The San Francisco Giants announced that they have acquired Eduardo Nunez from the Minnesota Twins for prospect Adalberto Mejia.
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San Francisco has Brandon Crawford entrenched at shortstop but have suffered injuries to second baseman Joe Panik and third baseman Matt Duffy this season.
To replace Nunez on the 25-man roster, the Twins will recall infielder Jorge Polanco from Rochester.
Nunez, 29, is expected to move between the infield and outfield for his new club. Even with Duffy back in the fold, he’ll likely take a day or two off a week, which would give Nunez playing time. He’s hitting.296/.325/.439 with 12 home runs, 47 RBI, 49 runs scored, and a league-best 26 stolen bases in 391 plate appearances this season. Evans also said this deal was not made to set up another trade by flipping Nunez or trading one of their infielders. “I wouldn’t expect him to think that, but I just wanted to be sure”. He went 0-for-4 out of the leadoff spot with a walk and three strikeouts while picking up his American League leading 27th steal of the season. He can be a free agent after the 2017 season.
“We’ve seen the need for depth in the infield”, Evans said.
Evans said the front office remains focused on adding a bullpen arm, but the opportunity was there to acquire Nunez and the Giants pounced.
Mejia, 23, ranks no. 91 in Baseball America’s prospect rankings, #5 on the Giants, but MLB.com has him as the Giants’ #7 prospect.
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“We hope to see something come together before the deadline, that’s our hope”, Evans said. He has posted a 2.81 ERA in 18 starts split between Double-A Richmond and Triple-A Sacramento so far this season, his sixth professional season since being signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2011.
