Why the San Francisco Giants Should Keep Eduardo Nunez

Eduardo Nunez has been the topic of many trade discussions recently for the San Francisco Giants and is the most realistic piece to move, but is he really worth moving?

Lets look at some facts. Last season, the San Francisco Giants gave up a top 100 player in the 80-100 range for an All-Star player experiencing a career year slashing .300/.326/.444 with 12 home runs and 26 stolen bases. Also, he had another year of control under contract at a very cheap price, making him even more valuable due to control.

This season? Not so much the same. Sure, he’s been injured, but .305/.330/.414 isn’t too far off of his line when Giants traded for him, but his inability to stay on the field, plus the fact he is a rental and will be a free agent after this season drops his trade value significantly.

Additionally, you have to take into consideration how the market views Nunez, which ultimately is what matters. The industry has him undervalued, in my opinion, as a bench or utility fill-in player at best.

So without the sexy home run totals, lack of games played till this point, and not a decent RBI total what does a player deemed as a bench player receive back? Not much.

You can bet the Red Sox will be obsessive over these facts if negotiations get serious, because they know they can use it as leverage to get him for nothing, that’s how negotiating goes.

In fact, the San Francisco Giants would be lucky to receive a player in the Red Sox top 40-60 players in the organization. A player like that basically gets lost in your system, and just fills a roster spot to put out everyday to sell tickets in Double-A or Triple-A.

Once again, I DON’T agree with this, but my opinion doesn’t change the fact the industry views Nunez as a bench player and rental, which always returns little to nothing.

Plus, Brandon Crawford released a blog post describing how Nunez is the most fun guy in the clubhouse, and for a club that had chemistry questions come public, regardless of if they’re legit or not, why trade the most easy going and second most productive guy in your line up, just to receive back absolutely nothing?

Baseball is a business, and smart businesses thrive on supply and demand, so what’s in demand this deadline? Starting pitching, and relief pitchers.

Just look at the return for deals. Unless Nunez can somehow post a 2.20 ERA and strikeout 20 in the next 12 innings pitched while posting a 0.92 WHIP and .180 AVG against lefties, he doesn’t have much of a demand, and his prospect return would validate that.

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I think the Giants should keep Nunez and re-sign him to a deal, which he already has made public he desires to re-sign with the Giants. You keep him as a plug until 2019 when Nolan Arenado is a free agent, and then you go all in to sign him.

It’s worth the wait, and trading Nunez would create more problems then it solves. Who plays third for a “so called contending team,” in 2018? Arroyo? Can he hit a slider or off speed pitch on the outer half of the plate by then? Because that’s not only a legitimate question, it’s also all he’s going to see until he proves he can.

Teams looking to contend can’t have huge hypotheticals like that entering a season, and the left field melt down scenario this season proves that theory, which was completely hypothetical to think Triple-A guys who struggled with MLB chances, could really solidify the position for a contender full time.

Next: San Francisco Giants: 5 trades to make before Monday’s deadline

The San Francisco Giants can’t risk that at third base for a player no one will remember six weeks from now, and especially if they expect to contend.