and Cardinals. If the Giants agree to trade him to a team other than one of those eight (and we know of at least one not on the list that has shown interest), there will be nothing Bumgarner can do.
By approving a trade, Bumgarner could actually put himself in a better position for when he becomes a free agent after the season. He would become ineligible for a qualifying offer if he’s traded, meaning any team that signed him next winter would not have to forfeit draft pick compensation.
Despite all that, Bumgarner recently sounded like a man who has no interest in starting fresh. If the Giants do end up trying to trade him to a team on his no-trade list, they had better be prepared for the deal to fall through.
