Elly De La Cruz has his protection in the Cincinnati Reds’ lineup, as the team agreed to a one-year deal with former Red third baseman Eugenio Suárez on Sunday.
Suárez, whose 49 home runs with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners were the fifth-most in Major League Baseball last season, adds a power bat — and a right-handed bat, behind the switch-hitting De La Cruz. De La Cruz led the Reds with 22 home runs last year, and the team’s 167 total home runs ranked 21st in MLB, despite playing at homer-happy Great American Ball Park.
The Reds were interested in trading for Suárez at the deadline before he went to the Mariners, and the Reds pivoted to acquiring Ke’Bryan Hayes to man third base while moving Noelvi Marte to the outfield. Hayes, who is under contract through 2029 with a team option for 2030, won his second Gold Glove in 2025 and is considered the best defensive third baseman in the game. According to team sources, Suárez is expected to mostly serve as a designated hitter, but will also work at first base in spring training.
There’s no question where Suárez will fit in the lineup or the clubhouse. Suárez will likely slide into the cleanup spot, behind De La Cruz, who started 148 games in the No. 3 spot in the lineup last season. Originally acquired by the Reds as a shortstop in a trade with the Detroit Tigers in 2014, Suárez was popular inside the clubhouse throughout his entire time with the Reds (through the 2021 season) and afterward.
The Diamondbacks put Suárez on the trade market last summer and the three teams mentioned most among potential suitors were the clubs for which he’d played before his trade to Arizona — the Reds, Mariners and Tigers. The Mariners landed Suárez last July. Although his production slipped after the trade, he did help the Mariners advance to the playoffs and hit three homers over 12 playoff games against the Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays, including a Game 5 grand slam in the American League Championship Series.
Eugenio Suárez’s grand slam gave the Mariners a 6-2 lead in Game 5 of the ALCS. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
The Reds came up short in their pursuit of Middletown, Ohio native Kyle Schwarber earlier this offseason, with the soon-to-be 33-year-old Schwarber re-signing with the Philadelphia Phillies on a contract worth four years and $150 million. Suárez’s deal is one-quarter the length of Schwarber’s at one-tenth the cost.
Most of the Reds’ offseason additions had been to the bullpen: right-hander Pierce Johnson and lefties Caleb Ferguson and Brock Burke. The team signed left-handed hitting outfielder JJ Bleday and acquired center fielder Dane Myers in a trade, but until the addition of Suárez, the team hadn’t added to an offense that struggled at times and lost two of its top two offensive players in outfielder Austin Hays and DH Gavin Lux. Hays agreed to a free-agent deal with the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, and Lux was part of a three-team trade to bring Burke to Cincinnati.
Even before agreeing to the deal with Suárez, the Reds had looked at using Steer, who was a Gold Glove finalist in his first full season at first base in 2025, as a super-utility player. Steer has played in the corner spots of both the infield and outfield, as well as second base. Last month at RedsFest, manager Terry Francona said he didn’t want rookie Sal Stewart to be pigeonholed as a designated hitter. A third baseman for most of his minor-league career, Stewart was transitioned to first base during the season and is expected to play there in 2026.
With Suárez in the fold, the Reds’ everyday lineup is beginning to take shape:
1. TJ Friedl (L) CF
2. Noelvi Marte (R) RF
3. Elly De La Cruz (S) SS
4. Eugenio Suárez (R) DH
5. Spencer Steer (R) LF
6. Tyler Stephenson (R) C
7. Sal Stewart (R) 1B
8. Matt McLain (R) 2B
9. Ke’Bryan Hayes (R) 3B
As a member of the Diamondbacks, Suárez hit a pair of home runs at Great American Ball Park in early June. He hit 98 home runs at GABP as a member of the Reds, and his career total of 101 at the team’s home since 2003 ranks fifth behind Joey Votto (190), Jay Bruce (137), Adam Dunn (126) and Brandon Phillips (113).
Suárez’s family accompanied him to Cincinnati last June, in part because of their fondness for the city where his eldest daughter was born. Suárez even joked that the Reds were her favorite team, even when her father was playing elsewhere.
Suárez suffered a shoulder injury before the 2020 season, the year after he hit 49 homers for the Reds. Suárez batted .271 in his 49-homer year, but hit .202 and .198 in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
The Reds traded Suárez after the lockout in 2022 as part of their teardown, sending Suárez to Seattle along with outfielder Jesse Winker for left-hander Brandon Williamson, right-hander Justin Dunn, outfielder Jake Fraley and right-hander Connor Phillips.
Suárez’s new contract comes after the seven-year, $66 million extension he signed with the Reds in spring training of 2018.