Daily Red Sox Links: Eduardo Nunez is Mr. September

Eduardo Nunez has been playing much better baseball than usual lately. That’s not really a big reveal and it’s why Alex Cora might have to make some tough decisions when Rafael Devers returns from the designated list. If you’ve missed Nunez’s surge entirely, just know that in the last two weeks (entering Sunday), Nunez has slashed .302/.318/.558 with three home runs and a wRC+ of 132. Other than the low on-base percentage, which is something that just comes with the territory for Nunez, that is some good baseball playing. For Nunez, who has hurt more than he’s helped over the bulk of the season (-1.2 bWAR, -0.2 fWAR), it has been a revelation. But what if I told you things might get better?

Nunez played incredibly well for the Red Sox last season right after he was traded to them from the San Francisco Giants. That trade took place on July 26 and even though Nunez hasn’t traditionally been better in the second half compared to the first in his career, it didn’t show. Over the final 50 games of the season (38 with the Red Sox), Nunez’s triple-slash rates were all up by at least 30 points compared to the first half. That type of work was a big reason the Sox eventually decided to bring him back this past offseason. Powering that improvement was a very strong eight games in September (.344/.364/.500), which is obviously a small sample size, but when you look at his career work in September you’ll notice it his best career month based on batting average (.294), on-base percentage (.327) and (.439).

Obviously there are a lot of other factors besides the change in month that have led to Nunez’s success in that specific sample size, but since he is already heating up and September just started, maybe we can expect another big-time ninth month from him.

David Price has been really good, so it would be nice to have him back in the rotation. Apparently he will return in about a week. (Christopher Smith; MassLive)

Chris Sale will also be back on the mound within the next seven days if everything goes according to plan. (Christopher Smith; MassLive)

Injuries and losses made August kind of rough, but the Red Sox actually did some good in the month as well. (Matthew Kory; The Athletic) ($$)

With Christian Vazquez now in the fold again, what does that mean for the catching situation? (Peter Abraham; Boston Globe)