CHICAGO – Cincinnati Reds slugger Eugenio Suárez sat before a bunch of his old media pals from Seattle and Cincinnati a few days before the trade deadline at T-Mobile Park and declared his love for Cincinnati and his desire to stay for the rest of the season.
Those prayers were answered when the Reds took a talk-to-the-animals approach in a do-little deadline period.
Now?
Suárez has his sights set on sticking around for next season, too.
“That’s my goal,” he said.
The easy mechanism for that is a $16 million mutual option attached to the one-year contract that pays him $15 million this year.
The reality is that’s a lot of dough for a team like the Reds to pay, even for one year, to a 35-year-old DH who didn’t perform well enough before the deadline to elicit enough interest to make a trade happen.
Especially for a front office that plans to try to backfill for the 2027 loss of All-Star pitcher Hunter Greene (representing $15 million salary on the books/IL minus possible insurance claim).
No matter how much everybody loves the guy.
That leaves Suárez with six weeks to do something about it. Or at least to enjoy what otherwise will be the final weeks of a one-year reunion with the team that helped launch his All-Star career (for which he has launched 207 home runs) and the city some of his family still calls home.
“God is good,” he said. “I said in Seattle that I don’t want to leave the team. This was the team that gave me the opportunity to come back and help them win. And I just want to stay and do my best for them and help them win games.
“I’m very glad that I can stay and finish my season with them.”
Suárez, who was traded by Arizona to Seattle at the trade deadline a year ago, said he kept his mind off the rumors and the trade possibility this time around leading up to the Aug. 3 deadline.
He knew the possibility was there, he said, but he also knew what his slow start to the season and first-half oblique injury contributed to the deadline equation.
“When you see my numbers, it’s not very likely for people to want to have (that) hitter,” he said. “Last year my numbers were very good (36 of his 49 homers with Arizona). But this year when you see I’m hitting .200 without many home runs and RBIs, maybe teams don’t want that.
“But I’m happy to stay. I’m happy where I am right now. And I feel really good to be with the Cincinnati team and city.”
When he says he feels good, that applies to health and comfort at the plate these days.
In his last 24 games through the recent road trip that concluded in Chicago, Suárez hit half of his 18 home runs with four doubles, nine walks, a .583 slugging percentage and .885 OPS.
He followed that in the opener of this homestand with a double off former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara to drive in the only run of the game in a 1-0 victory over the Marlins.
“He’s trying to be a little more direct to the ball. He’s working hard,” manager Terry Francona said. “I give him credit. He’s a veteran. He’s got a lot of at-bats and got a lot of home runs (343) on his baseball card. But he’s not too proud to work at it. And I’m glad, because if we can keep him hot that will really help us.”
That was the idea when the Reds pivoted from a long-term free agent offer to hometown home run champ Kyle Schwarber and signed old-pal slugger Suárez to that one year deal late in the offseason.
“That’s what I want to do with this team,” Suárez said. “I’ve been waiting for that time to get hot and help this team win, and to hit for power again and drive in RBIs and get hot with this team. I don’t want to get hot with somebody else and then people talk about (not delivering with Reds).
“I just want to get hot here and finish strong here in Cincinnati and see what happens.”
The wait-and-see part of that involves two things, he said, including the fact the Reds were 16-10 since the All-Star break through that series opener against the Marlins.
“We still have a chance to make the playoffs,” said Suárez, whose Reds were five games out of playoff position through that game despite still being three games under .500 at 59-62.
“So right now I just think about finishing strong and doing my best for the team. And then see what happens next year.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Eugenio Suárez got his wish at deadline. What's next for Reds slugger?
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