Cody Bellinger, J.D. Martinez, Blake Sell, and Jordan Montgomery all finalized their spots for at least 2024 after Spring Training began, resulting in delayed free agent signings this season, but they were not signed in 2016. Brandon Belt, an All-Star and two-time World Series champion with the Giants, is not yet signed.
And that’s confusing the 35-year-old, who is also a first baseman, outfielder and designated hitter.
“I’m a little confused,” Belt said Friday. When appearing on “JD Bunkis Podcast” broadcast on Sportsnet. “Honestly, I’ve had very few calls from teams beyond the ‘I’m interested’ stage. That’s it, we’re just checking in.” Before even discussing money or anything with anyone has not yet been achieved.
“I wish I had an answer. I just don’t.”
Belt, who spent the first 12 years of his career with the Giants, signed a one-year deal with the Blue Jays ahead of the 2023 season, hitting .254 with an .858 OPS and a .369 on-base percentage in 103 games. In the game, he primarily served as a designated hitter in a lineup that included George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Bo Bichette.
he revealed in August He said he plans to retire near the end of the 2022 season and will undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage in his right knee after the season. According to MLB.comfixes a problem that has been going on for 7 years.
At that point, his future depended on the results of the surgery and his recovery, Belt told NBC Sports at the time, but he ultimately signed with the Blue Jays and earned the top spot in their lineup. Despite recovering from injury, finding a solution in free agency proved to be “very easy”.
Berto said he’s “a little on the fence” about what he wants to do in 2024, saying on this week’s podcast, “I don’t know if I should quit,” but he knows he’ll still be in the lineup. However, Belt admitted that he would not have accepted a non-guaranteed contract that included only an invitation to spring training.
“I don’t want to come across as ungrateful or anything like that,” Belt said on the podcast. “But I feel like I’ve proven, especially in the last few years, that I don’t think I’m in that position right now. …I had no reason to accept something like that, and I think that It wasn’t what I wanted to do.”
Outfielder/designated hitter Tommy Pham also remains unsigned, and Montgomery, who won a World Series with the Rangers, didn’t sign until Tuesday when he joined the Diamondbacks.
Martinez, who signed a one-year contract with the Mets, had a late start to spring training and had to start the season with a minor league at-bat before joining the regular lineup.
However, according to how Berto described his reality, he has not attracted much attention.
“I feel like I’m in my prime in terms of my approach and what I want to do in the game,” Belt said. “And what’s the goal when you play every night? So it sucks in that regard, but I don’t know either.
“I don’t really have a good answer for how I feel about that either. It’s not something that actually happened to me, so I don’t know how I should actually feel about it.”
