Jordan Montgomery signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks two days before Opening Day, making him among the last unsigned free agents. One notable name remains, though, and he’s “baffled” about it.
Brandon Belt, a former All-Star with the San Francisco Giants who played with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2023, explained that not only is he unsigned but he hasn’t even gotten too far into negotiations.
Speaking about his free agency on The JD Bunkis Podcast, Belt couldn’t offer much of an explanation for what’s happened.
“It’s kind of baffled me a little bit,” Belt said, H/T Sportsnet. “I honestly haven’t had hardly any calls at all that have gone past the point of teams saying, Hey, we’re interested, that they were just checking in. We haven’t even gotten down to talking about money with anybody or anything like that. I wish I had an answer for you. I just don’t.”
Part of the confusion, Belt noted, was that he missed more than half of the 2022 season, his last with the Giants. Despite that, finding a place to play in 2023 was not hard.
“It’s been kind of confusing because last year I was coming off a season where I was injured the entire season and it was pretty easy to sign last year,” Belt said. “I had quite a few teams calling, quite a few teams wanted me to come play for them, and this year it’s just been basically zero. I don’t know how to explain it. There just hasn’t been a team that’s wanted me. I guess that’s just part of baseball sometimes.”
Belt was an All-Star with the Giants in 2016 and was the starting first basemen on their World Series-winning teams in 2012 and 2014. He’ll turn 36 in April. That said, he slashed .254/.369/.490 in 103 games with the Blue Jays in 2023 and hit 19 home runs in only 339 at-bats. All but 34 of those at-bats came against right-handed pitching. So, while it’s fair to say that he’s not in his absolute prime, he’s not exactly cooked.
