Brandon Belt, Giants avoid arbitration hearing with one-year deal
The San Francisco Giants and first baseman Brandon Belt were scheduled to go to an arbitration hearing on Wednesday, but managed to avoid it.
As the San Francisco Chronicle's Hank Schulman reported, the two sides agreed on a one-year, $6.2 million deal for 2016:
#sfgiants, Belt agree to one-year deal.
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) February 10, 2016
Belt gets $6.2 million. #sfgiants
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) February 10, 2016
The Giants had offered Belt $5.3 million, while he requested $7.5 million.
Avoiding the hearing means the Giants have now gone 12 straight years without such a potentially tense situation with a player. It's also the second straight year the Giants and Belt came to terms at the last minute.
In 2015, the 27-year-old Belt hit .280/.356/.478 with 18 home runs, 68 RBI and a 3.9 WAR San Francisco, though he did have some late-season concussion concerns and had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in October.
Belt, of course, was one of the Giants' October heroes in 2014 when he blasted a game-winning home run in the 18th inning against the Washington Nationals in Game 2 of the Division Series:
