Brandon Belt Starting Is an Issue of Money, Not Talent for San Francisco Giants

I don't care if he hits five home runs tomorrow—Brandon Belt is not starting on Opening Day for the San Francisco Giants.

It just doesn't make sense from a Giants front office perspective.

Sure, Belt is ripping up spring training and has all the necessary tools to be a legitimate ballplayer right now. He could make the Giants lineup better from top to bottom.

Cody Ross is hurt and this is as good of a time as any for Belt to be entered into the lineup. Yet, the Giants will not start Belt at first base on Opening Day.

"Now batting for the Fresno Grizzlies..."

They did it with Posey, Sandoval, Bumgarner, etc. etc. You can call it a Giants tradition.

How the Giants handle Belt in these next two days will tell a lot about how they perceive him to be a part of this franchise in the future.

If the Giants hold out on calling up Brandon Belt until May, then the Giants get an extra year before losing him to free agency. It's a long way down the road, but this means the world for the future if you're a Giants fan.

Belt is good enough to start now and for the rest of the season, but if we look deep into the future, think of an extra year of Posey, Belt, Lincecum, Cain and Bumgarner together.

What's a month of Nate Schierholtz or Mark DeRosa in right field? It will take more than that to knock the Giants out of the playoffs before May.

As bad as everyone wants to see Belt now, it's greedy...so stop.

We will have plenty of time in the coming years to see this young core of players bloom into a legitimate force in the major leagues, as if they aren't one already (check out their World Series rings).

The sky is the limit for this franchise and the front office is trying to keep it that way.