The Arizona Diamondbacks have designated veteran left-hander Madison Bumgarner for assignment, the team announced Thursday. Bumgarner, 33, started on Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, surrendering seven runs on seven hits and four walks in three innings. That outing left him with a 10.26 ERA this year through four starts.
Bumgarner originally joined the Diamondbacks during the 2019-20 offseason, signing a five-year pact worth $85 million. He had previously established himself as an above-average starter with a knack for postseason heroics during his time with the San Francisco Giants. Bumgarner failed to live up to that reputation in the desert. He finishes his Arizona career with an 80 ERA+ through 69 starts. Even his best single-season showing, back in 2021, still saw him check in with a below-average mark for starters with a 90 ERA+.
Although Bumgarner won't pitch again for the Diamondbacks, Arizona will be responsible for the balance of his contract -- he had $37 million remaining entering the season, including $14 million next year.
The Diamondbacks have gotten off to a hot start this season. They enter Thursday in first place in the National League West with an 11-8 mark, two games better than the Los Angeles Dodgers. Clearly they felt their competitive aspirations were being undercut by Bumgarner's presence in their rotation. He had, after all, completed five innings just once in his four attempts.
"We've never been asked to make decisions based on money or anything like that," Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen told the Arizona Republic on Wednesday. "We need to win baseball games. We're trying to win every single baseball game we're going out to play. We want the five guys in the rotation to solidify those spots and give us some stability there. ... We'll continue to assess it as we go, but we need to win baseball games."
The Diamondbacks have several rotation candidates to call upon in Triple-A, including top prospect Brandon Pfaadt and lefty Tommy Henry, who is already on the 40-man roster and who made nine starts for the club last year.
