Thursday BP: Brandon Belt is back, baby!

/bursts through the door smoking a cigar

That’s right, everyone. Brandon Belt is back! The Belt Wars are over and the Captain will make his triumphant return this spring after accepting the one-year qualifying offer.

And when he takes the field, he will officially become the longest tenured San Francisco Giants player on the roster. And you can bet he’s going to be lording that two month gap over Brandon Crawford all season.

Belt (and Crawford’s) veteran presence and history with the team will be sorely needed after the unexpected retirement of Buster Posey earlier this month (oh god, writing that still hurts my soul). Not just on the field, but among the fanbase. The organization is savvy enough to recognize the important relationship between the fans and their favorite players, and it’s something they’ve long cultivated on both sides.

Losing Belt so soon after losing Posey would have been too much to bear for many of us. So I don’t think there was any real danger of the Giants haggling him out the door, but it was still a little bit surprising to read that he had not only accepted the one year offer, but was also the only free agent to do so.

I thought it was pretty much a given that the team would work out something more long term, after the massively successful two seasons he’s coming off of. Though nothing says they won’t still do that. But for now, it’s nice to have this resolved and not have to ponder a Giants roster that doesn’t have Brandon Belt on it for at least another year.

This also means that Kenny Kelly’s one man war against the Giants has come to an end. Make sure to thank him for his service.

Old, random MCC article for you to read

In which I fully admit I was wrong.

Tuesday BP: Predicting Brandon Belt’s contract (November 16, 2021 - Sami Higgins)

How many days until pitchers and catchers report?

Giants pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in just 91 days.