Boston Red Sox acquire Eduardo Nunez from San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants have a couple of easy-to-move pieces on their roster ahead of Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline, and on Tuesday night by the Bay, #HugWatch took effect as utility man Eduardo Nunez is headed to the Boston Red Sox.

The Boston Red Sox called up Rafael Devers before Tuesday night’s game in Seattle and after the 20-year-old started his big league career 0-for-1 with a walk and a run scored, they knew they needed to make a change at the hot corner. Man, Boston is rough.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox have agreed on a deal to ship Eduardo Nunez up to Boston. Nunez has played all over the diamond throughout his career, but he has been stationed primarily at third base for the Giants this season, while also sprinkling some time in left field, right field and at shortstop when Brandon Crawford was out.

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Nunez is batting .307 with a .339 OBP this season and has 17 steals in 22 attempts. His home run power has evaporated this season, hitting four all year, but playing half his games at AT&T where literally nobody hits ’em likely has something to do with that. The Monster in left should help those numbers return a bit.

The Red Sox have been so bad at the hot corner this season that almost any third baseman would have been an upgrade for them. Their cumulative totals so far this year include a -0.8 fWAR (-0.4 of which was provided by Pablo Sandoval, now back with the Giants) and a wRC+ of 53. That’s nine percent less production than the 29th ranked Philadelphia Phillies.

Third base has been a sore spot for the Sox all season, and adding Nunez should help them on the offensive end of that equation. Nunez has a fWAR of 1.1 this season and a wRC+ of 99, just one percent below league average, but a 46% boost over what Boston had been getting.

Defense has never been Nunez’s strongest suit, but his -3 DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) isn’t atrocious and his BsR (Baserunning) is the highest of his career at 3.6. His strikeout rate is under ten percent and his walk rate sits at 3.8.

All in all this is a trade that Boston had to make, especially after that 0-for-1 start from Devers.

What happens with Devers is an interesting question. He could be headed back to Triple-A, or he could get regular playing time at the hot corner and Nunez could float around and get some of the Red Sox regulars some time off throughout the week.

Nunez will be a free agent after this season.

According to the press release, the Giants will be receiving two prospects, Shaun Anderson and Gregory Santos, in the deal. Both are right-handed pitchers with Anderson being 22 and Santos just 17 years of age.

The Sox signed Santos in August of 2015 and in seven Dominican Summer League starts this season he is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA across 30 innings. He has struck out 24 and walked 15. Control has been an issue for him in his brief time as a pro ballplayer.

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Anderson has spent the majority of this season in Hi-A Salem and holds a 3.99 ERA with the club through 58 2/3 innings, striking out 48 and walking 18. He was selected in the third round of the 2016 Draft out of Florida. Neither player appeared on Baseball America’s spring top 30 rankings of the Red Sox system.