Rehabilitating Belt not a lock for Giants’ lineup on Opening Day
San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is hoping to build off the best season of his major league career, but he may have to wait a bit before stepping on the field.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Thursday that Belt is still recovering from October surgery on his right heel and it’s unclear whether he’ll be healthy enough to play by Opening Day.
Zaidi said the Giants have been encouraged by seeing videos of Belt’s swings and rehab regimen but said the team’s latest acquisition, Tommy La Stella, could fill in for Belt at first base if he’s not ready to play by April 1.
“We just won’t know if he’s going to be ready for opening day, so to that end, having Tommy and his ability to play first base might be particularly important for us early in the season,” Zaidi said.
Belt set career highs with a .309 average, .425 on-base percentage and 1.015 OPS for the Giants last season. His numbers ranked along those of some of the best hitters in the National League, but the Giants’ longtime first baseman wasn’t much of a factor in MVP voting because he opened the season on the injured list and played
in only 51 of the Giants’ 60 games.
Belt missed the first week of the 2020 season due to right heel pain but was one of the Giants’ best players upon returning to the diamond. The Giants announced in the second week of October that Belt would undergo heel surgery, but didn’t reveal a timetable for his recovery.
The Giants announced they agreed to terms on a three-year, $18.75 million deal with La Stella on Thursday.
The eighth-year major league veteran is expected to play second base and third base for the Giants, but with Belt potentially unavailable at the beginning of the season, the club will also have La Stella work at first base during spring training.
LA STELLA CONTRACT HELPS BOTH PARTIES >> When Giants executives created their list of offseason priorities, acquiring a left-handed hitter with a track record of major league success was near the top.
It took until the first week of February to accomplish the goal, but Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris were able to breathe a temporary sigh of relief after the organization announced it had signed La Stella to a three-year, $18.75 million deal.
The details of the contract are intriguing for several reasons, but mostly due to the length and relatively unorthodox structure.
Since being hired in November, 2018, Zaidi had yet to sign a player to a contract of at least three years. One of La Stella’s potential platoon partners at second base, Wilmer Flores, was the only free agent to sign a multi-year deal with the Giants under Zaidi’s
New Giants infielder Tommy La Stella figures to play first base if Brandon Belt is unable to on opening day.
watch prior to Thursday.
What made the Giants so comfortable with a 32-year-old player who has never had more than 360 plate appearances in a season? Zaidi points to La Stella’s elite contact skills and plate discipline, which have enabled other players considered late bloomers such as free agent third baseman Justin Turner to be productive performers well into their 30s.
“I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time just staring at his 27-walk to 12-strikeout ratio last year,” Zaidi joked. “That probably says a lot more about me than it does about him.”
The Giants think the adjustments La Stella has made to his swing in recent years will allow him to continue thriving against right-handed pitching, and they’re paying him as if he’ll remain a critical contributor at the end of his contract. The organization and La Stella even structured the deal around a big final year, as he’ll receive only $2 million in 2021 and $5.25 million in 2022 before earning $11.5 million in 2023.
In 2021, the Giants maintain more payroll flexibility to add another left-handed hitter or a starting pitcher before the season begins. With
a potential work stoppage looming in 2022 after the collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1, 2021, backloading the deal so La Stella can cash in during the 2023 season makes sense.
“Whether it’s payroll flexibility or revenue expectations, I think people are still looking at 2021 as a year where we may not be running on all cylinders from a revenue standpoint so that kind of time horizon, it syncs well with the organization’s economics,” Zaidi said.
The Giants were also helped by the fact they don’t have any significant financial commitments yet for 2023, as Belt, Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey will have their contracts expire at the end of this season while Evan Longoria’s is up at the end of next year.
GIANTS GET OUTFIELDER >> The Giants announced they acquired outfield prospect Lamonte Wade, Jr. from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for right-handed pitcher Shaun Anderson.
Anderson posted a 3.52 ERA in 18 games with the Giants last season. Wade, a ninth-round draft choice of the Twins in 2015, made his major league debut with Minnesota in 2019 and has appeared in 42 games over two seasons. He is a career .211 hitter