San Francisco Giants: Mock Trade with Boston Red Sox

With the trade deadline approaching, we will begin doing some mock trades for the San Francisco Giants that could happen before July 31.

It’s no secret that the Giants are shopping Eduardo Nunez. He’ll be a free agent after the season and is not part of the future of this team.

A few teams, including the Boston Red Sox, have shown interest in Nunez. However, there has not been much traction on a possible trade.

In fact, a possible trade between these two teams looks even more bleak after the Red Sox called up third base prospect Rafael Devers.

Still, the Red Sox could use Nunez as insurance so we’ll look at a potential trade.

I really think that when the San Francisco Giants find a suitor for Nunez, Hunter Strickland should be thrown in as a package deal. The thing is, Strickland will command more of a return than Nunez, but every contender is in need of a bullpen arm.

The return from the Red Sox seems a little steep. But Bobby Dalbec has really struggled at Single-A this year, so maybe you buy low on him. And for whatever reason the Red Sox don’t like Brian Johnson who is no more than a four or five starter in the big leagues.

Dalbec could give the San Francisco Giants their third baseman of the future. And Johnson could step into the rotation as soon as this year, or at least be a solid arm in the bullpen.

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Johnson has a 4.33 ERA in five starts for the Red Sox this year, but has a 2.64 ERA over 491.1 minor league innings. He’s 26, but won’t be arbitration eligible until 2020.

As for Dalbec, he’s hitting .238 this year with 4 home runs in 168 at-bats. He was a fourth round pick out of Arizona in 2016, but obviously still has some developing to do.

Another reason the Red Sox should be interested in Nunez is because of Dustin Pedroia’s health. He’s already missed time this year due to a nagging knee injury. Nunez could help fill a void at third and second base for the American League East front-runners.

Boston has been linked to Nunez the most, but the move to call up Devers makes me think they aren’t willing to part with their top prospects.

Next: San Francisco Giants: How they can reload, and compete in 2018

We’ll see what happens between the San Francisco Giants and The Red Sox as the week unfolds.