It's safe to say Madison Bumgarner doesn't agree with Max Scherzer's view that the designated hitter should be added to the National League.
Scherzer hurt his thumb when batting for the Washington Nationals on Thursday and said that perhaps it's time the NL adopted the DH rule.
San Francisco Giants ace Bumgarner -- who is no slouch with the bat -- disagreed with the notion of Scherzer, who willingly signed a seven-year $210 million deal with Washington to come over to the Senior Circuit.
"He knew the rules. Whatever much he signed for -- what did he get, again? -- he didn't have a problem signing his name," Bumgarner said of Scherzer, according to ESPN. "He didn't have a problem with hitting then. I'm sure he had his pick of anywhere he wanted to go."
Scherzer, who played for the Arizona Diamondbacks before joining the Detroit Tigers in the American League for five years, is 1-for-9 on the season with three strikeouts and owns a .159 career batting average and 14 hits.
Bumgarner's retort stems from comments that Scherzer made to CBS Sports over the weekend.
"If you look at it from the macro side, who'd people rather see hit: Big Papi [Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz] or me? Who would people rather see, a real hitter hitting home runs or a pitcher swinging a wet newspaper? Both leagues need to be on the same set of rules," he said.
Bumgarner, who won the World Series MVP Award last October, is hitless in seven chances this season and owns a career .162 batting average, but he also has six homers to his name -- including two career grand slams.
The debate ramped up even more when St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright was lost for the season to a torn Achilles sustained in the batter's box.
"What if he got hurt pitching? Should we say we can't pitch anymore?" Bumgarner said. "I hate what happened to him. He works his butt off out there. But I don't think it was because he was hitting. What if he gets hurt getting out of his truck? You tell him not to drive anymore?"
He continued: "That's the way the game has to be played. I appreciate both sides of the argument and I get it. But [ending pitcher plate appearances] isn't the way to go about [addressing] it."
On the hill, Bumgarner is 1-1 this year with a 4.63 ERA through four starts while Scherzer is 1-2 with a 1.26 ERA also through four appearances.
While Scherzer wants a change, Bumgarner is fine with the NL being the only league in the world to not adopt a designated hitter.
"It's a beautiful game to me the way it is," he said. "That's obviously the way baseball started and I'm a traditional guy. I'm not much for change. I know people argue both sides, but for me, from what I see, it's a more challenging game. It's more challenging for managers. There's so much more that goes into it in the National League than, 'let 'em pitch until they can't get outs anymore.'"
The Giants and Nationals play a three-game set in Washington, D.C. from July 3-5 at Nationals Park
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