Eduardo Nunez clearly left an impression on the Boston Red Sox.
Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski confirmed Wednesday at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings that the club has interest in the infielder, who’s currently a free agent after finishing the 2017 season with Boston following a midseason trade.
“He’s still on our radar, sure,” Dombrowski told reporters, per MassLive.com.
Nunez, who the Red Sox acquired days before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, suffered a knee injury in September. He tried to return for Boston’s Ameican League Division Series against the Houston Astros but collapsed while running to first base in Game 1 and was carried off the field. According to Dombrowski, the 30-year-old didn’t undergo surgery.
“He’s not quite ready yet,” Dombrowski said, per MassLive.com. “The patellar injury is a long injury to kind of get through it, go full board. So he’s not quite through it in that regard.”
Nunez has spent time with four teams — Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees — over the course of his eight-year career. He was an All-Star in 2016 and is coming off a solid 2017 season in which he hit .313 with 12 home runs, 58 RBIs, 24 stolen bases and an .801 OPS in 491 plate appearances over 114 games.
Nunez can play all over the diamond, which proved to be an asset for the Red Sox down the stretch last season. He could be a nice insurance policy with second baseman Dustin Pedroia likely out until May after undergoing knee surgery and Rafael Devers likely starting the season at third base despite limited experience at the major league level.
