Madison Bumgarner Contract: the Diamondbacks Appear to Have a Big Problem on Their Hands Following Latest Start

Do the Arizona Diamondbacks have a glaring issue regarding left-hander Madison Bumgarner?

On Monday night, the former ace and World Series hero took the mound for the D-Backs against the Phillies. But true to his recent form, he struggled mightily to get outs.

Bumgarner lasted just 3.2 innings, allowing a whopping 11 hits and seven earned runs. Luckily for him, the D-Backs came roaring back for a thrilling comeback win against the Phillies. But that doesn’t take away from the issue at hand with Mad Bum.

Madison Bumgarner Contract

On the season, Bumgarner is 6-13 with a 4.87 ERA after turning in a disappointing 2021 campaign, as well.

Unfortunately for Arizona, they’re going to be saddled with the 33 year old for the foreseeable future, too. He still has two years left on his five-year $85 Million contract he signed prior to the 2020 season.

Per Spotrac, Bumgarner is set to make $23 Million in 2023 and then $14 Million in 2024 to round out the end of his deal before he finally hits free agency before the 2024 season.

Prior to the start against the Phillies, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo made a “performance based” decision to skip Bumgarner’s spot in the rotation. He had given up at least five runs in each of his last five starts leading up to that point, seeing his ERA balloon from 3.71 to 4.53.

“It’s just a matter of tweaking a couple of things and getting back on track,” Lovullo said at the time.

Unfortunately, the tweaks to Bumgarner didn’t seem to work when he returned to the rotation on Monday night. And now, Diamondbacks fans will be left hoping that the decorated left-hander can return to some semblance of the guy he was during his days with the Giants.

If not, there could be some uncomfortable conversations looming between Madison Bumgarner and the Diamondbacks brass in the future.

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