Among the many strange moments from tonight’s Cubs-Giants Spring Training game, this was definitely the strangest:
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It really wasn’t clear, especially at the time, what was going on. Even Jason Heyward and Madison Bumgarner themselves didn’t seem to know what was up. It looked like Heyward wanted to know if it was a strike, said something, and Bumgarner responded by rushing toward Heyward to see if he was the subject of the comment.
Then, after he’d departed, Bumgarner made things even stranger:
So Bumgarner says Heyward claimed he wasnt yelling at him so "there is only other person he could be talking to" which was D. Fowler on 2nd
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) March 25, 2016
The implication is Dexter was stealing signs and Heyward yelled out at him. Bumgarner: "Need to be more discreet about that"
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) March 25, 2016
So, Heyward strikes out looking and decides to yell at Dexter Fowler about sign-stealing? Uh, wha?
[adinserter block=”1″]Even if Heyward was yelling at Fowler, isn’t it just as plausible that Fowler said something about the pitch not being a strike, Heyward responded, and Bumgarner reacted.
You can read more on the alleged sign stealing from the Giants side of things here at CSN, and Bumgarner seems convinced that’s what was up. I guess we’ll hear more about this soon, but it seems pretty odd to be stealing signs in Spring Training, and even odder for Heyward to acknowledge it on the field in a way that Bumgarner could notice.
UPDATE: As I thought, the back and forth between Heyward and Fowler was the two them conferring on whether the pitch was a strike:
Heyward said he merely was looking at Fowler to see if called third strike was a strike or ball. All a misunderstanding, he says.
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) March 25, 2016
Sounds like Bumgarner jumped the gun a bit. Perhaps he was just a bit salty about getting hit tonight, including the homer he gave up to Jeimer Candelario. (Yes, that’s my way of saying go watch that homer.)
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