Report: Eduardo Nunez began offseason seeking 5-year contract
Eduardo Nunez reached for the stars in free agency.
But instead of striking gold, Nunez ended up as both a potential bargain for his team, and perhaps the latest casualty of baseball's abnormally slow offseason.
Sources told Rob Bradford of WEEI that the 30-year-old utility man - who rejoined the Boston Red Sox on a one-year, $4-million contract Sunday morning - was initially asking teams for a five-year deal at the beginning of the offseason.
It's not clear what kind of money Nunez might have been seeking in a potential five-year contract, but there's no doubt that kind of multi-year agreement would have been worth more than the guaranteed $6 million (counting the buyout cost of his 2019 player option) he ultimately received from Boston.
Related: Red Sox officially re-sign Nunez to 1-year deal
Nunez isn't the only free-agent third baseman who's been hurt by this winter's market. Todd Frazier settled for a two-year, $17-million deal with the New York Mets two weeks ago, while another power-hitting All-Star at the hot corner in Mike Moustakas is still without a contract.
Nunez's value differs from Moustakas and Frazier's in the modern game, given his status as an All-Star player capable of playing multiple positions. But the free-agent market for utility men of his ilk remains a mystery, and his best comparison for contract purposes might be another All-Star utility player in Ben Zobrist. Though six years Nunez's senior, Zobrist inked a four-year, $56-million deal with the Chicago Cubs before his age-35 season in 2016, arguably the largest contract ever given to a super-utility man.
Unlike Zobrist, though, Nunez has some injury history and is coming off a strained PCL suffered during the playoffs. Though the state of this year's market undoubtedly halted his reported pursuit of a multi-year contract, there is a chance that uncertainty about his health may have also forced Nunez into settling for the one-year deal.
At least seven other teams besides the Red Sox - including the New York Yankees, Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, and Atlanta Braves - were also reportedly interested in Nunez this winter.