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Eduardo Nunez

CPBL’s Fubon Guardians Sign Eduardo Nunez

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Former big league infielder Eduardo Núñez has signed with the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, per a team announcement (h/t to CPBL Stats). The 33-year-old’s most recent major league action came with the Mets, with whom Núñez picked up a pair of plate appearances last year.

Núñez has played in parts of eleven big league seasons, seeing rather extensive action with each of the Yankees, Twins and Red Sox. He even earned an All-Star selection after a strong start to the 2016 season in Minnesota. Altogether, the right-handed hitting infielder has compiled a .276/.310/.404 slash line with 58 home runs and 142 stolen bases across 3008 plate appearances at the MLB level.

The Guardians also roster former big league pitchers Manny Bañuelos and JC Ramírez. The team signed Héctor Noesí last December, but he was released in February after suffering an offseason injury, as CPBL Stats noted at the time.

Mets Designate Hunter Strickland

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The Mets have designated reliever Hunter Strickland and transferred infielder Eduardo Nunez to the 45-day injured list, Tim Healey of Newsday was among those to report. Those moves help make room for righty Ariel Jurado, whom the team recalled.

This is the second time this year the Mets have designated Strickland, whom they brought back to their roster Monday four weeks after his previous DFA. Strickland wound up throwing a scoreless inning with two strikeouts and a walk last night, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the fray. The 31-year-old has now tossed 3 1/3 innings this season and yielded four runs (three earned) on five hits and four strikeouts against one walk.

Nunez, 33, has been even less of a factor for the Mets than Strickland. He totaled two at-bats on the opening weekend of the season, but Nunez has been dealing with left knee problems since then. It’s unclear whether he’ll return this year.

Mets Select Brian Dozier, Designate Hunter Strickland For Assignment

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The Mets announced a series of roster moves today, placing Eduardo Nunez on the 10-day injured list with a left knee contusion and selecting the contract of veteran second baseman Brian Dozier in his place. In order to open a spot on the roster for Dozier, New York designated right-hander Hunter Strickland for assignment. Lefty Daniel Zamora is up from the team’s alternate training site to take Strickland’s spot on the 30-man roster.

Dozier, 33, inked a minor league deal with the Mets midway through Summer Camp after being let go by the Padres. He’s already in tonight’s lineup and will give the club some thump against lefty starter Martin Perez. Dozier, a former All-Star with the Twins, is a lifetime .270/.354/.500 hitter against southpaws. For a brief stretch from 2014-17, he was among the league’s best second basemen, hitting a combined .254/.338/.476 with 127 home runs in that four-year stretch. That included a monstrous 42-homer effort in 2016, which he followed up with a 34-dinger season in 2017.

A knee injury hobbled Dozier for much of the 2018 season, which surely contributed to a dismal .215/.305/.391 showing. He bounced back a bit with the World Series-winning Nationals in 2019, slashing .238/.340/.430 in 482 plate appearances. However, Dozier’s role shrunk late in the regular season and in the postseason. This winter, with an abundance of supply and considerably less demand on the second base market, Dozier settled for a minor league deal — but he’s quickly worked his way back to the bigs.

As for Strickland, he’ll depart after surrendering four runs (three earned) on six hits in just 2 1/3 frames as a Met. The 31-year-old posted terrific numbers with the Giants from 2014-17 before slipping a bit in 2018 and completely cratering in 2019. Strickland still has a 3.24 ERA in 252 2/3 Major League innings, but his recent track record is concerning, and he’s had some issues off the mound. The righty broke his hand when he punched a door after blowing a save back in 2018, and he’s previously incited a benches-clearing brawl by throwing at Bryce Harper (widely believed to be in response to Harper homering off him twice in the postseason three years prior).

Mets Promote Andres Gimenez, Designate Stephen Gonsalves

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In a surprise move, the Mets have decided to promote top infield prospect Andres Gimenez to open the season. It’s not clear just yet how robust a role he’ll occupy, but Amed Rosario projects as the everyday option at shortstop — he position Gimenez plays.

Also making the MLB roster are lefty Chasen Shreve and righty Hunter Strickland. Both have had their contracts selected to the 40-man roster. It’s the same situation for infielder Eduardo Nunez, as reported previously. To clear a 40-man roster spot, the Mets designated lefty Stephen Gonsalves for assignment.

The 21-year-old Gimenez has ranked as one of the organization’s best prospects for the past three years. His 2019 numbers weren’t exactly eye-catching — .250/.307/.387 in Double-A — but Gimenez was among the youngest players in the pitcher-friendly Eastern League. Gimenez went on to play in the Arizona Fall League and raked at a .371/.413/.586 clip in 18 games and 75 plate appearances. Entering the 2020 season, he was ranked as the game’s No. 84 prospect at MLB.com and No. 90 at Baseball Prospectus.

Strickland, 31, was limited by a Grade 2 lat strain last year and struggled enormously when on the mound, pitching to a combined 5.55 ERA in 24 1/3 frames between the Mariners and Nationals. His track record prior to that unsightly campaign, however, was strong. From 2014-18, Strickland worked to a combined 2.91 ERA (3.40 FIP) with averages of 8.4 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and 0.7 HR/9.

Of course, Strickland has drawn as much if not more attention for other reasons. He incited a benches-clearing brawl in 2017 after throwing at Bryce Harper — an incident most believe to be the result of a years-old grudge against Harper for homering twice off Strickland in the 2014 NLDS. The next year, upon being pulled from a game after blowing a saved, Strickland punched a door out of frustration and sustained a broken right hand. He required surgery and missed the next six weeks.

The left-handed Shreve was a solid middle relief option for the Yankees for a few seasons but flopped when he was traded to the Cardinals in the 2018 Luke Voit swap that also sent Giovanny Gallegos to St. Louis. In 203 2/3 innings, Shreve has a career 3.71 ERA.

Gonsalves, 26, was a fourth-round pick by Minnesota and was long a top prospect in the Twins organization. He cracked multiple Top 100 lists as he rose through the minors, regularly drawing praise as a high-probability back-end starter. He never got much of a look in Minnesota, though (24 2/3 innings), and he’s been limited by arm troubles in recent years.

Eduardo Nunez Makes Mets’ Roster

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Infielder Eduardo Nunez has earned a spot on the Mets’ season-opening roster, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports. Meanwhile, right-hander Erasmo Ramirez will head to the Mets’ taxi squad instead of their 30-man roster.

The 33-year-old Nunez has been a successful big leaguer in the past (especially with the Giants and Red Sox from 2016-17), but a significant decline in production over the previous two seasons stopped him from landing a guaranteed contract over the winter. After batting an unsightly .255/.277/.366 (67 wRC+) in Boston from 2018-19, he settled for a minor league deal with the Mets. Now, as someone with extensive experience at every infield position but first base, he could serve as a backup to second baseman Robinson Cano, shortstop Amed Rosario and third baseman Jeff McNeil. Of course, the Mets will first have to add Nunez to their 40-man roster, which is at capacity right now.

Ramirez, another offseason minor league pickup, looked like a logical candidate to earn a spot in New York after the club placed No. 2 starter Marcus Stroman on the injured list Wednesday. Now that the once-effective swingman won’t begin the year with the Mets, it remains unclear how they’ll fill out their rotation behind Jacob deGrom, Rick Porcello, Steven Matz and Michael Wacha. Walker Lockett’s on the IL, but David Peterson, Corey Oswalt and Stephen Gonsalves could represent a few options from their 60-man player pool.

NL East Notes: Braves, Lowrie, Nunez, Martini

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It doesn’t sound as though the Braves’ decision on an everyday third baseman will come until the final days of camp. Austin Riley and Johan Camargo are vying for that spot, but manager Brian Snitker told reporters today that both players have impressed so far and he’ll “wait until the last couple of days” before making up his mind (Twitter thread via David O’Brien of The Athletic). Snitker has previously suggested that whichever player doesn’t get the Opening Day nod could head to Triple-A Gwinnett for everyday at-bats, as both have minor league options remaining. The skipper again implied as much today: “[A]ll things being equal, one guy’s not going to be real happy with the decision.”

Camargo is hitting .308/.333/.500 through 10 games thus far, while Riley is hitting .320/.346/.600 in the same sample. Obviously, we’re talking about a minuscule number of plate appearances (26), and the Braves’ decision will be based on more than the pair’s surface-level production at the plate.

A bit more from the National League East…

  • There’s still no clarity regarding the knee injury that’s limiting Mets infielder Jed Lowrie, writes Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. The 35-year-old is still wearing a sizable brace on his ailing leg, and neither he nor the organization have been forthcoming about the exact nature of his knee troubles. There’s still no timetable for Lowrie, who tallied just eight plate appearances with the Mets during the first season of a two-year, $20MM deal in 2019. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that with Lowrie unable to participate in Grapefruit League games, fellow veteran Eduardo Nunez has impressed the Mets in camp — perhaps positioning himself to snag a utility role. Nunez is playing on a minor league pact and would need to be added to the 40-man roster. He’s hitting .321/.387/.464 with a pair of doubles and a triple through 31 plate appearances so far in Spring Training and has experience at second base, shortstop and third base in addition to some more limited work in left field.
  • Outfielder Nick Martini was outrighted off the Phillies’ 40-man roster last month, but the news that Andrew McCutchen will open the season on the injured list once again has him in contention for an Opening Day roster spot. Standing in his way are former Phillies top prospect Nick Williams and fellow offseason acquisition Kyle Garlick — both of whom are on the 40-man roster. Nevertheless, Meghan Montemurro of The Athletic writes that Martini has impressed manager Joe Girardi, who praised the “professional” manner in which Martini “grinds out” all of his at-bats. Martini does indeed have some of that “professional hitter” feel to him — at least based on his career numbers in Triple-A, where he’s slashed .305/.401/.435 with a hearty 13.5 percent walk rate against a 16.9 percent strikeout rate in more than 1400 plate appearances. Both Garlick and Williams have minor league options remaining, but the Phils would need to make a 40-man move to bring Martini north when camp breaks.

Mets, Eduardo Nunez Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Mets have agreed to a minor league deal with free-agent infielder Eduardo Nunez, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. It includes a non-roster invite to Major League Spring Training.

Nunez, 32, is coming off a dreadful year that ended in July with his release from the Red Sox, with whom he had played since mid-2017. Nunez played in just 60 games for the Sox last year, and yet he accumulated -1.5 WAR thanks largely to an unsightly .228/.243/.305 batting line.

Those numbers are hard to swallow, but Nunez really isn’t that far from removed from a couple of seasons in 2016 and 2017 in which he provided above-average offensive output to go with his signature aggressive baserunning. Splitting the 2017 season between San Francisco and Boston, he posted an .801 OPS to go with 24 stolen bases. He’s never received high marks as a defender, but he’s at least capable of playing second and third base.

He will join an already crowded Mets infield mix with a chance to compete for a roster spot in the spring. The starting infield looks pretty well solidified, but Nunez may have a shot at supplanting Luis Guillorme, who’s a more polished shortstop but also has a patchy offensive track record, for bench at-bats.

Red Sox Release Eduardo Nunez

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The Red Sox have released INF Eduardo Nunez, Chris Cotillo of masslive.com was among those to report. Nunez was designated for assignment Monday after a dreadful (.228/.243/.305, 36 wRC+) start to the 2019 campaign, and is now eligible to sign with any team for the pro-rated league minimum.

Long a productive utility player, if defensive liability, over the course of his ten-year MLB career thus far, Nunez’s recent output, on the heels of a -0.3 fWAR 2018 campaign, may relegate him to minor-league duty if he’s to latch on with another club this season. The longtime Yankee posted three consecutive 100 wRC+ or better seasons from 2015-17, but the current campaign marked the fourth season in which he’s checked in beneath the replacement-level fWAR baseline.

Nunez’s ineffectiveness, coupled with Dustin Pedroia’s injury issues, spawned an unlikely Brock Holt/Michael Chavis platoon at the keystone, the latter of whom – a converted corner infielder – shouldered the bulk of the early-season load. It’s been a mostly productive mix thus far, with each player posting above-league-average offensive totals through yesterday’s games; Chavis, for his part, has acquitted himself well defensively in his first professional crack at the position.

Red Sox Designate Eduardo Nunez For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve designated infielder Eduardo Nunez for assignment and optioned right-hander Hector Velazquez to Triple-A Pawtucket. In a pair of corresponding moves, right-hander Ryan Weber and first baseman/outfielder Sam Travis were called up from Triple-A.

Now 32 years of age, Nunez proved to be an excellent pickup for Boston when the Sox acquired him from the Giants prior to the 2017 non-waiver trade deadline. He gave the lineup a strong jolt that season, hitting .321/.353/.539 through 173 plate appearances down the stretch before his season came to a close with an ALDS knee injury that saw him helped off the field. Nunez re-signed with the Sox for a two-year guarantee, the second season of which was a player option, and simply has not been the same player.

In 676 plate appearances for the Sox over the past two seasons, Nunez has scuffled to a dismal .255/.277/.366 batting line with a dozen homers and steals apiece. His struggles and Dustin Pedroia’s career-altering knee injury prompted the Red Sox to also trade for Ian Kinsler last summer in a move that now looks quite lopsided. Boston won last year’s World Series, so the end result of all their moves was as good as can be hoped, of course; but Kinsler didn’t hit much with Boston, and the Sox would surely like to have righty Ty Buttrey in their bullpen this season following his breakout with the Halos.

The Red Sox will have a week to trade Nunez, pass him through outright waivers or release him. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and retain his salary even in the event that he clears waivers, so this seems likely to spell the end of his time with the organization. Nunez is still owed about $2.07MM of this season’s $5MM salary, making it a near certainty that he won’t be claimed. In all likelihood, he’ll soon become a free agent and be granted the ability to explore opportunities with other clubs.

Red Sox Exploring Possibility Of Using Michael Chavis In Outfield

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When injuries pushed the Red Sox to promote top prospect Michael Chavis earlier this season, the length of time for which he’d stick in the Majors was uncertain. Dustin Pedroia, Brock Holt and Eduardo Nunez all represented veteran options at second base — a position which Chavis was and is still learning — and the promotion of any prospect never comes with a guarantee of permanence.

But Chavis has burst onto the scene in Boston, hitting at a .293/.423/.638 clip with six long balls through his first 71 plate appearances. His 26.8 percent strikeout rate and 14.9 percent swinging-strike rate are higher than the organization would prefer, but Chavis has also already drawn a dozen walks, demonstrating some selectivity at the plate.

Boston has already played him at second base, third base and first base, and the team is at least tinkering with the idea of using Chavis in the outfield, as MLB.com’s Ian Browne was among those to report. Chavis doesn’t have professional experience at any of the three outfield slots but he’s been working on tracking some fly-balls during batting practice. Manager Alex Cora was clear to state that Chavis isn’t yet working at learning the outfield. But, Cora added, “It’ll be good for him just to stand there and see the flight of the ball.”

It’s a notable for the Red Sox for a number of reasons. Keeping Chavis at the big league level would keep one of their hottest hitters in the lineup on a regular basis and could help to spell regulars at multiple spots. Furthermore, it’d create an interesting roster dilemma in the event that the Red Sox ever manage to get all of their infield options healthy. Chavis, to this point, has produced more offense than could be expected of either Holt or Nunez, both of whom would stand to lose playing time to him in an injury-free scenario. It’s not yet clear when Holt will return to the club, but Alex Speier of the Boston Globe tweets that following a recent painkilling injection in his shoulder, Holt is hopeful he’ll begin a new minor league rehab assignment soon. Nunez is currently healthy but has hit just .189/.200/.264 through a small sample of 56 PAs.

Pedroia, meanwhile, is already on a minor league rehab assignment. The veteran has long been one of the cornerstones of the franchise but has played in precisely nine games dating back to Opening Day 2018 due to injuries of his own. A return to form for Pedroia would give the Sox the cliched “good problem to have,” but at this point it’s hard to know what to expect from the 35-year-old.

From a service time vantage point, the decision to keep Chavis in the big leagues has its own ramifications. Chavis was promoted with enough time having lapsed that the Sox will control him for one more season than they would have had he broken camp with the club, but he lines up as a surefire Super Two player. Barring an early-career extension, that’d give Chavis a bite at his first seven-figure salary in 2022 rather than 2023, and his three subsequent arbitration salaries would be greater based on that early entry into the process.

Of course, even if Chavis sticks in the big leagues for the time being, he’s not immune to being optioned out later in the season. A prolonged slump could land him back in Pawtucket long enough to alter his arbitration or even his free-agent trajectory. But it’s plenty notable that he’s already impressed to the point where he’s forcing the issue and setting the Sox up for some tough decisions about playing time and potentially even roster spots.

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