The Seattle Mariners made two deadline deals this season, bringing in Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez. Both power hitters, however, were set to become free agents when they arrived.
After the postseason, Seattle quickly locked up Naylor with a lucrative new contract. Suárez, on the other hand, is still on the open market, and all signs point to the Mariners moving on without him.
Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly reveal the Mariners will lose Slugger in free agency this winter, while also noting a few teams that could sign the slugger. Jim Bowden of The Athletic projected Suárez would sign for $72 million this winter.
“Granted, they could change course now that Polanco has bolted for the Mets, although a trade for Ketel Marte or Brendon Donovan might be the more likely pivot for president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto,” Kelly wrote. “Frankly, even if the M’s do look for outside help at the hot corner, a reunion with Eugenio Suárez probably doesn’t make sense for anyone involved. It’s clear that there’s love between Suárez and the fans in Seattle, who will always have his Game 5 ALCS grand slam.
“But he now has just a .741 OPS over two stints with the Mariners, and saw his power production drop precipitously following a mid-season trade from the Diamondbacks. It just makes sense for Suárez to look for greener hitting pastures this offseason. Having missed out on Schwarber and Alonso, the Red Sox have shown interest in Suárez, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. Suárez, though, presumably will be a fallback option if the Red Sox don’t re-sign Alex Bregman.”
Suárez fits with a lot of teams, including the Mariners, but it seems unlikely Seattle will spend the money to land him.
Instead, teams like the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago Cubs make more sense for Suárez. These three teams have more cap flexibility and could use the addition of the slugger even more than Seattle.
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