Diamondbacks designate SP Madison Bumgarner for assignment

The Arizona Diamondbacks said they remained committed to Madison Bumgarner after the lefty’s latest ugly start against the St. Louis Cardinals. Just a couple days later, though, those plans have changed — Nick Piecoro reports that Bumgarner has been designated for assignment, essentially ending his time with the team.

When a player is designated for assignment, they’re removed from their team’s 40-man roster. The team has seven days to work out a trade, but if they can’t, the player is then placed on outright waivers and can be claimed by another club. It’s hard to figure who might want to give up anything of any value for Bumgarner, who’s pitched to a ghastly 10.26 ERA over four starts this season while also picking fights with any opponent who looks at him wrong.

But Bumgarner certainly seems like he wants to keep pitching, and a lefty arm will always be in demand, so we’ll see.

The news certainly comes as a huge relief for D-backs fans, both because they’ll no longer have to watch Bumgarner struggle every fifth day and because of Madbum’s likely replacement: 24-year-old righty Brandon Pfaadt, MLB Pipeline’s No. 53 overall prospect, who narrowly missed out on a rotation spot this spring but tore up Triple-A last year and carries immense upside. Arizona has yet to announce any sort of corresponding move, but Pfaadt could be getting the call shortly.