Reds could reunite with Eugenio Suárez on a creative free agency deal

While the Cincinnati Reds improved in the power department in 2026, they can't rest on their laurels and blindly hope that the trend continues in 2027. Ironically, one of the biggest issues with the 2025 team that made the postseason was a lack of pop, and once that was rectified, the wheels fell off everywhere else.

Unfortunately for the Reds, power is one of the most expensive things to acquire in the game. With so many other needs like a starting catcher, help in the rotation, and several bullpen arms, just to name a few, they're not going to have the funds necessary to sign a premier power hitter.

Fortunately, they might not need to. Eugenio Suárez would like to return to Cincinnati, and after a down year in 2026, the Reds could get him at a bargain price. He made $15 million in 2026, and there's a mutual option for $16 million for 2027 that the club will surely decline. One can argue that paying any amount to a washed 35-year-old is a waste of money, but then you'd have to prove that Suárez is, in fact, toast.

That's a tough ask. While he didn't live up to his standards, he did hit 26 homers on the season. More importantly, he looked like his old self down the stretch, hitting .235/.363/.523, which works out to a 141 wRC+ from August 1 through the end of the season.

Through in the fact that he's a valuable mentor to the young players on the team, like Hector Rodriguez, and you can see why he still has something left to give the franchise.

An incentive-laden contract would be a fair deal for both Eugenio Suárez and the Reds

Spotrac projects Suárez's market value at two years, $15.6 million, but anything more than one year seems excessive at this point. Spotrac uses contracts for what it considers similar players in terms of age and production to generate these market value predictions. In this case, the players it drew from were Max Muncy (two years, $24 million), Christian Walker (three years, $60 million), J.D. Martinez (one year, $12 million), and Carlos Santana (one year, $5.25 million).

Walker was coming off the two best years of his career when he signed that deal, so it's not a fair comparison, and that $20 million AAV jacks up the numbers a bit.

What's fair is using incentives to hedge a bit. Both sides would agree that Suárez isn't going to make $15 million a year like he did last season. Splitting the difference and coming in at one year, $7.5 million would be ideal for Cincinnati, but as much as Suárez would like to be back, he might find a few more pennies on the open market. So, adding some incentives to sweeten the pot could seal the deal. It could be something like what you'll see below.

• $100K for an All-Star appearance
• $150K for a Silver Slugger
• $250K for the MVP Award
• $250K for LCS MVP
• $500K for World Series MVP
• $100K for 450 Plate Appearances
• $250K for 550 Plate Appearances
• Total Incentives - $1.6 million

Those incentives are aggressive, but not all of them are very likely. In the best-case scenario, Suárez earns an extra $1.6 million, bringing his total compensation to $9.1 million, which the Reds would gladly pay because it would mean Suárez had the best year of his career and they won a World Series title.

Realistically, though, he could make an extra $350K as long as he stays healthy and reasonably effective via the plate appearance incentives. An All-Star selection and Silver Slugger award might not be likely, but they are within reach, too, and would give Suárez an additional $250K in compensation.

Lastly, a one-year deal could be beneficial to Suárez because if he returns to his near-50-homer form, he'll hit the market again at age 36, set to really cash in. At the end of the day, this would be a fair offer to reward the jovial veteran for his contributions while still giving the Reds the wiggle room to extract value.

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