Yankees Rumors: Eduardo Nunez is counterproductive

Eduardo Nunez began his career with the Yankees back in 2010. Now eight years later, there’s a chance the two sides could reunite. But here’s why they shouldn’t.

Once upon a time, Eduardo Nunez was considered by many within the Yankees organization to be the heir to Derek Jeter.

However, after four hit and miss seasons (pun intended), where Nunez dealt with inconsistency and injury, the Yanks finally traded him to the Twins for left-handed pitcher Miguel Sulbaran.

This change of scenery was the best thing that could happen to the now 30-year-old free agent. You see, Nunez has carved out a nice little career for himself, amassing a career line of 282/.320/.415.

In 2016, Nunez played in a career-high 141 games, on his way to his lone All-Star selection. Over the course of 553 at-bats, which saw the eight-year veteran traded to the Giants midseason, Nunez hit .288 with 16 home runs, 68 RBI and stole 40 bases.

One season later, and Nunez was bitten by the injury bug yet again. Only able to take the field for 114 contests, 38 of which were for the Red Sox — Nunez still managed to hit .313 with 12 homers and 58 RBI.

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Looking at these numbers, you’re probably convinced of Nunez’s impending return to the Bronx. Especially after reading the excerpts of the rumor mill by Jon Heyman and Bryan Hoch.

On Dec 13, Heyman posted to Twitter:

"red sox, blue jays and possibly yankees are among teams in play for eduardo nunez"

Then just the other day, it was Hoch with his take for MLB.com.

"More likely, one of those positions will be manned by someone not currently in the organization. The Yankees expressed interest in the Orioles’ Manny Machado and have been in contact with free agent third baseman Todd Frazier. A reunion with Eduardo Nunez is another option."

But I’m here to tell you that bringing Nunez back to the Yankees would be a mistake.

Look, some guys don’t have what it takes to succeed in those navy blue pinstripes. It’s not a testament to their character, but you have to be built a certain way to succeed at 1 E 161st St.

Nunez had his chance in 2011, appearing in 112 games (309 at-bats) for the Bombers. He slashed .265/.313/.385 while making 20 errors in the field (though, in all fairness, he did play five different positions).

Maybe it was bad timing — or playing in the shadow of Jeter, but those are the memories we the fans are left with. If Nunez were to don that classic uniform once again, the expectations would be unfair because all we’ll think about were his failures from 2010-14.

The first time Nunez pulls up lame, or boots a costly ground ball, the ghost of past failures will come back to haunt his existence — thus rendering Nunez useless.

If you don’t believe that psychology plays a major part in the game of baseball, then I don’t know what to tell you.

Nunez is entering the portion of his career where he’ll be looking to get every dollar he possibly can — and he’s going to get more than the $4.2 million he made last season.

While that number isn’t prohibitive, it’s counterproductive for a club that has suitable internal options that not only will make much less, but also carry far less risk for injury.

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Signing Nunez sends a signal of confusion. You see, he’s not young enough to be “the future,” but not quite old enough to be a “stopgap.” So what is he? An expensive utility player?

In my opinion, signing Nunez, with the weight of uber-prospects breathing down his neck will do more harm than good. Nunez played his best ball with the Twins and Giants where there was little to no pressure and no impending benching. That won’t happen with the Yanks.

Eduardo Nunez began his career with the Yankees back in 2010. Now eight years later, there’s a chance the two sides could reunite. But here’s why they shouldn’t.

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