David Price vs. Madison Bumgarner: Could the Giants Have Both?

David Price to the Giants?

David Price getting traded from the Rays has become a virtual certainty since their season ended once again in the ALDS. But maybe not so surprisingly, the Giants have been bandied about as one team who might be interested in Price's services next year.  

At first I wanted to tell you all about how great David Price is and how the Giants should do everything in their power to get this guy.  Instead I started looking at a guy who I think might be just as good as Price who's already on the Giants, Madison Bumgarner.  

I am not saying that I don't think the Giants should pursue Price if the "price" is right (see what I did there?), what I am saying is that although Price has the fanfare as the 2012 AL Cy Young winner, lets not forget that the Giants already have their own lefty ace who matches Price stride for stride so the Giants should pursue but if it requires breaking the bank, maybe they should pass

Here are two stat lines and you tell me who you think David Price is and who is Madison Bumgarner

Career Numbers

K/9 = 8.10

BB/9 = 2.64

WHIP = 1.16

ERA = 3.19

Innings/Start = 6.37

K/9 = 8.29

BB/9 = 2.28

WHIP = 1.15

ERA = 3.08

Innings/Start = 6.39

Price is behind stat door #1 and Bumgarner is #2.  As you can see, their numbers are startlingly similar and Bumgarner is even slightly better that Price in most regards.  Stats aside however, these lefties have very different approaches to the game.  

Bumgarner is a slider first guy, who relies on throwing his slider for strikes and also as his out pitch.  Price on the other hand throws 3 variations of his fastball while using breaking pitches sparingly.  Since Price relies so heavily on his fastball, it is a concern going forward is that his effectiveness may go down as the velocity goes down, similar to how Lincecum's performance arc has gone, Price will have to start using more of his breaking pitches to get batters out.  

Bumgarner on the other hand has stayed very consistent with his fastball speed and doesn't really need it to be his out pitch.  Oh and by the way, Bumgarner is only 24 years old while Price is 28.  

I think the point of all this is that although it would definitely be an upgrade to get David Price in a Giants uniform and that even I salivate at the thought of writing Bumgarner, Cain, Price at the top of the Giants' rotation, Giants fans need to take a step back and realize that the Giants probably shouldn't mortgage the future for a guy who isn't even going to be the ace. 

That job goes to Bumgarner for the foreseeable future.  Our own homegrown version of David Price

Laws of the Day

Last year David Price threw a variation of his fastball for over 71% of his pitches.  Over a third of his pitches thrown were two-seam fastballs

His average fastball speed was 93.4 mph in 2013 compared to 95.5 mph in 2012

- fangraphs.com