Free Agent Big Board<\/a>, will mostly be used as the team\u2019s designated hitter and will likely hit behind Elly De La Cruz.<\/p>\nA week before Cincinnati\u2019s pitchers and catchers report to Goodyear, Ariz., the Reds finally landed the middle-of-the-order bat they needed for a team that finished 21st in Major League Baseball with 166 home runs and missed out on Kyle Schwarber earlier this offseason.<\/p>\n
Su\u00e1rez, a native of Venezuela who began his career with the Detroit Tigers before seven seasons with the Reds, called Cincinnati \u201chome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s perfect. That\u2019s why I\u2019m here, because it\u2019s perfect,\u201d Su\u00e1rez said. \u201cEverything right now is perfect, beautiful, happy, and (I\u2019m) very excited to be back home.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Reds traded for Su\u00e1rez before the 2015 season, the then-23-year-old was described as a \u201cglove-first shortstop.\u201d Between 2015 and 2021, Su\u00e1rez hit 189 homers, moved to third base, became an All-Star and earned MVP votes.<\/p>\n
Cincinnati is also where Su\u00e1rez\u2019s wife, G\u00e9nesis, gave birth to their first daughter, Nicolle. It\u2019s where Su\u00e1rez not only established himself as a big-leaguer, but it\u2019s also where he signed his first big contract, a seven-year extension that ran through last season.<\/p>\n
In the seasons since he was traded in 2022, Su\u00e1rez averaged 33 home runs for the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks.<\/p>\n
Last July, the Diamondbacks put Su\u00e1rez on the trade market and all three of the teams he\u2019d played for previously \u2014 the Tigers, Reds and Mariners \u2014 were among the teams interested in adding him to their lineup. While bringing in almost any player from outside requires a leap of faith about their fit in the clubhouse and in the organization, that wasn\u2019t the case with Su\u00e1rez.<\/p>\n
The only Reds players who played with Su\u00e1rez in his previous stint are catcher Tyler Stephenson, center fielder TJ Friedl and relievers Tony Santillan and Tejay Antone. Still, his reputation is such that closer Emilio Pag\u00e1n tracked down his phone number not just to recruit him to return, but also to congratulate him after news broke that he was a Red again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe camaraderie thing is real,\u201d Pag\u00e1n said. \u201cWe\u2019re a really, really close-knit, tight group, which helps you get through the tough times, because every team is going to have them. You add on to the fact that we\u2019re already super close and we already get along, you add in a guy with the track record of Geno Su\u00e1rez, it\u2019s only going to enhance it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That track record includes 49 home runs in 2025, more than double the 22 hit by Elly De La Cruz, the team\u2019s leader in homers last season, and more than any Red has hit since Su\u00e1rez\u2019s 49 in 2019.<\/p>\n
No Red has hit more than 25 homers in a season since 2021, Su\u00e1rez\u2019s last season with the Reds, when Joey Votto (36), Nick Castellanos (34) and Su\u00e1rez (31) each hit at least 30 homers.<\/p>\n
While Schwarber\u2019s bat felt like a natural fit in the Reds\u2019 lineup, he chose to stay in Philadelphia, agreeing to a five-year deal worth $150 million. Schwarber reportedly turned down other offers that would equal or exceed the deal offered by the Phillies, but he chose to stay in a place where he was comfortable. Su\u00e1rez did the same.<\/p>\n
Schwarber and Su\u00e1rez were drawn to each team\u2019s ability to compete as much as the comfort offered by familiar surroundings. The Reds and the Phillies reached the playoffs last season, as did Su\u00e1rez with the Mariners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chance to win, the chance to bring the playoffs to the city, and the chance we have with me to make the playoffs and win it all is high. That made the decision easy,\u201d Su\u00e1rez said.<\/p>\n
His $15 million price tag was below what many expected him to garner on the open market. Still, the deal required president of baseball operations Nick Krall to stretch the budget for the offseason to fit Su\u00e1rez, who is as popular with fans as he is teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went to ownership last week. I talked to Bob and Phil (Castellini), and we said this is probably where it\u2019s going to go and what we\u2019re going to need (financially) that would be above and beyond our (original) budget,\u201d Krall said. \u201cThey approved it, and we\u2019re excited to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even in Goodyear, Ariz., Su\u00e1rez\u2019s addition was welcomed by staff members who were with the team during his previous run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was walking around the complex when it broke (Monday), and the one thing is that every single person who brings it up has a smile on their face,\u201d Reds general manager Brad Meador said by phone.<\/p>\n
The smiles were mainly a result of the person Su\u00e1rez is, but they could also be for the player. He has the type of power that the team has lacked since the 2021 season. In addition to DH, he will get time at first and third base.<\/p>\n
After missing on Su\u00e1rez last July, the Reds pivoted and traded for third baseman Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes, allowing Noelvi Marte to move to the outfield full-time and also improve the team\u2019s infield defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt worked out well for this year, we have them both,\u201d Meador said. \u201cWe now have a Gold Glove third baseman and a guy who hit 49 home runs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that Su\u00e1rez hit 49 home runs last season normally wouldn\u2019t be reserved for the second half of interviews, but because he\u2019s a familiar face and beloved presence, it was.<\/p>\n
For a team that struggled to hit the ball out of the ballpark, adding Su\u00e1rez\u2019s power is an upgrade to the lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat alone is what you\u2019re excited about,\u201d said Reds bench coach Freddie Benavides, who was the team\u2019s infield coach when Su\u00e1rez came to Cincinnati. \u201cEverything else that he brings is icing on the cake. He strengthens our lineup \u2014 not just with the 49 home runs, but he\u2019s done it year in and year out. He\u2019s a home run threat. Any time he can hurt you, and it\u2019s something we lacked a little bit last year in the power game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pag\u00e1n, the Reds\u2019 closer, briefly put himself in an opposing pitcher\u2019s shoes, thinking about facing Su\u00e1rez at the plate with De La Cruz on first base.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s nightmare fuel for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014 For Eugenio Su\u00e1rez, the decision to return to the Reds four years after he was traded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5257,591,85],"class_list":["post-457165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}