Reds just killed fans' Eugenio Suarez hopes with shocking division-rival trade

The Cincinnati Reds will not be reuniting with Arizona Diamondbacks slugger Eugenio Suárez at the MLB trade deadline, and instead have worked out an intra-division trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates to acquire third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes.

The Reds will take on the remainder of Hayes — he signed an eight-year, $70 million deal in 2022 — and send shortstop prospect Sammy Stafura and left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers to Pittsburgh.

The Reds had been tied to Suárez for the past week or so, but recent developments were linking Cincinnati to Hayes as the team began to prioritize defense. Though his hitting has been down this season (.236/.279/.290), Hayes is a Gold Glove defender at third base and will certainly upgrade Cincinnati's defense at the hot corner. The question now becomes, how will Nick Krall and the Reds front office look to improve the lineup?

Reds just killed fans' Eugenio Suarez hopes with shocking trade for Pirates' 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes

Hayes is under contract through 2029 and has a $12 million club-option for the 2030 season. The average annual value (AAV) for the remainder of Hayes' contract is a very affordable $7.5 million, and that undoubtedly played into the Reds' thinking.

The Reds hilariously were able to find a taker for Rogers who'd recently seen a huge downturn in production. The former San Francisco Giants reliever — a player the Reds traded for this past offseason — had become extremely unreliable.

Though it wasn't reflected in his ERA, Taylor was a liability and couldn't find the strike zone in recent weeks. Reds fans are hoping to see Krall and Co. aggressively pursue Rogers' replacement before the trade deadline passes on Thursday.

Losing Stafura stings a little bit, but if there's one type of player the Reds can afford to lose, it's a shortstop. Cincinnati already has Tyson Lewis, Edwin Arroyo, and Leo Balcazar in the farm system, and just drafted a shorstop — Steele Hall — with their 2025 first-round draft pick. Stafura was the Reds' second-round pick in 2023 and was hitting .262/.393/.411 at Low-A Daytona this season.

The Reds defense got better, but if Hayes is in the lineup every day — and he should be — Cincinnati's lineup just got worse. Perhaps Krall has another move or two up his sleeve before the trade deadline expires on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.

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