Eduardo Nunez will remain a Red Sox for at least one more season after signing a one-year contract with Boston. The deal is pending a physical (Nunez battled knee injuries in 2017) and has an option for the 2019 season.

The 30-year-old Eduardo Nunez played out his 2017 season with the San Francisco Giants and the Boston Red Sox. Combined, Nunez put together a .313/.341/.460 slash line with 12 home runs, 58 RBI, 24 stolen bases, and 6 runs scored in 491 plate appearances. Eduardo also put up a .801 OPS with 215 total bases and a 110 OPS+ (100 is league average) in 114 games. His season was cut short due to the knee injuries as previously mentioned.

Nunez was signed mainly due to the fact that there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding Boston’s longtime second baseman Dustin Pedroia who underwent surgery on his left knee on October 25th, 2017. While Pedroia has been cleared to begin running and is gunning for Opening Day, it is not likely that he will recover in time.

The Red Sox will have a lot of back-ups in the likely event that Pedroia is not ready for Opening Day including Brock Holt, Deven Marrero, Marco Hernandez, Tzu-Wei Lin and even Blake Swihart, but with Nunez’s Major League experience, and his versatility in the infield, Nunez will almost certainly get the job.

All in all, this is a low-risk (if there is any risk to begin with) deal that puts less pressure on Dustin Pedroia to be back in time for Opening Day. The Red Sox will receive a seasoned veteran to man second base in Pedroia’s absence along with a solid bat with above average speed. Unfortunately, for the Red Sox, they will have to do way more than signing Eduardo Nunez to a one-year deal to be able to compete with the New York Yankees for the AL East Division title.