The San Francisco Giants announced a deal to acquire former Yankee Eduardo Nunez from the Minnesota Twins Wednesday night. The deal was first announced by LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Eduardo Nunez has been traded to the Giants. Announcement coming…..
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) July 29, 2016
A shortstop by trade, Nunez was once a highly touted prospect within the Yankees organization who was considered to be the potential heir to Derek Jeter at shortstop. With the Yankees, Nunez struggled to come into his own both offensively and defensively. He hit .274 with 10 home-runs and 76 RBI in 827 plate appearances over four seasons in the Bronx, stealing 48 bases and adding 102 runs scored as well.
He was acquired by the Twins in April 2014. In exchange, the Twins sent left-hander Miguel Sulbaran to the Yankees.
Nunez has been a career utility player thus far. He has played mostly at shortstop and third base, but has also appeared at second base and in the outfield.
In 2016, he became the Twins’ starting shortstop and represented the Twins in the 2016 MLB All-Star game. This season, he is hitting .296/.325/.439 with 12 home-runs, 47 RBI, has scored 49 runs and boasts an American League-leading 27 steals.
Nunez is expected to start at third base for the Giants while Matt Duffy is out with an Achilles injury. It will be interesting to see what the Giants choose to do at third once Duffy returns. He has struggled this year, hitting just .253/.313/.358 with four home-runs and 21 RBI this season, which is about a third of the production totals he hit last season in half as many at-bats. If they choose to start Duffy, Nunez can settle into a utility role with the team.
Nunez is under team control through 2017.
