Giants agree to five-year extension with Brandon Belt

Update: Including the 2016 contract restructure, Belt's deal is a six-year, $79 million extension, according to reports. 

First baseman Brandon Belt has been a critical part of the San Francisco Giants' lineup his entire career. 

He helped capture World Series crowns in 2012 and 2014, while hitting mostly in the heart of their order. He has a consistent bat that, while not finding the tops of many leaderboards, still provides offense sometimes over 40 percent above the league average. 

So on early Saturday morning, it only made sense that the Giants agreed to extend Brandon Belt, as Alex Pavlovic of CSNBayArea.com reported. 

Details of this new contract are not available, but it is a five-year deal that is expected to be slightly larger than the six-year, $75 million deal shortstop Brandon Crawford signed with San Francisco this past offseason. 

Belt had already agreed to a one-year, $6.2 million contract for 2016 to avoid arbitration. That figure could "tweak," according to Pavlovic, and Belt could receive more money. 

Belt had one more year of arbitration eligibility next offseason before being qualified to hit the free agent market after the 2017 season. 

Now, under his new contract, the Giants will have bought out Belt's first four free agent seasons, giving them team control through the 2021 season. Pavlovic reports that the sides were discussing an annual average value of about $16 million from '17 on. 

In 2015, Belt hit .280/.356/.478 (135 wRC+) with 18 home runs and 68 RBIs in 556 plate appearances. According to FanGraphs, he was worth 4.3 Wins Above Replacement. 

For his career, the soon-to-be 28-year-old has a slash line of .271/.348/.455 with 63 home runs and 237 RBIs in parts of six seasons. 

Brandon Belt now becomes the next Giants' infielder to earn his big payday. 

​--Devan Fink

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