{"id":448372,"date":"2026-02-02T03:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T03:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/448372\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T03:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T03:02:09","slug":"padres-offseason-gets-worse-as-eugenio-suarez-signs-with-reds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/448372\/","title":{"rendered":"Padres\u2019 Offseason Gets Worse as Eugenio Su\u00e1rez Signs With Reds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Padres have missed out on another free-agent target, as Eugenio Su\u00e1rez agreed to a one-year, $15 million deal with the Cincinnati Reds. The news comes just one day after Padres manager Craig Staimman confirmed that Gavin Sheets will play first base in 2026,<\/a> leaving a massive opening at designated hitter in the Padres lineup.<\/p>\n

It is incredible how small of a contract Su\u00e1rez received, and losing him to a National League rival chasing the Padres in the standings is a major blow to the team\u2019s 2026 outlook. Despite finishing seven games ahead of the Reds last season and securing the fifth seed in the playoffs, the Padres\u2019 postseason outlook continues to worsen as the offseason drags on.<\/p>\n

Just yesterday, the team lost contact star Luis Arraez to division rival San Francisco on a similar one-year deal.<\/a> The Su\u00e1rez signing now represents yet another NL rival that has improved this offseason.<\/p>\n

Last season, Su\u00e1rez put together one of the most dominant offensive campaigns of the past decade. He hit 49 home runs, drove in 118 and posted a 125 wRC+. His free-agency outcome has been one of the most fascinating storylines of the offseason. Despite coming off a dominant year, he was only able to secure a deal worth just $3 million more than the contract Arraez signed (one year\/$12 million).<\/p>\n

Given his power-heavy profile, it\u2019s natural to assume Su\u00e1rez is a poor defender, but that\u2019s not the case. He had a down defensive year in 2025, grading at a mediocre minus-0.7 outs above average on FanGraphs, but was a plus-5.2 defender in 2024 and a plus-9.7 defender in 2023. In the right season, he can be a Gold Glove-caliber player in addition to his offensive impact.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s frustrating that the Padres, who have a glaring hole at DH and flexibility at third base with Manny Machado expected to DH more in 2026, were unable to bring in Su\u00e1rez. Given his defensive value and offensive ceiling, he was expecting a contract closer to four years and $100 million. Instead, he will have to prove his value once again in a Reds uniform.<\/p>\n

Preller\u2019s failed pursuit of Su\u00e1rez ultimately stems from a payroll that remains capped at last season\u2019s number. Ownership has maintained its commitment to a top-10 payroll but has not been willing to push that figure higher.<\/p>\n

In a league that includes teams like the White Sox and Marlins, you have to appreciate the Padres\u2019 organizational commitment to winning and spending. Still, it is difficult to watch NL rivals such as the Dodgers and Mets spend aggressively while the Padres have gotten considerably worse over the course of the offseason.<\/p>\n

As of now, the Padres have lost Arraez, Dylan Cease, Robert Su\u00e1rez and Ryan O\u2019Hearn in free agency, while retaining Michael King and adding Sung-Mon Song, along with a handful of minor league signings.<\/p>\n

Preller has a history of striking deals late in the offseason – even during spring training – but at this point, it has been a disastrous offseason for the Padres. If Preller doesn\u2019t act aggressively, the team could be on the outside of the postseason picture in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Padres have missed out on another free-agent target, as Eugenio Su\u00e1rez agreed to a one-year, $15 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-448372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}