Reds sound like they’ve already ruled out an Eugenio Suárez reunion in 2027

The Cincinnati Reds put Eugenio Suárez on outright waivers prior to September 1, and while no other team picked him up, that was a rather big hint that the team has no intention to exercise his mutual-option or re-sign him this winter. Moreover, some recent comments from president of baseball operations Nick Krall might've sealed the deal.

“We brought in players that didn’t necessarily fit that philosophy (one that stressed contact and reaching base)," Krall said. "We need to make sure we give those guys (the Reds coaching staff) better players for them to develop.”

Suárez definitely doesn't fit the Reds' contact-first hitting philosophy. He's a free-swinger who's going to give you 30-plus home runs most seasons, but with that comes 180-plus strikeouts. This past season, Geno finished with a .212/.307/.433 slash line, 26 homers, 74 RBI, and 169 strikeouts.

When Suárez signed a one-year, $15 million deal back in February, some Reds fans had visions of a 50-plus homer season from the two-time All-Star. He was coming off a 49-homer campaign split between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners, and given the home run-friendly confines of Great American Ball Park, at least 40 bombs wasn't outside the realm of possibilities.

But Suárez spent the spring away from Goodyear while playing for Team Venezuela during the World Baseball Classic. He then suffered an oblique injury early on during the season that kept him out of action for a month. Then it took another several weeks for Geno to look more like, well, Geno.

Eugenio Suárez doesn't fit the Reds' vision for 2027

Suárez had a .663 OPS through his first 25 games of the season. He then landed on the 10-day IL and returned in late-May. He hardly looked like himself, however, and hit just .183/.256/.376 from his return to the active roster through the end of June.

But from July 1 through the end of the year, he put the types of numbers most Reds fans were hoping to see when he signed. Over his final 69 games, Suárez hit .218/.332/.487 with 18 home runs, and 45 RBI. Those numbers spread out of a 162-game season would add up to 42 round-trippers and 105 RBI.

But if Krall and Co. are looking for more contact-oriented hitters in 2027, Geno's not going to be on their radar. The Reds' team president also talked about the need to find multiple platoon bats that would allow manager Terry Francona to better exploit pitching matchups.

"We need to do a better job of filling in the bottom of the roster, whether it’s complementary players or some of the starters, doing a better job to get Tito more guys that he can platoon, that are usable platoon guys," Krall said.

That's certainly not the role that anyone expects Suárez to play at this stage of his career. At 35 yers old, he's a DH-only who can fill in at third base once or twice per week.

If Suárez lingers on the open market longer than expected — much like he did this past offseason — there's a slim chance the Reds could bring him back on an incentive-laden deal worth maybe $7 million, plus escalators. But it would seem that both the Reds and Suárez are going in opposite directions heading into the winter.

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