The San Francisco Giants have had hardly had much to celebrate in 2017.
And on Tuesday evening, they elected to trade one of their most valuable players.
In the fifth inning of the Giants’ matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates, third baseman Eduardo Nunez was pinch hit for and was spotted hugging teammates in the San Francisco dugout. Nunez said his goodbyes to players and coaches, and according to Ken Rosenthal, is on the move to Boston Red Sox.
Source: Eduardo Nunez to #RedSox.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 26, 2017
Nunez began the night with a .307 batting average and launched a two-run triple in the bottom half of the third inning to push the Giants’ lead over the Pirates to 8-0. Shortly thereafter, though, Nunez was removed from the game by manager Bruce Bochy and began his goodbye tour.
With the Giants sitting 31.5 games back of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday evening, San Francisco was in position to begin moving Major League assets for prospects who can help the team win in the future. After acquiring Nunez after last year’s All-Star break to man third base for the Giants, general manager Bobby Evans shipped Nunez off this year to eventually clear the way for the team’s top prospect, Christian Arroyo.
Moments after Rosenthal reported the trade, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that the Giants received two Minor League pitchers in exchange for Nunez.
The #SFGiants receive two minor league pitchers from #Redsox for Nunez
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 26, 2017