Red Sox Should Absolutely Cut Bait With Eduardo Nunez

He may be a veteran and theoretically potent bat for this Boston Red Sox team, but how much longer can manager Alex Cora keep running Eduardo Nunez out there?

Not only is Nunez slashing a woeful .207/.221/.272 with one home run and 11 RBI over 92 at-bats, but he's a walking mental error.

For instance, Friday night in the top of the fifth, Boston had a chance to scratch a run (or more) across with two outs and Andrew Benintendi up, but Nunez made a boneheaded play and was picked off at second base by catcher Gary Sanchez.

This isn't the first time Nunez has made a mental mistake on the base paths in a big game against the Yankees in the past...year and a half?

These kinds of mistakes can't happen, and you certainly don't expect them to take place as often as they seem to from a 10-year veteran. Making matters worse, Nunez has an injury history (missed 14 games this season with back strain) and owns a measly .493 OPS.

Nunez is a free agent following the 2019 season, so it's not like the front office has a lot invested in him long term. That's why, especially with the emergence of Michael Chavis, it's time for Boston to cut bait with him.

Yes, there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding fellow infielder Dustin Pedroia and at the very least, Nunez gives Boston a veteran bat off the bench. However, they can't get the same or better production without the mental errors from Brock Holt and Tzu-Wei Lin? Marco Hernandez is fighting back from injury and getting his stroke back, too. That wouldn't be more viable?

The Red Sox are not in the position where they can afford Nunez to run into outs. They could continue to look past it if they were on the same winning pace as last year, but they are hovering around the .500 mark and are currently in third place in the division.

It's time to make a change and get rid of the weak link on this team.