If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
At least that appears to be the case for the Boston Red Sox in pursuing third basemen from the San Francisco Giants. After the Pablo Sandoval experiment failed miserably — to the point where Panda finds himself back in San Francisco — the Red Sox made a move to acquire Eduardo Nunez from the Giants on July 25.
In two and a half weeks, Nunez has seemingly brought more to Boston than Sandoval did in two and a half years. In 11 games with the Red Sox, Nunez has hit .420 and provided a big-time spark for a team looking to make noise in October.
Most notably, Nunez’ power at the plate has increased with Boston. In just 52 plate appearances, Nunez has four home runs, equal to the amount he hit in 318 plate appearances with the Giants. It’s not terribly difficult to see why this is the case. Nunez is now part of a lineup in Boston that is much stronger than the one he took the field with in San Francisco. Naturally, this has and will continue to lead to more opportunities to hit with runners on base.
Additionally, Nunez has gone from AT&T Park, a pitcher’s park, to the hitter-friendly confines of Fenway Park. What was once a flyout in San Francisco can now turn into a doubles or home run thanks to the 37-foot, two-inch Green Monster in left field.
It’s not like Boston was unaware in what it was getting, either. From June 1 to the time of his trade, Nunez hit .358 for the Giants. The Red Sox knew they were acquiring a hot bat in the 30-year-old, but not even they could’ve expected Nunez to have this large of an impact so quickly.
Nunez is an impending free agent. The door remains open for a possible return to San Francisco in 2018, especially considering Nunez is open to coming back.
However, the Red Sox are atop the AL East and in position to be a serious threat to make the World Series. If Nunez has a positive impact toward the Red Sox postseason run – a la Marco Scutaro in San Francisco in 2012 – it wouldn’t be surprising to see the veteran want to stick around in Boston for the foreseeable future. The Giants – or their fans – shouldn’t bank on a Nunez reunion in 2018.
Even with Nunez set to hit free agency in the offseason, the arguments were there for the Giants to hold onto Nunez and have him be a part of the retooling next season in San Francisco. Not having many other tradeable assets on the roster, however, the Giants chose to deal Nunez and get some prospects in return.
Those prospects ended up being pitchers Shaun Anderson and Gregory Santos. Anderson (22 years old) and Santos (17) have yet to come close to the Major League level. But with the Giants at the bottom of the NL West with a 46-70 record, they shipped away Nunez to get in return what they hope to be pieces that can help their club down the line.
Anderson was taken by the Red Sox in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of Florida. A reliever in college, Anderson had been extended as a starter since joining the Red Sox. Anderson has made two appearances for the Giants’ High-A affiliate San Jose Giants, after pitching a combined 97.1 innings for the Red Sox’ Low-A Greenville and High-A Salem. Anderson – who detailed his surprise to the trade on the KO Podcast – is 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA in a small sample size in San Jose.
Anderson has had plenty of exposure in college and now in the Minor Leagues. Santos, on the other hand, is a bit more of a wild card. Just 17 years old, Santos is currently pitching for the Giants’ Domincan Summer League team, after being part of Boston’s DSL teams for the past season and a half.
If Nunez can give Boston a boost towards the World Series, it’ll be a trade well worth it for the Red Sox. Given Anderson’s and Santos’ long road ahead to the big leagues, it’ll more than likely take many years to see if this trade turns out to be successful for the Giants.