Despite a bounce-back year with Toronto that put him in a better free agent position than he was at in 2022, Belt has received no offers for this season. Which makes no sense.
Good morning, baseball fans!
As most of you have undoubtedly noticed, former San Francisco Giants Captain Brandon Belt has somehow gone unsigned during this offseason. He was not the only former Giants player named Brandon to go into this offseason without a team, but he’s the only that didn’t end up getting signed, with Brandon Crawford joining the St. Louis Cardinals earlier this month.
Considering the differences in their 2023 seasons, this is a little baffling.
Belt was a guest on The JD Bunkis Podcast on Friday and had plenty to say about this offseason, per an article from SportsNet.
Belt noted the stark contrast between last offseason and this one, and his considerably different position in each. In 2022, he was coming off of an injury-shortened season in which he had career-low offensive numbers (much like the position Crawford was in this year). And yet Belt had no problem getting signed by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2023.
Belt went on to have a strong bounce-back season (primarily as DH) with the Blue Jays, in which he batted .254/.369/.490, with 19 home runs and appeared in 103 games. Yet he has received no offers this year.
Belt says he received a few tire-kicking calls from teams who wanted to have him as a back-up plan, but no follow-ups.
Belt notes that many teams were hoping for longer deals with their first choice, which he found understandable, and those teams ended up getting them. But it’s still surprising to see that he hasn’t gotten any offers as a DH, especially considering his 2.0 bWAR 2023 season.
What time do the Giants play today?
The Giants play the third game of this four-game series against the San Diego Padres this afternoon at 4:15 p.m. PT.