Giants Manager Gabe Kapler Hasn't Spoken With Free Agent Madison Bumgarner

Giants manager Gabe Kapler has dealt with a lot during his first few weeks in office, from constantly addressing and explaining a controversy stemming from his time with the Dodgers to navigating being the replacement for a three-time World Series champion in Bruce Bochy.

But as the MLB offseason and free agency have opened up, Kapler and Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi have a lot of choices to make on which players to re-sign and which new players to bring in.

One player that Kapler hasn't spoken to is former All-Star pitcher and current free agent Madison Bumgarner.

"I have not talked to MadBum yet," Kapler said Thursday on 95.7 The Game. "And I'm very interested to see how that all plays out." 

"I know that he's out there exploring and I completely understand his perspective on that."

Bumgarner reportedly has drawn interest from numerous teams in free agency, and for good reason.

After back-to-back seasons marred by injury and inconsistency, Bumgarner improved in 2019, leading the NL in games started with 34, and struck out over 200 batters.

When asked if he expects to have MadBum as his opening day starter, Kapler deflected and explained that there are a lot more decisions to be made before that day rolls around.

[RELATED: Zaidi hints at how Giants will handle Pillar contract decision]

"I'm pretty, I'm pretty focused - before we get to the roster, I know that Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris, our president of baseball ops and GM, are both making very difficult decisions right now.

"They're deciding what our roster is going to look like. Obviously, that's a very collaborative process. We're having conversations every day, but right now we're focused on building a really good coaching staff. And, I believe, I trust that our roster will be strong at the end of the day."

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