San Francisco Giants: A Case for Eduardo Nunez

With a vacancy at third base, we look at why it would make sense for the San Francisco Giants to consider bringing back Eduardo Nunez.

Before getting traded to the Boston Red Sox this past season, you could make an argument that Nunez was the Giants best player.

He had one of the best seasons of his career hitting . 313 in 467 at-bats with 60 runs scored, 12 home runs and 58 RBI.

For his career he’s a .282 hitter with a .320 on-base-percentage. The big negative on Nunez is that he doesn’t walk much, hence the low on-base-percentage.

But, he also doesn’t strike out much with a career-high 88 in 2016. So you know he’s going to put the ball in play, which is still a valuable commodity these days.

Some other positives on Nunez is that he’s just 30 years old, can play multiple positions and is cheap. According to MLB Trade Rumors he could get two years at around $14 million.

Another negative is that he’s not considered a great defender at third base.

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Even if Nunez becomes just a utility player for the Giants the next two years, that’s not a high cost for a known commodity.

Plus, the Giants could always flip him again if they turn out to not be contenders.

This also opens up the possibility that the Giants could move Joe Panik this offseason.

Panik could be one of the Giants more valuable trade chips in a big trade for Giancarlo Stanton or someone else.

You could move Nunez to second base and not have any drop-off in offensive production.

I think in a full season, which we’ve only seen once with Nunez, he could be a .280 hitter with 15-20 home runs. I’ll take that type of production from third or second base in 2018.

Next: What if the San Francisco Giants Don’t Get Giancarlo Stanton?

We haven’t seen what type of market Nunez will have just yet, but I think the Giants should be involved.