If Giants new President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi trades star pitcher Madison Bumgarner, he's only going to do it if he receives premium talent in return.
Zaidi knows the cornerstone pitcher is his best trade chip, so he's not going to settle for a substandard package.
On Monday, Fox Sports' Jon Morosi reported that the Giants and Milwaukee Brewers have had "substantive communication" regarding Bumgarner.
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Later in the day, Morosi appeared on 95.7 The Game and elaborated on the state of the trade talks between the two teams.
"Farhan Zaidi knows where he’s at in regards to the overall rebuild for the team," Morosi said. "I think they have a pretty high price tag out there for Bumgarner and now it’s just a matter of whether or not the Brewers match it. I think that’s probably the key question. I think the Giants are prepared to move Bumgarner in the right deal if in fact they get the right offer and now it’s a matter of whether [the Brewers are] going to match it."
As NBC Sports Bay Area's Alex Pavlovic reported in December, a Bumgarner trade is more likely prior to the July 31 trade deadline than now, during the offseason.
Morosi made it clear the Giants aren't going to trade Bumgarner just to trade him.
San Francisco Giants
"If Farhan does not get the offer he wants, he’ll wait," Morosi said. "There’s no rush of a deal for the Giants and if they continue to underwhelmed by what the Brewers are offering, they’ll wait and hold him into June or July. But they also realize there’s risk in that strategy, there’s risk because if Bumgarner is not healthy for the first half, which was what the case was 2018 and also 2017, by the way, then they will have missed their best chance to move him."