With sense of urgency, Diamondbacks move on from struggling Madison Bumgarner

As he considered what to do with struggling left-hander Madison Bumgarner, Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen kept coming back to the word “urgency.”

“I ask our players and staff to have urgency around how we’re going to play and attack,” Hazen said on Thursday. “And so I have to do the same thing. I can’t be a hypocrite and ask for that and not do it in my job.”

The Diamondbacks designated Bumgarner for assignment on Thursday, a move that means the team likely will eat more than $34 million in salary through next season. Their willingness to move on from him despite the financial loss was made in part because of how poorly Bumgarner was pitching and by how enticing the options the young pitching behind him is.

But it was also made because of what the Diamondbacks apparently think of themselves. Sitting in first place in the National League West three weeks into the season despite losing three of Bumgarner’s four starts, that belief might be justified.

“Where we’re standing right now,” Hazen said, “requires a sense of urgency.”

Bumgarner’s struggles were not new to this season. He posted a 7.12 ERA over his final 10 starts of last year. His stuff often appeared noncompetitive; according to a source, players on a rival team talked about adjusting to the quality of his stuff in the same way that they would adjust to a position player pitching.

It was a precipitous fall for Bumgarner, the former postseason hero for the San Francisco Giants. Though his decline had already begun when the Diamondbacks signed him to a five-year, $85 million deal in December 2019, they had hoped certain adjustments could get him back to top form. It never came to be.

“I don’t know,” Hazen said when asked to make sense of Bumgarner’s downfall. “And, frankly, we’ve all lost a lot of sleep over trying to answer that question. I haven’t answered it yet. And we’re here today. I don't have the answer for you. It just didn’t work out.”

Bumgarner’s relationship with the coaching staff had soured; he and pitching coach Brent Strom never saw eye-to-eye. Bumgarner rarely used the game plans provided to him by the team’s support staff.

His stuff never seemed to get to a level that would allow him to succeed like he did for so long in San Francisco, perhaps a result of the significant mileage he accrued on his arm for years with the Giants, both during the regular season and often deep into October.

“He’s been an elite competitor in this league for a long time,” Hazen said. “He knows what he needs to do to get himself ready. I felt like he was in the best shape he’s ever been in coming into spring training this year. He looks fantastic. … We struggled with commanding the ball and we struggled with some stuff getting swing-and-miss in the zone.”

Based on the way the Diamondbacks talked about Bumgarner before they acquired him, they thought they were getting a player who would lead a young pitching staff both on and off the field. Club officials have lamented that they did not get either version.

“I think we need to have a better process around our evaluations,” Hazen said. “We need to have a better process of where things stand when we’re adding guys to our team.

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“We’ll deconstruct a number of different areas, both on the performance side of things, the coaching side of things, the front office side of things, all those things. But in the end, look, unfortunately — I’ve been doing this for 20-plus years — I’ve been a part of some of these that haven't worked out. Sometimes you don't walk away with clear, ‘This is exactly what happened.’”

For now, the first crack at Bumgarner’s job will go to Tommy Henry, the young left-hander who started nine games for the Diamondbacks last season. But at some point right-hander Brandon Pfaadt is expected to get an opportunity, as well. Both pitchers, Hazen said, factored into the decision to part ways with Bumgarner.

Pfaadt is the more highly regarded prospect of the two — and one of the more anticipated pitching prospects in the majors. Hazen understood the questions about why it wasn’t Pfaadt before reassuring reporters that his time will come.

“Brandon is going to pitch up here and he’s going to be a very good player for us,” Hazen said. “And it’s going to come. But it’s not going to come right this second.”

In cutting ties with Bumgarner, the Diamondbacks are setting a new club record for dead money, exceeding the $22 million they ate when releasing right-hander Russ Ortiz during the 2006 season.

But while the move caught some around the game off-guard, it seemed less surprising to those close to the Diamondbacks. Hazen kept coming back to the way his club has played — and the need for him to reciprocate that effort.

“Our competitiveness has stood out every single day that I watch us go out there and play,” Hazen said. “I think that’s been a calling card for the manager ever since he’s been here. And I think the players buy into that. I think there’s an energy around this group, that they are motivated to play with each other.

He later added: “These guys are playing really hard and well and they deserve to see us putting in that same degree of urgency that they are.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Moving on from Madison Bumgarner price Diamondbacks willing to pay