Fantasy Baseball: Why You Should Care That Pablo Sandoval Is Back With The Giants.

In a move that went largely unnoticed, the Red Sox released former World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval after no one was willing to pick his albatross of a contract off of waivers. Sandoval refused to report for his assignment, and was granted his release.

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Almost immediately, his old team started kicking the tires to see if the 30 year old Sandoval has anything left in the tank. Ultimately, the Giants signed him to a minor league contract.

Big deal, right? Panda is blocked in the majors by Eduardo Nunez and Jae-Gyun Hwang. We need to look at this a little more closely.

Hwang is struggling at the plate after initially hitting well at the big league level. Nunez is finally healthy, and now that he is, is getting lots of scouts from contenders to watch him. The Giants are going nowhere this year in a season that was lost as soon as Madison Bumgarner lost control of his dirt bike. They are rumored to be sellers, but I use that term loosely. Buster Posey and MadBum are going nowhere. It’s likely that Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, and Joe Panik are sticking around too.

On the other hand, Nunez may be expendable now with Panda back in the organization, and would land a lot of prospects in return. The Giants gave up left handed pitcher Adalberto Mejia, one of their top pitching prospects, for him almost a year ago. They could turn that into even more this year.

Nunez is hitting .300 with four homers, 27 RBI, and 17 steals in 280 at bats this year. There are plenty of teams that could be interested in Nunez, including the team that just cut ties with Sandoval.

Sandoval was miserable in Boston. He hit just .237 with 14 homers and 59 RBI in 161 games with Boston over three years. However, a return to his glory days could help. Panda hit .294 with 106 homers and 462 RBI in seven years with the Giants, including a monster World Series in 2012. He hit six homers that postseason, including three in the World Series against Detroit.

Keep your eye on the Nunez situation in the coming days. If he is moved, Sandoval could be worth a speculative add in most leagues.

Next: How Will J.D. Martinez Do In Arizona?

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