St. Louis Cardinals: What are the chances of adding MadBum?
By Ben Fadden
The St Louis Cardinals have reportedly entered the mix in the pursuit of Madison Bumgarner, but here’s why they don’t have a great shot at getting him.
The St Louis Cardinals made it to the NLCS but got swept by the Washington Nationals, so they will be trying to improve this offseason. And they are doing so by being in the mix for Madison Bumgarner.
The rotation is already pretty strong with Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, and Miles Mikolas along with Dakota Hudson so that could make the front office not feel so inclined to add another starter when they already have a good rotation.
Bumgarner is likely going to get north of $100 million after Zack Wheeler did on Wednesday, but that is the problem for the Cardinals.
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According to Spotrac, the Cardinals payroll is already over $150 million so ownership might not want to add a $100 million arm especially when they already have a strong rotation like I mentioned.
Based on that and the fact that the Cardinals competition is teams that need starting pitching more than they do is a big factor and it could lead to other teams overpaying for Bumgarner while the Cardinals will have their set price.
The Minnesota Twins now have some competition in the AL Central, so they will need to deepen their rotation behind Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi.
The Chicago White Sox have a lack of starting pitching behind Lucas Giolito and Michael Kopech, and even Kopech is no guarantee that he will pitch well coming off Tommy John.
The Braves and Reds both have starting pitching but they are also teams that either trying to get back to the postseason (Reds) or get farther than they have (Braves).
Next. Mets acquire centerfielder Jake Marisnick. dark
All of those teams I listed have a greater need of Madison Bumgarner than the St Louis Cardinals so with that said I wouldn’t bet on the Cardinals adding Madison Bumgarner to their rotation.