As feared, the follow up news on Brandon Belt's left thumb injury was not good. Additional imaging showed a fracture. While that can include a wide range of severity it likely means significant lost time and/or reduced performance. I mean, it's quite obvious that Brandon Belt's left thumb is a key piece of anatomy for what he does so well for a living.
So frustrating this is the story of Belt's career. Every single time he's looked like he as breaking out, he's been hit with a key injury and had to work his way back. The Giants have shown over and over this year they are not dependent on any one player, but Belt has been a huge factor in their stretch drive. His bat and defense at 1B will be sorely missed over the final week and into the postseason. Even with a relatively minor fracture, it's tough to envision him coming back sooner than 2-3 weeks out.
Terrible news for the Giants.
ReplyDeleteJust as bad for Brandon, too, as his durability will be questioned as he enters Free Agency at 34.
He has seemingly re-invented himself the last 2 years and has really great 2020-2021 numbers that say loudly "I'm not old," but the spectre of injury hangs over him.
Still, he's a great fit "at home" with Houston (close to his place of birth, youth, and college) replacing the aging RHB Gurriel at 1B and adding a strong lefty bat.
We can hope for a speedy recovery but history is not on Belt's or the Giants' side on this.
He will be missed. Brandon Belt is unique.
Tough news on Belt. The team will miss his presence in the lineup, and sad to see him not participating in post season career wise. You never know if this could be his last opportunity at post season. Although an American league scout who's followed the Giants thinks the team will be ok without Belt since they have depth.
ReplyDeleteNLCS in 2+ weeks and World Series in 4 weeks. Not looking too good! I used to reason that Belt should bunt against that open 3B shift until they came back to cover the line, now I see the wisdom of NOT bunting...
ReplyDeleteNo way FZ re-signs Belt after this season. Doesn't matter that he put up great numbers. He's not FZs find. Hence, he'll be let go. Replaced with Ruff or somebody else. Meanwhile, look to Wade to go Andres Torres next season.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the years of service, Belt. Hope you can come back this postseason, but would like you to get better.
This is a laughably terrible take. I hope I am misinterpreting and you meant it as a joke. 1. FZ just signed Brandon Crawford to a 2 year extension. Crawford is not one of FZ's finds either. 2. Both FZ and Kap were quite outspoken about how much they like Belt's approach back when they took over the team and nobody would have cared a bit if they had gotten rid of him then. Plus Belt bought into the coaching recs and the results have been spectacular so FZ and Kap can rightfully point to that success.
DeleteI expect Belt to get a Qualifying Offer at the very least.
Absolutely right on analysis of Belt staying.
DeleteStunning that people STILL completely misread what Z is about.
Z was actually right on Connor Joe, just premature!
Delete2021 line in 211 PA's: .285/.379/.469/.848, with a bWAR 1.6 in 63 games with a healthy dWAR.
How much worse would 2019 and 2020 have been with him?
I think it's actually built into The Churn concept that a gold nugget or two are going to get washed through the sluice box and lost but you capture enough to make it a net positive.
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