Mariners just stole Eugenio Suárez, proving the Reds can’t afford to stand still

Former Cincinnati Reds fan-favorite Eugenio Suárez is now off the board. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners swung a late-night trade on Wednesday that will send the two-time All-Star back to the Pacific Northwest. But the notion that the Reds couldn't match the price to bring Geno back to Cincinnati is rather absurd.

The Mariners may have gotten away with highway robbery. Reds fans heard for weeks that the price tag attached to Suárez was exorbitant. Many assumed that it would take quite the prospect haul in order to acquire the D-backs slugger at the deadline, but in the end, Seattle gave up three mid-tier prospects in exchange for Suárez.

Seattle shipped first base prospect Tyler Locklear and right-handed pitchers Hunter Cranton and Juan Burgos to the desert. None of those players are top-100 prospects, and were the Reds to have made a similar deal, it might've cost them something like Edwin Arroyo, Luke Holman, and Kenya Huggins — none of whom are among the Reds' top prospects.

Mariners just stole Eugenio Suárez and proved the Reds can’t afford to stand still

The Suárez deal does, however, reveal that Cincinnati should not be done adding to their roster. There are precious few hours left for Nick Krall and Reds front office to add to the roster, and they can't afford to sit on their hands.

Though acquiring pitching at this year's deadline looks to be incredibly pricey, the same cannot be said of the position player market. The Suárez deal is a great example. Seattle was able to add arguably the best bat available without sacrificing any of their top prospects.

Given the way Cincinnati's roster is constructed, the Reds don't need an elite-hitter, but rather a right-handed hitting platoon bat to help augment the lineup when facing a left-handed pitchers. Players like Miguel Andujar (Athletics) and Ramon Laureano (Baltimore Orioles) shouldn't cost much more than a lower-tier prospect in this market.

The Reds are close, but one more bat at the deadline would really help this lineup. After seeing the light return for Suárez, Krall and Co. need to act quickly and bring one more position player to Cincinnati before the trade deadline expires.

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