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  • Nunez Traded To Giants For LHP Prospect

    Seth Stohs

    By Seth Stohs

    Following the Twins 6-2 win against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night, the team announced that All Star Shortstop Eduardo Nunez has been traded to the San Francisco Giants.

    In return, the Twins received left-handed pitcher Adalberto Mejia. He just turned 23 years old. In 18 starts between AA Richmond and AAA Sacramento this year, he is a combined 7-3 with a 2.81 ERA. In 105.2 innings, he has 27 walks and 102 strikeouts. He made 11 starts in AA and has now made seven starts in AAA.

    Image courtesy of Brad Rempel, USA Today

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    The Giants have an All-Star caliber shortstop in Brandon Crawford. Second Baseman Joe Panik is about to come off of the Disabled List. Matt Duffy has been their primary third baseman. Eduardo Nunez will likely play all three positions, and maybe even a little in the outfield.

    Once considered the heir-apparent to Derek Jeter as the New York Yankees shortstop, Eduardo Nunez never really got that opportunity. Instead, he had to play as a utility infielder. In April of 2014, he was traded to the Twins in exchange for left-handed pitcher Miguel Sulbaran.

    He played in 72 games for the Twins in 2014 and hit just .250/.271/.381 (.654). In 2015, he finally seemed to really accept the role of a bench player and thrived. He hit .272/.327/.431 (.758).

    Because of injury, Nunez finally got an opportunity to play every day and he took full advantage. While he has slowed down in the last month, he is still hitting .300/.326/.444 (.771) with 15 doubles, 12 homers, 47 RBI and a league-leading 26 stolen bases. He made - and earned - his first All Star appearance.

    Popular in the clubhouse, Nunez will likely be missed by teammates. He is considered a leader among the players, particularly the many young players from Latin American countries.

    However, to get a prospect the caliber of Adalberto Mejia for him is rather impressive.

    Mejia was suspended 50 games for PEDs following the 2014 season. He missed time at the start of the 2015 season. Since, he he pitched very well.

    Mejia is listed at 6-3, 195 pounds, but most believe he is at least 20 pounds more than that. However, the southpaw has a fastball that reached to 93-94 mph.He also throws a slider in the mid-80s and a low-80s change up.

    For Rob Antony's first move as the interim GM, I would think this would go down in the "Pro" column for his candidacy for the full-time job.

    Mejia's Twins career will begin with the Rochester Red Wings. Jorge Polanco was recalled to the Twins.

    Seth Stohs has been blogging about the Minnesota Twins since May 2003. A founder and owner of Twins Daily, Seth has been a Twins fan for 40 years and has a passion for covering the minor leagues and prospects.
    Follow Seth Stohs on Twitter: sethtweets

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    Featured Comments

    diehardtwinsfan

    diehardtwinsfan 14,830

  • Community Moderator

    • Posted

     

    Opens up a 25-man roster spot, yes.  But, since Mejia is on the 40-man roster, this cuts both ways.  We won't be able to use Nunez's 40-man spot to protect one of our own prospects from the Rule 5 draft this winter.  Might not know quite how to grade this aspect until we see what other trades they make, and what kind of 40-man decisions they make through November.

     

    But I'm cool with it.  We had to move Nunez, and we got something interesting.

     

    Might mean a guy like Nolasco gets the DFA... one can hope right?

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    diehardtwinsfan

    diehardtwinsfan 14,830

  • Community Moderator

    • Posted

     

    Thanks.  That is encouraging -- still "projecting as a number four starter" but he also notes "with some chance to be a number three."

     

    I think his age relative to the leagues he has played in says a lot. He's almost always been more than a year younger, and in the PCL right now, he is more than 3 years younger. Those are the types of guys that can continue to improve and potentially out perform their MILB numbers. This was a pretty good pickup. We can debate if he's top 100 or not, but I think borderline top 100 is very reasonable here. It was a good pickup. I'd much rather run him out there every 5th day in 2017 over Milone.  Much more upside.

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

     

    Maybe. I thought Gilmartin's velocity was 86-89.

    Could be, I'm no expert on that.  I was thinking more statistically, and fairly generic in terms of "profile" (left handed, similar height, finesse/control oriented rather than power).

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

     

    I think his age relative to the leagues he has played in says a lot. He's almost always been more than a year younger, and in the PCL right now, he is more than 3 years younger. Those are the types of guys that can continue to improve and potentially out perform their MILB numbers. This was a pretty good pickup. We can debate if he's top 100 or not, but I think borderline top 100 is very reasonable here. It was a good pickup.

    He's not a borderline top 100, unless he suddenly turns it up a notch.  Nobody has him in their top 100, except BA's midseason list which excluded 2016 drafts/signings.  Judging by his relative ranks from BA, MLB, and his grade from Sickels, he's probably part of a large (100+) group in consideration for 140-175 ranks overall, if more lists went down to that level.

     

    Mejia is doing just fine in terms of age, but probably not enough to warrant any bonus points.  He had a better case when he reached AA 2 years ago, but he wasn't that good then.  In the AFL last year and AA this year, he was probably close enough to average age (within 1.5 years) that it doesn't mean a whole lot anymore.  And the AAA average pitcher age is 26.8, which you can imagine is skewed by a lot of non-prospects.  But there is no shame in reaching AAA at age 23 as Mejia has done.

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    jorgenswest

    jorgenswest 5,941

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I have seen Mejia pitch twice for San Jose when he was 20. I haven't seen Gilmartin in person so I really can't compare. At 20, Mejia was impressive. He seemed like a veteran though he was young for the league. I did wonder if his pitch mix would continue to fool AA and AAA hitters. He wasn't blowing guys away like Kyle Crick did on that San Jose club.

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

     

    I'd much rather run him out there every 5th day in 2017 over Milone.  Much more upside.

    That's an interesting question.  It certainly doesn't help that Milone is scuffling this year and earning $4.5 mil, but his career MLB performance to date looks not unlike Mejia's #4 type projection.  And that salary may not climb much in arb, or perhaps could decline after a non-tender.

     

    Of course, it's not necessarily an either-or proposition.

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

     

    I have seen Mejia pitch twice for San Jose when he was 20. I haven't seen Gilmartin in person so I really can't compare. At 20, Mejia was impressive. He seemed like a veteran though he was young for the league. I did wonder if his pitch mix would continue to fool AA and AAA hitters. He wasn't blowing guys away like Kyle Crick did on that San Jose club.

    Thanks for the report!

     

    I didn't mean the Gilmartin thing to be a serious close comparison.  According to Sickels, Gilmartin pretty much lost his #4 projection once he struggled in AAA in 2013 anyway, so I'd agree that Mejia definitely has the advantage right now.  Just thought some of their numbers were similar, and their ages weren't too far off despite their different backgrounds.

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    bluechipper

    bluechipper 2,433

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

     

    Here's an interesting article about Nunez

     

    One of my favorite lines from it:

     

    'I can tell you that Eduardo Nunez has been worth 1.0 WAR in his career, and 1.6 WAR this year. He was technically just an All-Star, but he was an All-Star in the way that the guys who finished after Lance Armstrong during his doping years are Tour de France champions'.

    Yeah he's only leading the AL in stolen bases and hitting around .300. The Nunez bashing in regards to the All Star game is a little over the top in my opinion.

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    Lee-The-Twins-Fan

    Lee-The-Twins-Fan 261

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

    So we trade a left-hander, Miguel Sulbaran – who never spent time in the majors, for Nunez, play him for two and a half years, roughly, and then trade him for another left-handed starter? I like it!!!

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    jimmer

    jimmer 9,961

  • Verified Member

    • Posted (edited)

     

    Yeah he's only leading the AL in stolen bases and hitting around .300. The Nunez bashing in regards to the All Star game is a little over the top in my opinion.

    probably has to do with three things

     

    1: SBs don't really add much value and teams have gotten away from them mostly now that they realize that.  Which is why such a low SB total leads the league.

     

    2. Defense matters

     

    3. If the every team has to have a rep rule wasn't in effect, he wouldn't have made the team. There were way, way better options available for his spot on the all star team.

     

    When people say he shouldn't have been an all star, some people take it as a slight, like people are saying he was horrible at that point.  No one is saying that.  Doesn't mean he hadn't been good, just that there were more deserving players.

     

     

    Edited by jimmer
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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

     

    So we trade a left-hander, Miguel Sulbaran – who never spent time in the majors, for Nunez, play him for two and a half years, roughly, and then trade him for another left-handed starter? I like it!!!

    The transaction tree is more just a trivia thing.  I think absent Sulbaran, we probably would have acquired the DFA'd Nunez just the same with another fringe type prospect.

     

    That said, I hope there are even bigger things in store for this transaction tree, on the new Mejia branch! :)

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    shs_59

    shs_59 100

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

    just a reminder for the last several twins potential lead-off hitters

     

    Denard Span   = Nothing   (meyer)

     

    Ben Revere =  Trevor May and NOTHING (worley)

     

    Aaron Hicks   = Nothing (murphy)

     

    and Now Nunez =  Nothing or something?   (mejia)

     

     

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    Jham

    Jham 2,495

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Adalberto Mejia’s Mahalanobis Comps

    Fangraph's Chris Mitchell's top 10 comps and projections...

     

    Rank Name Mah Dist Projected KATOH+ WAR Actual WAR
    1 Victor Santos 0.28 2.3 3.8
    2 John Thomson 0.36 2.4 13.7
    3 Zack Greinke 0.49 2.3 32.0
    4 Jeff Karstens 0.66 2.0 3.4
    5 John Johnstone 0.76 2.1 1.3
    6 Ricky Nolasco 0.82 3.4 16.6
    7 Jeff Housman 0.90 2.0 0.0
    8 Peter Munro 0.97 3.5 3.3
    9 Pat Misch 0.99 2.1 1.0
    10 Wil Ledezma 1.02 2.9

     

    Let's hope for Zack Greinke!  But of course, the 2nd MOST successful comp based on his MiLB results is Ricky Nolasco...   Expletive.

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    shs_59

    shs_59 100

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

     

    Adalberto Mejia’s Mahalanobis Comps

    Fangraph's Chris Mitchell's top 10 comps and projections...

     

    Rank Name Mah Dist Projected KATOH+ WAR Actual WAR
    1 Victor Santos 0.28 2.3 3.8
    2 John Thomson 0.36 2.4 13.7
    3 Zack Greinke 0.49 2.3 32.0
    4 Jeff Karstens 0.66 2.0 3.4
    5 John Johnstone 0.76 2.1 1.3
    6 Ricky Nolasco 0.82 3.4 16.6
    7 Jeff Housman 0.90 2.0 0.0
    8 Peter Munro 0.97 3.5 3.3
    9 Pat Misch 0.99 2.1 1.0
    10 Wil Ledezma 1.02 2.9

     

    Let's hope for Zack Greinke!  But of course, the 2nd MOST successful comp based on his MiLB results is Ricky Nolasco...   Expletive.

     

    a LH'd Nolasco in his prime would be an exceptional outcome for Alderberto Mejia

     

    don't fool yourself.  GO back and look at Nolasco's career seasons with Florida Marlins (before they were Miami)

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    KirbyDome89

    KirbyDome89 4,113

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    just a reminder for the last several twins potential lead-off hitters

     

    Denard Span   = Nothing   (meyer)

     

    Ben Revere =  Trevor May and NOTHING (worley)

     

    Aaron Hicks   = Nothing (murphy)

     

    and Now Nunez =  Nothing or something?   (mejia)

    Sounds like a lot of something to me. We have yet to see Meyer get a real shot to start for the Twins but at worst they have a hard throwing relief pitcher. May is in the same boat. I'm not sure why receiving a potential 4th starter for a utility guy who is a defensive liability and is had a career 2 months at the plate is a bad trade. Yeah Murphy has been terrible but last I checked Hicks wasn't exactly killing it for NY, and he certainly didn't tear it up in his time with the Twins either. 

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    jimmer

    jimmer 9,961

  • Verified Member

    • Posted (edited)

    Carlos Pena said Nunez can defensively play every position at a very high caliber level, gold glove caliber level. Those old school former players on MLB Network crack me up.

    Edited by jimmer
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    jorgenswest

    jorgenswest 5,941

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Adalberto Mejia’s Mahalanobis Comps

    Fangraph's Chris Mitchell's top 10 comps and projections...

     

    Rank Name Mah Dist Projected KATOH+ WAR Actual WAR

    1 Victor Santos 0.28 2.3 3.8

    2 John Thomson 0.36 2.4 13.73 Zack Greinke 0.49 2.3 32.0

    4 Jeff Karstens 0.66 2.0 3.4

    5 John Johnstone 0.76 2.1 1.36 Ricky Nolasco 0.82 3.4 16.6

    7 Jeff Housman 0.90 2.0 0.0

    8 Peter Munro 0.97 3.5 3.3

    9 Pat Misch 0.99 2.1 1.0

    10 Wil Ledezma 1.02 2.9

     

    Let's hope for Zack Greinke!  But of course, the 2nd MOST successful comp based on his MiLB results is Ricky Nolasco...   Expletive.

    Nolasco through his years of team control was a number 4 pitcher or better. That would be an incredible return for Nunez. Hopefully they will have learned that guys who are number 4s in their primes aren't very useful 32-35.

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    jimmer

    jimmer 9,961

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    Congratulations to Eduardo Nunez. He's gone from a terrible situation in NY to frustration in Minneapolis, fought through it to emerge finally as an All-Star infielder with a hot bat. I hope he has a great time in San Francisco. 

    I like him.  He's fun to watch for many reasons.  Hope he does well too.  And the city of San Fran is great.

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    shs_59

    shs_59 100

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

    Eduardo Nunez might be having a career year in 2016...

     

    But i guarantee you he'll hit at least .285 for the Giants next season as well.

     

    Wouldn't surprise me if he was in the same .315 range for the majority of the yr.

    still a Low OB % guy but he's an underrated assett on winning teams

     

    Adnan Virk ,of ESPN, who knows baseball very well, COULD not BELIEVE the Twins got only Aldaberto Mejia for Eduardo Nunez he's like you got to get more if you're the Twins in that deal.

     

    (i'm not quite in his boat, but i thought we could of got another C+ prospect back as well)

     

     

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    Minniman

    Minniman 118

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

     

    Your analysis is based on "All Star, Batting Avg., and RBI"? 

     

    FYI, his OBP since June 1 is .295

     

    Yeah, he played poorly after the break, but so has the whole team.

     

    Again, it may work out for the Twins, but it is just funny how low this team has gone.

     

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