Eduardo Nunez Traded to Red Sox for Prospects Shaun Anderson, Gregory Santos

The Boston Red Sox announced early Wednesday that they acquired third baseman Eduardo Nunez from the San Francisco Giants in return for pitching prospects Shaun Anderson and Gregory Santos. 

Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal first reported the news.

"I'm going to miss him," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Nunez, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. "This guy was exciting and gave me a lot of options ... just a fun guy."

Nunez, 30, is in the midst of a career year at the plate. Entering Tuesday night, he was batting a career-high .307 with a .331 on-base percentage, .413 slugging percentage and .745 OPS.

He's also hitting .358 since June 1, a mark that ranks fourth among all players with at least 100 plate appearances during that span, per ESPN Stats & Info.

It's a low-risk, high-reward move for the American League East leaders, who have been in search of a steady patrolman at the hot corner all season long.

In Nunez, they get just that at a bargain rate. According to Rosenthal, he has approximately $1.5 million remaining on his expiring $4.2 million contract.

While Nunez isn't an ace in the field—he's recorded minus-1.0 defensive wins above replacement with a .941 fielding percentage at third base in 2017—he's been steady at the plate and on the base paths with four home runs, 29 RBI and 17 stolen bases.

Nunez can also move around the diamond if necessary, since he's logged 163.2 innings in the outfield and 90.0 at shortstop this season.

For the Giants, trading Nunez could conceivably open the door for Pablo Sandoval to return to the lineup, as the New York Post's Joel Sherman noted:

San Francisco will need to see some legitimate production from Sandoval in the minors before he makes a leap back to the big leagues, but it's hard to imagine he won't earn at least a brief look down the stretch since the Giants have taken up residence in the National League West cellar.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.