Brandon Belt and the Giants avoided arbitration last night by agreeing to a one-year, $2.9 million contract. Belt had filed at $3.6 million and the Giants filed at $2.05 million, so they settled just above the $2.825 midpoint.
The kicker: Belt and the Giants representatives had already flown to Florida for the hearing that was scheduled for today. So I guess that gets him out of a morning workout and allowed him to catch up with whatever he has stored on his Kindle during the flight.
Belt hit .289/.360/.481 for the Giants last year. He turns 26 in April. Most people are comparing him to Freddie Freeman, who the Braves locked up to a nine-figure deal over the winter, and there was some hope among Giants fans that Belt would get a long-term deal. But given that Belt is a year and a half older, has about a season less under his belt and given that the Braves were under more financial pressure to lock up their first baseman than the Giants may be -- and thus were under more pressure to back up the Brinks truck for Freeman -- it was pretty unlikely that Belt was going to get anything more than this one-year deal now. If he has another nice season like the one he just had, however, there’s a good chance he gets a long-term deal next year.
