New Madbum deal? ‘Giants gotta have Bumgarner’

Now that the Giants have a closer and mostly set roster for 2017, it’s a good time to revisit the Madison Bumgarner contract.

The rotation’s best pitcher is its lowest-paid pitcher, and the Giants have been open to discussing contract options with the left-hander, who’s largely responsible for their three World Series titles.

Bumgarner, 27, could have been a free agent for the first time this winter and would have joined Zack Greinke, David Price, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer as pitchers whose contracts average at least $30 million a year.

Instead, he’s due $11.5 million next season, and the Giants have $12 million club options for both 2018 and 2019. The contract (five years, $35.56 million) was signed in 2012 and at the time was the largest for a player with fewer than two years of big-league experience.

At the winter meetings in National Harbor, Md., I asked two prominent agents how they’d approach a client such as Bumgarner, who makes incredible money but no longer market value for an elite starter.

“If I were the club, I would go to the player and want to get a longer-term deal in place,” one agent said. “If I were the player’s representative, I’d want to have a longer-team deal in place that makes sense for both sides.”

“You’ll never get your value if you renegotiate early,” the other agent said, “although Bumgarner might be the exception because he is so unbelievable.”

One of the agents warned against duplicating the Red Sox’s botched negotiations with Jon Lester, a durable lefty who had never missed a start, like Bumgarner. Lester was open to a hometown discount, but the Red Sox damaged the relationship by lowballing him with their initial offer.

Lester wound up signing with the Cubs for six years and $155 million. A year later, desperate to replace Lester, the Red Sox committed $217 million to Price, who posted his worst ERA and WHIP since 2009, his rookie year. The Red Sox on Tuesday traded elite prospects for Chris Sale.

“The Giants gotta have Bumgarner,” an agent said. “So unless they feel they can do better on the open market, as this gets closer, they have to do something.”

But what? Here are two possibilities should both sides agree to add, say, three years through 2022, which would spike the average annual salary.

• Extend Bumgarner three years in line with today’s salaries — meaning the extension would top $90 million, part of which would be paid up front as a signing bonus to help offset the current below-market dollars.

•Rip up the contract (which is permissible) and start anew with the understanding that Bumgarner would be signed for six years. His salaries would increase the next three years, but the Giants would benefit by knowing he’d be around longer.

“If the Giants feel they can’t win without Bumgarner,” an agent said, “then from the club’s standpoint, you might have to bite the bullet on the option years and throw some more money out there.”

On the other hand, Bumgarner might cash in like no pitcher in history if he plays out his contract and becomes a free agent in three years.

“If he does a long-term deal, he might not get his value in those two option years, and it may depress the years going forward. So if your initial theory was, ‘Let’s get our first fortune (which Bumgarner did with his current contract) and then go for the gold in the second,’ you’ve got to wait.”

The Giants will be over the luxury tax threshold for a third straight year, meaning they’ll be taxed 50 percent on every dollar their payroll exceeds $195 million. If the Giants re-up with Bumgarner this offseason, they’d be even further above the threshold.

They might want to wait until next winter when they could operate below the threshold. Matt Cain’s contract ($20 million in 2017) will be off the books, and Johnny Cueto ($21 million in 2017) can opt out and become a free agent.

The threshold will be $197 million next winter, not a considerable jump, and increases to $206 million, $208 million and $210 million each year through 2021.

The Giants anticipated higher thresholds in the new labor agreement, which would have given them more payroll flexibility, including with Bumgarner, who has switched agents twice this year. He moved from Relativity Baseball to Excel Sports Management in the spring to Legacy Agency in the summer.

His agent is Ed Cerulo, who worked with Bumgarner at Relativity as the marketing director, helping the pitcher land commercial deals. Cerulo relocated to Legacy in April.

Lotta green, gold: Three former A’s signed deals this offseason for a combined $210 million, and here’s manager Bob Melvin’s take on each:

Yoenis Céspedes (Mets, four years, $110 million): “You knew New York would make a push for him. He’s embraced there and done great things for them. The minute he got there, they were a different team, so I think it was important they got him signed. He loves the spotlight. He likes the big city.”

Rich Hill (Dodgers, three years, $48 million): “Talk about perseverance and hard work. You go from the independent league to signing a three-year contract like that. The commitment to himself and never giving up, I think, is the thing that stands out the most with Rich.”

Josh Reddick (Astros, four years, $52 million): “I would have preferred him to be out of the division. We’re going to have to see him a bunch. It’s a little bit closer to home for him. He’s not afraid to wear a cowboy hat, some cowboy boots. So it’s probably a good place for him.”

Fowler and Bonds: Outfielder Dexter Fowler, who signed a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Cardinals, couldn’t get jersey No. 24 because it belonged to Whitey Herzog. So he picked 25 in honor of Barry Bonds, Fowler’s mentor.

Bonds, who also switched from 24 to 25 when he moved from Pittsburgh to San Francisco in 1993 — he wasn’t getting Willie Mays’ number — took Fowler under his wing in 2013, connected by mutual friend Glenallen Hill, and helped Fowler’s technique, mind-set and training.

“He was elated,” Fowler said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “He knows how hard I work, and he knows what we’ve gone through. He said he couldn’t be happier.”

Fowler will be the first Cardinal wearing No. 25 since Mark McGwire.