Late last week, Giants ace Madison Bumgarner was badly injured in a dirt bike accident, brusing several ribs and damaging the A/C joint in his pitching shoulder. Early reports indicated that Bumgarner will miss six-to-eight weeks, though some suggested even more than eight weeks. It is his pitching shoulder, after all.
On Tuesday, Bumgarner was evaluated again, and there's a least a sliver of good news here: He doesn't need surgery.
The Giants told beat writers on Tuesday as much, along with the information that Bumgarner will start rehabbing his shoulder in the next four or five days. They said the expectation was for him to miss at least two months, per NBC Sports Bay Area.
That's likely the time period it will take before Bumgarner can start throwing, too. After that, he'll need to build up the arm strength before going on a minor-league rehab assignment, where he'll surely need at least three starts before rejoining the Giants' rotation.
Basically, expect to see him out until the All-Star break.
Bumgarner, 27, was 15-9 with a 2.74 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 251 strikeouts in 226 2/3 innings last season, finishing fourth in NL Cy Young voting. His contract includes a $12 million team option for 2018; otherwise he'd be a free agent after this season. That option would have been guaranteed with 200 innings this year or 400 in 2016-17 combined, but he's not reaching that mark now.
Ty Blach has replaced Bumgarner in the Giants' rotation for the time being.
