Giants ace Madison Bumgarner of course injured his throwing shoulder in a dirt bike accident last month. Bumgarner was subsequently diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain, which initially put him on target to return in mid-to-late July.
Now, though, that timetable may need to be adjusted a bit. Here's this from John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle:
The Giants are thinking Madison Bumgarner will begin playing catch in late May and could be pitching for them in early August. That's a little later than the initial estimate of just after the July 10-13 All-Star break.
Obviously, when you're talking about franchise arm, the conservative tack is the proper one. Still, the Giants probably won't be getting MadBum back as soon as they'd hoped. For a team that opens play on Saturday in last place in the NL West and a full 10 games behind the first-place Rockies, that's a bit of a blow.
As for Bumgarner, the 27-year-old lefty this season pitched to a 3.00 ERA and 7.00 K/BB ratio in four starts before going down with injury.
