.  .  . and, after this thread, I retire any and all bickering about Mr. Bumgarner. In defending the kid's prospect status I have gotten a bit out of control and annoyed a few people - my bad for that, I appologize. No need to anymore though huh? He's in the big leagues and now we can just watch and see if he's as good or, as bad, as we thought. In any case I recuse myself from any arguments about him - at least as far as making it worse.

     My final thoughts are that it was never about me thinking he was this can't miss ace or, the very best pitching prospect at a given time just that he was better than the kids being ranked ahead of him often, and the arguments against him were either non-existent (to me) or, overblown.

     Without further ado, here is my Mad Bum crystal ball. Feel free to take mine as a prediction of his career and not just one possible outcome but, no wagering please! Just kidding but, predicting the future ain't easy.

Happy 21st kid, and good luck!