The Reds may end up with a straightforward answer on Eugenio Suarez, but the contract gives Cincinnati more say than Suarez himself when it comes to 2027.
Suarez and the Reds struck a deal in early February, right before spring training opened: a one-year contract worth $15,000,000, plus a 2027 mutual option for $16,000,000. There is no buyout attached. That means both sides have to agree for the option year to kick in.
On Suarez’s side, the choice probably isn’t much of a choice at all. After the season he just put together, a multi-year deal does not appear to be waiting for him.
Even after blasting 49 home runs while with Arizona and Seattle in 2025, he did not land one then. In 2026, he hit only about half that total and didn’t really close the gaps in the rest of his game.
A one-year deal elsewhere might be possible, but not at $16,000,000. He’s likely to take the option.
Cincinnati’s situation looks different. The Reds should probably decline it.
Suarez’s 2026 numbers show why. In 24 fewer games with Cincinnati, he hit 23 fewer homers and finished at .212/.307/.433.
That line produced a .740 OPS and a 104 OPS+, which is a shade above league average. But that overall number hides how uneven the season was.
The first half was rough: .208/.285/.388. The second half was better: .216/.333/.490.
He walked more, made more contact, and drove the ball with more authority after the break. If the Reds could count on that version, the conversation would get a lot more interesting.
The issue is how late that turnaround came. Suarez didn’t post an OPS above .700 in any month until August. By the time he started looking like the hitter Cincinnati hoped it was getting, the Reds were long past the trade deadline and out of contention for a while.
That’s the larger problem with his profile right now. Cincinnati had one of the worst offenses in baseball, and Suarez was both part of the issue and somewhat removed from it depending on how you frame things.
Over the full year, he was basically an average bat. For the first four months, he was worse than that.
He never hit for much average, and while the final two months brought a strong on-base mark, his overall work on base was below average for most of the year and still below average at the finish. What remains is a hitter built mostly on power.
That kind of player has value. Teams always need power.
But Suarez isn’t offering much beyond it at this stage, and that makes $16,000,000 feel steep for Cincinnati, especially with the way the roster is shaped. He doesn’t hit for average, he doesn’t draw enough walks to offset that, and he isn’t making his mark defensively either.
Even without knowing what the 2027 budget will look like, the number feels too high for the player he appears likely to be.
The Reds also don’t operate with a $300,000,000 payroll, and that isn’t going to change because of a new collective bargaining agreement. They have too many other holes to patch to take that kind of swing on a player who can really only handle third base or designated hitter. And as noted this past week, they should already have their third baseman locked into the lineup almost every day next year.
None of that means Suarez absolutely can’t be back in 2027. It just means that if he returns, it should probably be on a new contract at a lower price, not on this option.
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