Buster Posey is the chiding older brother in his relationship with Madison Bumgarner, with Bumgarner never failing to return verbal fire with the deep sarcasm that saturates their communication. They don't tend to trade any compliments when a good insult would suffice.
So Posey's immediate response to Bumgarner's most recent start, against the Dodgers on Wednesday night, was telling, because Posey is not one for empty praise. "The best stuff he's had all year," Posey said during a postgame interview with Amy Gutierrez of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Bumgarner gave up one run in six innings to the Dodgers, by relying far more -- not less -- on his fastball, a pitch that has drawn the scrutiny of rival evaluators preparing for this summer's trade market and the left-hander's impending free agency in the fall. In Bumgarner's first six starts of this season, his fastball usage peaked at 40 percent, against the Padres in early April, but against the Dodgers on Wednesday, almost 60 percent of his pitches were fastballs.
"Just a better tempo," Giants manager Bruce Bochy texted, "and letting it go with conviction. Staying down [in the strike zone] with the cutter helped as well."
Bumgarner generated 18 missed swings against the Dodgers on Wednesday, the most for him, as Sarah Langs noted on Twitter, in any start since September 2016 -- in another game against the Dodgers. All 18 missed swings came against fastballs, the third most he has produced with fastballs.
Bumgarner's average fastball velocity the other night was 91.9 mph, according to Fangraphs -- basically the same as it was during the 2015 season, which was arguably the best regular season of his career. In fact, Bumgarner's results for 2019 are incredibly similar to those of 2015, through his first seven starts.
Bumgarner is 29, and unlike peers such as Clayton Kershaw, CC Sabathia and Felix Hernandez, he has not had a steep decline in velocity. Some teams have tracked some before-and-after results since that motorbike accident, which fueled the concern about the quality of Bumgarner's fastball.
But with Bumgarner, another important question is how much he has been impacted by the failures around him.
A year ago, the industry conversation about Cole Hamels was that the left-hander was in clear regression, in the last guaranteed year of his deal with the Texas Rangers. Hitters were doing more damage, and more often he was generating crooked pitching lines. Some of the contending teams focused on the likes of J.A. Happ, rather than Hamels, because of the early-season performance and because Hamels was more expensive, in salary. Hamels had a 4.72 ERA in 20 starts for the Rangers, because the trade market for Hamels was much less than robust. On July 27, the Cubs swapped a very modest package to the Rangers, who picked up $5 million of Hamels' remaining salary.
In Hamels' first days with the Cubs, he moved through the clubhouse with an irrepressible grin and looked transformed -- and he was, in a sense. A player who had pitched and dominated in some of the most important games of his time had been rescued from months of meaningless games for a bad Texas team, and after Hamels was suddenly thrown into the National League Central race, it was as if he went back in time, to what he had been before. In 12 starts for the Cubs, Hamels had a 2.36 ERA, compelling Chicago to pick up his 2019 option, something it hadn't necessarily expected to do at the time he was acquired. Hamels has continued to pitch effectively this season, with a 3.19 ERA so far.
The Hamels precedent should be instructive for rival evaluators as they assess Bumgarner this season. He has been one of the greatest postseason performers in baseball history, lording over the decisive moments. Two complete-game shutouts in winner-take-all wild-card games. One earned run allowed in 36 innings in the World Series.
The Giants have not been competitive the past two seasons -- partly, in 2017, because of Bumgarner's early-season motorbike accident -- and the front office seemed to punt on 2019, declining to invest any serious resources. It has been a while since Bumgarner was on the mound for the kind of moments that have brought out the best in him. Hamels responded to the adrenaline of a pennant race last year, and for Bumgarner, a trade to a contender to be the difference-making hired gun would be a new source of oxygen.
The front offices of 2019 don't necessarily believe in intangibles and mostly won't pay for them, but Bumgarner might well turn out to be a worthy exception. He's earned that consideration, for sure.