Phillies sign free agent infielder Abraham Nunez

From a Phillies news release: Seeking to bolster the depth of the infield, Phillies Vice President and General Manager Pat Gillick today announced the signing of free agent infielder Abraham Nunez.

He signed a two-year, $3,350,000 contract that includes a club option for 2008 and performance bonuses.

"Nunez gives us some versatility in that he can play three infield positions and is a switch-hitter," said Gillick.

Nunez, 29, began last season as an extra infielder with the St. Louis Cardinals. When Scott Rolen went down with season-ending shoulder surgery, Nunez became the everyday third baseman the rest of the season and in the post-season.

He played 98 games at third base (77 starts), 22 at second and 21 at shortstop. In 139 games, Nunez hit .285 with a career-high five home runs and 44 RBI. He hit .364 with three runs scored in the Division Series against the San Diego Padres and .385 in the League Championship Series vs. the Houston Astros.

His average in late and close situations (.375) ranked fifth in the National League and he was among the top 10 with a .319 average after the sixth inning. As a pinch-hitter, Nunez batted .250. He was second on the Cardinals with six pinch-hits and tied for the most RBI, five.

The Dominican native was originally signed as an amateur free agent by Toronto in 1994. He was dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates following his second pro season. Nunez played in the majors with the Pirates, 1997-2004, and signed as a free agent with St. Louis last January. With the Pirates in 2004, he was fourth in the National League with 62 pinch-hit at-bats.

Lifetime, he is a .248 hitter with 16 home runs and 161 RBI in 769 games.

The addition of Nunez puts the Phillies' 40-man winter roster at 37 players.

Beerleaguer take:
On the surface, this is a seemingly low-key acquisition of a utility player, until you lay out the facts surrounding third base. Only then can you realize this has the potential to grow into more than just bench help.

Nunez projects to be a more attractive, cheaper option than most of the players on the list of 2007 free agent third baseman, headed by names like Edgardo Alfonso and Pedro Feliz. In addition, there is nothing brewing on the farm but Mike Constanzo (65th pick overall in June 2005 draft), but he's years away.

As for the short term, there is reason to be modestly excited. On paper, he's an improvement over the rapidly eroding David Bell, who's under contract for one more season. Hardball Times Win Shares ranks the switch-hitting Nunez 8th best in the NL, compared to 16th for Bell. Fielding Win Shares are surprisingly high, putting him 6th in the league, below Bell, who is 2nd.

All I would ask is a repeat of 2005. With power coming from two infield positions, Nunez doesn’t need to swing a big stick or carry a full-time load. However, if his OPS sinks closer to his career mark of .640, the Phils may have wasted a draft pick. There is significant risk with this signing.

Bottom line question
Can he repeat last season? If he does, he could develop into a platoon or majority AB replacement for the man who replaced Scott Rolen. 

Comments

[Bob]

Jason,
what did this move cost the phillies? a 1st round draft pick?

[gr]

sometimes i think you have less actual work to do than me. this move was announced like 30 minutes ago.

[Tom Goodman]

gr: Jason emailed me the news within seconds of its happening and it wasn't even on ESPN at that point. But get this: I went to the Cardinals official MLB site and he was already OFF their 40-man roster. WOW. When a guy departs St. Louis, the Cards waste less time than our faithful Beerleaguer in making it official. It's easier to find someone in the Gulag than an ex-Cardinal in St. Louis.

[Cliff]

So yeah, about that pitching...

[pat]

i had the same problems, i went to the cards website to look at his splits and he was nowhere to be found.

i believe he was a type C free agent so it didnt cost them a 1st round pick. havent gotten confirmation on that as of yet though

[clout]

Any logical reason to believe Nunez would be a better choice to platoon with Bell than any number of available AAA players? Nunez had a career year last season that bore absolutely no resemblance to anything he'd done before. He's a lifetime .248 hitter with terrible OB, no power, no speed and a glove that's league-average. He's just a slight upgrade over Tomas Perez offensively and not as good defensively.

[That Dude]

I'm with Clout. He's servicable, but I feel like he really another Tomas Perez. Can't we get Nick Punto back?

[J. Weitzel]

Clout: I see what you're saying to a certain extent. I'm less excited now than at 3 p.m. when I first read about this deal and whipped something together. The beauty of blogging is I can step away from the computer, have dinner, and come back refreshed with an update. In this new light, I see Nunez as uber-bench, which is fine. It's something they needed to upgrade over last season.

Agreed. Nunez is the type of player who should have been at the ready in Scranton or already in place on the Phillies bench. But the Phils dug a huge hole for themselves at this position, just like catcher, just like pitching, and were about to fall off a cliff next season because of it. Their best AAA infielder is Sandoval, and judging from the post submitted by the Barons beat writer, Sandoval doesn't project as an option for third.

I'm not entirely certain there are a lot of AAA third baseman who can play in this league to begin with, and if they wanted to get one, they would need to trade for it. This was a position I felt was worthwhile handling via free agency, something small like this, but like I said, there is significant risk he will not produce like he did with the Cardinals. His career line stinks.

[Philliesopher]

Ugh. I heard we were looking at this guy even before Pat Gillick was brought aboard. This reeks of "old school" scouting, where some advance scout decides, after watching a guy for a game or three, that he's a "winner" despite no historical evidence to support that... except that he played for a winning team (wonder if pujols, et. all, had anything to do with that).

A .700 OPS... in a CAREER YEAR??? I fully expect David Bell to bounce back to his track record of mediocrity, which will be far superior to what we should count on from Nunez.

The Phillies have a cultural problem that will only be fixed with a total house-cleaning of their baseball people, not just the GM. Frankly there is nothing to say this guy is any better than Tomas Perez, and a lot to indicate they are, in fact, dead-on clones. Another hole on our roster most kindly described by phrases such as "versatile", "a gamer" and "gives his all".

How about "this guy's a producer". We don't hear that enough.

[a]

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