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Red Sox Acquire Eduardo Nunez

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The Red Sox made their first addition of the summer on Tuesday night, acquiring infielder Eduardo Nunez from the Giants in exchange for minor league right-handers Shaun Anderson and Gregory Santos. Both teams have announced the deal. Word of the swap first leaked out after Nunez was shown leaving the Giants’ dugout to a series of hugs from his teammates on tonight’s broadcast (video link via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area).

Eduardo Nunez | Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

Third base has been a clear area of need for the Red Sox this season, as Pablo Sandoval was finally released midway through the third season of his five-year contract and Brock Holt has been plagued by injuries throughout the year. Boston dealt Travis Shaw to the Brewers this offseason and has been relying on a platoon of light-hitting Deven Marrero and Tzu-Wei Lin at the hot corner in recent weeks, and Boston third basemen entered play tonight hitting a collective .226/.278/.317.

Of course, the third base outlook in Boston changed radically just this week when the team decided to call upon top prospect Rafael Devers to get his first taste of the Majors. Devers ranks as one of the game’s five or six best prospects and has torn through minor league pitching at a .311/.377/.578 pace thus far in 2017. However, Devers is also just 20 years old and has scarcely played in Triple-A, so the Sox may yet feel that he needs more development in the minors before he can be relied upon to man the hot corner in a pennant race.

If Devers does ultimately prove to be capable of handling the spot, Nunez’s defensive versatility will still carry plenty of value for the Red Sox down the stretch. Nunez can provide depth both at shortstop and second base, and he has a bit of experience in the corner outfield as well. That flexibility would help to keep a number of Boston regulars fresh in the season’s final months, though the team’s exact plans with respect to Nunez and Devers aren’t yet clear. Anything from a platoon arrangement to a return trip to Triple-A Pawtucket could reasonably be on the table, though it’s certainly worth noting that the Red Sox’ press release announcing the move labeled Nunez as a “utility player” rather than strictly referencing him as a third baseman.

The 30-year-old Nunez hasn’t shown the power he displayed when he smacked a career-high 16 home runs last season — the extra time in the pitcher-friendly AT&T Park certainly can’t help his cause in that regard — but he’s been a generally solid offensive player. He’s hitting .307/.331/.413 through 315 plate appearances with San Francisco and has knocked four homers and 20 doubles to go along with a 17-for-22 mark in stolen base attempts. He’s also an extremely tough strikeout (9.1 percent) and, as Tim Britton of the Providence Journal points out (via Twitter), Nunez’s acquisition gives the Red Sox the three players with Major League Baseball’s lowest strikeout rates (Mookie Betts, Nunez and Dustin Pedroia).

Nunez is earning $4.2MM this year (with about $1.56MM of that sum remaining) and will hit the open market as a free agent for the first time this winter. He’s a pure rental for the Sox, but with Devers already in the Majors and widely believed to be the team’s third baseman of the future, Boston never seemed likely to pay the higher price for any third base options that are controllable beyond the current season.

The 22-year-old Anderson was Boston’s third-round selection in last year’s draft and currently ranks 18th among Red Sox prospects, per MLB.com’s newly updated top 30 list. The 22-year-old worked as a reliever at the University of Florida, though MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo note in their report that they feel he has enough pitches to make it as a starter. The Red Sox have been trying him in that role, as he’s worked to a 3.99 ERA with 7.4 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 with a 42.4 percent ground-ball rate in Class-A Advanced this season.

Santos is just 17 years of age and is currently in his second season with Boston’s affiliate in the Dominican Summer League. Through 30 innings this season he has a 0.90 ERA with a 24-to-15 K/BB ratio and a comically high 82.1 percent ground-ball rate. He posted a 60.6 percent grounder rate in 44 1/3 innings at the same level last season.

FOX’s Ken Rosenthal first reported that Nunez was going to Boston (on Twitter). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted that Nunez would net the Giants a pair of minor league pitchers. The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reported that Anderson and Santos were the two prospects in the deal (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Justin Ruggiano Opts Out Of Giants Contract

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Veteran outfielder Justin Ruggiano has opted out of his minor league deal with the Giants, tweets Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area. The 35-year-old had been playing with the team’s Triple-A affiliate. San Francisco also bumped reliever Reyes Moronta from Double-A to Triple-A, and Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that the righty, who is already on the 40-man roster, could get a look later this season.

Ruggiano appeared in 19 games and made 63 plate appearances with the Giants earlier this season, hitting .217/.238/.333 with a couple of home runs. He was outrighted earlier this year and accepted the assignment, but he’s yet to return to the Majors despite a solid .280/.325/.478 slash through 169 plate appearances with Triple-A Sacramento. He’ll now presumably look to latch on elsewhere — likely on another minor league pact.

Ruggiano is a career .256/.318/.434 hitter through 1478 plate appearances across parts of nine Major League seasons. A right-handed bat, Ruggiano is most valuable as a weapon against lefties, as evidenced by his lifetime .273/.336/.515 slash when holding the platoon advantage. He spent most of his time in Triple-A playing center field, but he hasn’t posted positive marks there in the Majors since his 2012 campaign with Miami.

 

Giants Sign Pablo Sandoval

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SATURDAY, 7:08pm: Sandoval’s contract includes 2018-19 club options for the major league minimum, but he’ll become a free agent at the end of this season if he isn’t on the Giants’ roster, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links).

1:43pm: The deal is now official, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. Sandoval will head to Class A+ San Jose, then on to Triple-A Sacramento.

Here’s a statement from Sandoval about his return to the Giants in which he apologies for disparaging comments he made about the organization as he was in the process of leaving.

“I have always loved and appreciated the Giants organization, my Giants teammates and the fans of San Francisco. I have so many great memories and I want to thank the organization for giving me another chance to come back here.  When I left the Giants in 2014, my comments were emotional, insensitive and misguided and I truly regret and apologize for my actions.  I am committed to working hard to contributing to the success of the Giants.”

8:07am: Sandoval will, in fact, sign with the Giants, Heyman writes (Twitter links). The Royals and others were in fact in consideration, but Sandoval ultimately opted to head back to San Francisco.

FRIDAY: The Royals are another team with interest in Sandoval, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter link), though the third baseman is still expected to land with the Giants.

WEDNESDAY, 8:38pm: Sandoval says he’s “waiting for Friday to make a decision,” with the Giants being “one of [the] options,” per ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera.

7:17pm: The Giants have agreed to a minors deal with third baseman Pablo Sandoval, according to MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter). Sandoval was released earlier today by the Red Sox, though the deal will not be formally entered until his contract has passed through waivers — which (all but certainly) will occur on Friday, Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com tweets.

While the match had been rumored, and is rather unsurprising on paper, it’s still quite a notable reunion for a player who was once one of San Francisco’s most visible stars. Both Sandoval and the Giants have had seasons to forget thus far. The former was released by his most recent organization after a third-straight season marred by injury and underperformance. And the latter currently sits five games back of the Padres in the NL West cellar.

Sandoval, now thirty years of age, was a popular and productive player for seven seasons with the Giants. Over his 3,533 plate appearances, Sandoval slashed a robust .294/.346/.465 and compiled about twenty wins above replacement. That performance earned him a five-year, $95MM contract with the Red Sox, who’ll pay the vast majority of the nearly $50MM remaining (less any prorated portion of the league minimum for time Sandoval spends in the majors from now through 2019).

The Giants tried to keep the affectionately nicknamed Panda, but extension talks never materialized and he spurned the organization in free agency — suggesting in comments at the time that he was happy to be moving on. But Sandoval never found his footing in Boston. His longstanding battle with weight was again an issue, and Sandoval missed all of 2016 with a shoulder injury. He got into shape and showed well this spring, but endured a DL stint for a knee problem and struggled both at the bat (.212/.269/.354) and with the glove (-6 DRS; -8.6 UZR/150 innings) over his 32 games in 2017.

It’ll be interesting to see whether Sandoval can jump start his career in the place he once thrived. First, though, he’ll have to earn his way back to the big leagues. It’s important to bear in mind that the sides won’t be committed to one another for very long even if things go well. Unless the deal provides the club with an option of some kind — and it is fair to note that Jose Reyes agreed to such terms with the Mets while the Rockies were paying his contract — then Sandoval will return to the open market at season’s end. That said, it’s possible to imagine an extended reunion if things go well, as the Giants don’t yet have a clear plan for the 2018 season at third base.

Eduardo Nunez Drawing Most Interest Among Giants' Trade Chips

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  • Among Giants players, infielder Eduardo Nunez is drawing the most interest, Olney tweets. That’s hardly surprising, as he’s a pending free agent who can play all over the infield. It still seems a bit difficult to imagine that the Giants won’t find a worthwhile arrangement involving Nunez, who could fit with quite a few different contenders.

Red Sox, Indians Interested In Eduardo Nunez

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  • The Red Sox now have Giants infielder Eduardo Nunez atop their list of possible third-base targets, a source tells MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (Twitter link). Indeed, the clubs have discussed Boston’s interest in both Nunez and reliever Hunter Strickland, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports. It seems the Sox are also still engaged with the Marlins on third bagger Martin Prado (as well as reliever David Phelps) along with Pirates infielders David Freese and Josh Harrison. Of course, it’s worth bearing in mind that Prado is on the DL, while the Bucs may be hesitant to deal given the team’s improved outlook. All told, it still seems to be a wide-open search.
  • It’s not clear if talks have occurred between the Indians and Giants, but Cleveland is scouting Nunez as well, per ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (via Twitter). With the defending AL champs still battling for a postseason spot, they can’t just wait idly for second baseman Jason Kipnis to return from the DL. And a player such as Nunez would also improve the team’s bench once Kipnis is back.

Giants Notes: Evans, Nunez, Mariners

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Giants GM Bobby Evans appeared on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM with Mike Ferrin today and discussed his team’s approach at the trade deadline (audio link via Twitter). The Giants aren’t used to finding themselves as sellers, but they find themselves buried in both the NL West race and in the Wild Card. However, Evans echoed recent comments from president Brian Sabean, suggesting that the team is looking more toward 2018 than at a total rebuild.

“It’s really about the core of guys that we have, that, arguably between Belt, Panik, Crawford, Posey, Bumgarner — they’re in the prime of their careers,” said Evans of the current Giants roster. “This is a time to build with them. They’re not 34 going on 35. They’re 28 to 30. That’s a good range in which we still think there’s a lot that they can offer and help us get back to where we need to be. That said, we’ve got to do more, defensively, in the outfield — more offensively in our lineup. We’ve got to pitch better. … We can’t go with what we have. We’ve got to make changes. This trading period may offer us some opportunities to look toward next year.”

  • After seeing trade target Todd Frazier head to the Yankees last night, the Red Sox are now eyeing Giants third baseman Eduardo Nunez, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today. That’s not the first time the BoSox have been linked to Nunez, though he’s among the first players to whom they Yankees have been linked following last night’s Frazier swap between Chicago and New York. The versatile Nunez is a free agent at season’s end and is earning a reasonable $4.2MM this year. He’s not a standout defender anywhere on the diamond, but he could hold down the fort at the hot corner for now and then bounce between third, shortstop, second base and perhaps the corner outfield later in the summer if the Sox give Rafael Devers an audition. Nunez is hitting .295/.319/.407 through 289 plate appearances.
  • The Mariners have reached out to both the Giants and the Padres about their available starting pitchers, tweets MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. San Diego has three rental options to offer, highlighted by breakout righty Trevor Cahill but also including right-hander Jhoulys Chacin and southpaw Clayton Richard. (Each is signed to a one-year, $1.75MM deal.) The Giants, meanwhile, could conceivably listen on Johnny Cueto (though he’s struggled, has an opt-out clause complicating his trade candidacy, and is on the shelf with blister issues). It’s Jeff Samardzija, however, that has drawn the most headlines on the rumor circuit as of late. Though he’s just halfway through the second season of a five-year, $90MM deal and has an ERA in the upper-4.00s, Samardzija is pacing MLB in K/BB ratio and is among the game’s best in K%-BB%. Of course, it’s uncertain if the Mariners would want any part of that contract, and if the Giants are looking toward 2018, they may hope to have a healthy Samardzija contributing 200+ innings in the middle of their rotation. Speculatively speaking, Matt Moore could also be a reclamation project, though he’s worked to an ERA of 5.81 with reduced velocity and diminished peripherals this year.

Samardzija, Strickland Drawing "Fair Amount" Of Interest

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The Giants are “drawing [a] fair amount of interest” in right-handed starter Jeff Samardzija and right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (all Twitter links). While Samardzija’s surface-level numbers aren’t exactly appealing this season — 4.86 ERA, 20 homers in 124 innings (1.45 HR/9) — he leads the Majors in K/BB ratio and is fifth in K%-BB% (23.7 percent). Moreover, Schulman notes that other teams simply value Samardzija’s durability. The Giants, too, value Shark’s innings, however, making the situation complicated. Schulman adds that the Giants are willing to think “creatively” in terms of trades, speculating about possible three-team swaps or taking on poor contracts.

As far as Strickland goes, the 28-year-old has a pristine 1.91 ERA with 9.8 K/9 through 33 innings this season. His 5.2 BB/9 rate and 88.5 percent strand rate suggest that there’s probably some regression in order, but the Giants (or an acquiring team) can control Strickland through the 2021 season, so it stands to reason that he’d draw interest as a long-term bullpen option.

Latest On Boston’s Third Base Search

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Already known to have Todd Frazier, Martin Prado, Jed Lowrie and Yangervis Solarte on their radar, the Red Sox are also scouting two Pirates (Josh Harrison and David Freese), a pair of Mets (T.J. Rivera and Asdrubal Cabrera) and the Giants’ Eduardo Nunez as they search for a third baseman, according to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald.

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Of that five-man group, the versatile Harrison may be the most difficult to acquire – especially considering the Pirates will aim to contend next year even if they don’t make a serious playoff push this season. With a .273/.352/.424 line to go with 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases across 377 plate appearances, in which he has accumulated 2.1 fWAR, the 30-year-old is having a fine campaign. Harrison is also on a reasonable contract, one that pays him $7.5MM this year, $10MM in 2018 and carries club options for 2019 ($10.5MM) and ’20 ($11.5MM). While Harrison would be an immediate upgrade at third for the Red Sox, it’s questionable how he’d fit into the organization in the coming years. Boston’s much-ballyhooed third base prospect, Rafael Devers, is nearly major league ready, and the club has Harrison’s other positions – second base and the corner outfield – covered with Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi.

Freese, 34, would also be more than a rental, as he’s due a guaranteed $4.25MM next season and has either a $6MM club option or a $500K buyout for 2019. Currently on a $6.25MM salary, the long-competent hitter has paired a respectable .245/.376/.364 slash in 271 trips to the plate with decent work at third (two defensive runs saved, 1.7 UZR/150).

The two Mets also come with control beyond this season, though the Red Sox would have the ability to decline Cabrera’s $8.5MM club option for 2018 in favor of a $2MM buyout. Cabrera, who’s earning $8.25MM now, brings a solid offensive track record to the table and has been OK in that department this year (.250/.333/.408 with nine homers in 270 PAs). However, the switch-hitter has just one career appearance at third base, which came back in 2007, and hasn’t looked good at all in the middle infield in his age-31 campaign. Cabrera has combined for minus-14 DRS and a minus-15.2 UZR/150 at shortstop and second, his customary positions.

Rivera, who at 28 is younger than Cabrera and won’t even be arbitration eligible until after the 2019 season, has survived a low walk rate (3.9 percent) since debuting last year to post quality numbers at the plate. Through 311 PAs, including 202 this year, Rivera has batted .315/.348/.469 – a line that’s either 15 percent or 17 percent better than league average, depending on whether you prefer OPS+ or wRC+. As such, he joins Harrison in looking like someone who’d be rather tough to pry from his current employer.

Nunez, a pure rental, is earning $4.2MM and has hit a playable .297/.323/.414 over 280 trips to the plate during his platform year. More impressively, the 30-year-old has stolen 17 of 20 bases, meaning he’d provide another speed threat to a Boston team that already ranks eighth in the majors in steals. Nunez is also capable of playing second, short and left field, though he hasn’t garnered particularly positive reviews anywhere as a defender.

As Boston continues to mull its options before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, it’ll utilize a platoon of Brock Holt and Deven Marrero at the hot corner, tweets Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. After the Red Sox defeated the Yankees on Sunday night, they optioned third baseman Tzu-Wei Lin to Triple-A. Lin fared nicely before his demotion, hitting .280/.379/.360 over the first 59 PAs of his career, but the 23-year-old owns a meager .638 OPS in a much larger minor league sample of 1,954 PAs.

Giancarlo Stanton An Unlikely Fit For Giants

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  • Craig Mish of Sirius XM tweeted Saturday that the Giants have shown more interest than anyone else in Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, leading Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area to assess whether a deal could happen. The California-born slugger’s enormous contract (he’ll collect $295MM through 2028 if he doesn’t opt out after the 2020 season) makes it highly unlikely he’ll end up in San Francisco, even if the Marlins were to eat around $95MM, observes Pavlovic. To take on that type of money – particularly for a player who has had difficulty staying healthy – would cripple the Giants’ budget for both the near term and the long haul, Pavlovic writes.

Rays Interested In Hunter Strickland

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The Rays are showing interest in Giants reliever Hunter Strickland, having sent a scout to San Diego to watch the right-hander pitch this weekend, reports Chris Haft of MLB.com.

At 49-43, a half-game up on the Yankees for the American League’s top wild-card spot and two games above the sixth-place Twins, the Rays are setting up as deadline buyers. Acquiring bullpen help by July 31 seems to be a priority for Tampa Bay, whose relievers rank 19th in the majors in fWAR (1.5) and 20th in ERA (4.37). With Alex Colome, Brad Boxberger, Chase Whitley, Tommy Hunter and Erasmo Ramirez, the majority of the Rays’ bullpen is in good shape, though they’ve struggled to find reliable options to fill out the group. Jumbo Diaz, Danny Farquhar and Austin Pruitt have combined for 93 1/3 innings among them, but no one from that trio has prevented runs at a particularly appealing clip this year.

The 28-year-old Strickland has limited damage throughout his career, evidenced by a 2.48 ERA over 152 1/3 innings, and has pitched to a sparkling 1.91 ERA across 33 frames this season. Additionally, Strickland’s 9.82 K/9 and 19.4 percent infield fly rate make him look like a shutdown option. However, there are some troubling signs – including a dip in velocity and a skyrocketing BB/9 that has climbed to 5.18 after sitting at 1.75 in 2015, Strickland’s first full season, and 2.8 last year.

While Strickland does come with concerns, his track record and team control suggest he’d warrant a solid haul in a trade. Strickland is making a near-minimum salary this season and brings four years of arbitration eligibility to the table. It’s unclear, then, how open the Giants are to moving him, especially considering they’re aiming to put a rough 2017 behind them next year and return to contention. If the Giants do make any deals in the coming weeks, they’d like to acquire major league-ready talent in return, notes Haft.

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