Brewers emerging as ‘most likely destination' for Madison Bumgarner on trade market

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For all the talk of how quiet the Cubs have been this winter, the Brewers have been almost equally as silent.

After winning the division and coming up just short of the World Series, the Brewers haven't done much in the way of adding to their core this offseason. They've acquired a trio of smaller parts via trade and free agency (reliever Alex Claudio, outfielder Ben Gamel and infielder Cory Spangenberg) while losing Jonathan Schoop, Domingo Santana, Keon Broxton and Joakim Soria and potentially a host of others (Mike Moustakas, Wade Miley, etc.).

So while Cubs fans are understandbly angsty this winter, a saving grace at the moment is the fact the Brewers' roster doesn't appear to be any better than it was in 2018.

However, that would all change if Milwaukee managed to put together a trade for Madison Bumgarner.

The San Francisco Giants are reportedly shopping their ace and the Brewers were linked to Bumgarner back in November. Now, it appears as if Milwaukee has risen to the top as the "most likely destination" if the Giants trade Bumgarner, MLB.com's Jon Paul Morosi said Monday:


The Brewers and Giants have had substantive communication about a Bumgarner trade this winter, sources say, and the Brewers are continuing their internal deliberations about how much they're willing to give up in order to acquire the three-time World Series hero.


The Brewers have a slew of question marks penciled in to their 2019 rotation and adding a guy of Bumgarner's caliber would be an instant boost to the starting staff. He's also only owed $12 million in the final year of his contract before free agency, so he wouldn't break the bank for the small-market Brewers.

It's a matter of whether the Brewers want to pay the asking price in terms of prospects to go all-in for 2019, sacrificing the future and taking the risk on just the one season.

Bumgarner's production has fallen off a bit in the last couple seasons as he's struggled to stay healthy and he has a ton of innings and wear and tear on his arm even though he's only 29. But if he joined the Milwaukee rotation, he would instantly become the No. 1 and shore up the only real weakness on the Brewers roster at the moment.

It doesn't appear as if any trade is imminent and Morosi said the Giants may opt to keep Bumgarner and trade him at before the July deadline when the market could be hotter.

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