Giants trade Eduardo Nunez to the Red Sox for prospects

The Giants are sending Eduardo Nuñez to Boston, as reported by Ken Rosenthal.

It was pretty clear Nuñez was headed out of town after he was pulled from the game in the fifth inning, immediately grabbing his things and heading for the tunnel where his teammates took part in a very emotional edition of Hug Watch 2017.

Just look at this. It’s heartbreaking.

We will update with further details of the return as they become public, but right now it looks to be a pair of prospects going back to San Francisco. Get ready for a chilly autumn in Boston, Eduardo.

Boston’s hunt for a third baseman has been well documented, and was actually getting a little bit sad as one option after another was taken away from them. The team finally resorted to calling up exciting prospect Rafael Devers to fill the position after only nine games spent in AAA ball.

While Devers more than acquitted himself in the minors, flying through the system and leaving great results behind at each level, he’s only 20 years old and could use some support at the position while he acclimates to the show.

The Sox reportedly hoped to platoon Devers in his first stretch in the majors, and right now his platoon is — uh — Deven Marrero. So things could be better with that plan, is what I’m saying.

Nuñez wouldn’t be a major upgrade at third if he was taking over completely. He’s a reasonable addition to make if the Sox don’t want to send Devers back down, yet also don’t have enough in the kitty to land the best options for that side of the field on the market right now. With this, everybody wins.

In 48 games at third this year, Nuñez has committed seven errors, and sports a -7 Rtot alongside a -3 Rtot (which would translate into -20 and -9 for a year’s worth of work at the hot corner). He also has a .941 fielding percentage, a full 23 points below league average.

So no, he would not be a significant upgrade defensively based on what Boston is currently working with. But they needed to do something, and with a a .297/.322/.409 line and four homers, 27 RBIs, 19 doubles, and 17 steals, he’s something that works.

Getting some offensive support and letting Devers settle in for the time being is their best option and they went for it. Now they hope by the end of the season, when Nuñez finishes up this rental stint and heads for free agency, Devers has successfully turned into the savior everyone expects him to be.