{"id":540534,"date":"2026-01-27T13:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/540534\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T13:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:45:15","slug":"red-sox-named-best-fit-for-all-star-slugger-by-mlb-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/540534\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Named \u2018Best Fit\u2019 For All-Star Slugger By MLB Insider"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow<\/a> knows his offseason shopping spree isn\u2019t done. He still needs to figure out how to replace third baseman Alex Bregman<\/a>, who bolted for the Chicago Cubs on five-year, $175 million contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The obvious choice on the free-agent market is third baseman Eugenio Suarez<\/a>. The two-time All-Star tied his career high last year with 49 home runs<\/a>, yet strangely remains on the open market.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best fits to me would be Boston, Pittsburgh, maybe even Seattle again. But Boston, Pittsburgh are the best fits,\u201d former MLB general manager Jim Bowden told the \u201cFoul Territory\u201d podcast.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s not a market for him and it\u2019s been puzzling after 49 home runs,\u201d Bowden added. \u201cSo I actually talked to a GM this morning on a team that\u2019s a non-contending team. And I said, \u2018Why don\u2019t you sign Suarez since you have a spot for him that makes sense in the lineup and have a need. Why don\u2019t you sign him for the first half of the year. Let him his 20 home runs in your ballpark then trade him at the deadline for a prospect.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd his response to me kind of\u00a0raised\u00a0my eyebrows,\u201d Bowden noted. He said, \u2018Well look at what he did last year. He was hitting 49 homers and we got to the trade deadline and there was no trade market for him. And Arizona barely got a decent return. So why would I want to spend the money for Suarez in the first half of the year for a fringe prospect that I trade for.\u2019<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he said, \u2018I don\u2019t think the market\u2019s any better for him. Look at the free-agent market for him right now. He\u2019s not getting hits. It\u2019s not like he\u2019s waiting for a better offer. He\u2019s got people kick the tires but they are not pursing him, for whatever reason.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSo look, I think the fact that he\u2019s not a very good defender at third base with very limited range, hasn\u2019t played a lot of first base so you\u2019re looking at a DH that can play a little third and maybe you could put him at first kinda situation,\u201d Bowden said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the market, believe it or not, it\u2019s hard to fathom but a 49-homer guy just doesn\u2019t have the market right now, you know? Boston\u2019s worried about the defense. Pittsburgh I think doesn\u2019t want to spend much money any more after what they\u2019ve already spent this offseason. So I find it fascinating where he\u2019s at but the market just hasn\u2019t been there. There\u2019s nothing imminent. He\u2019s not close to anything and I think somebody should swoop in and take a chance on him,\u201d Bowden concluded.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

In a story for The Athletic<\/a>, Bowden went a bit deeper on Suarez\u2019s potential in Boston.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s hit .425 with four home runs and 14 RBIs in 44 plate appearances at Fenway Park \u2014 small sample size but huge results,\u201d Bowden stated.<\/p>\n

Question is, will Suarez\u2019s power overcome deficiencies in his game?<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old hit just .228 last season with 196 strikeouts.<\/p>\n

In addition, Suarez isn\u2019t exactly the game\u2019s best fielder at the hot corner. He led the majors in errors at third base in 2016, committing 23 for the Cincinnati Reds. Suarez led the National League in errors at third base again in 2018 (19) and 2019 (17).<\/p>\n

More Red Sox:<\/p>\n

Market For Ex-Red Sox Pitcher Heats Up: \u2018Difference-Maker\u2019 In Demand <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow knows his offseason shopping spree isn\u2019t done. He still needs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2375],"tags":[72,146,5,141,48,2542,24,50,6930,92,56309,3804,4,776,89,2543,619],"class_list":{"0":"post-540534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-alex-bregman","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-boston","12":"tag-boston-red-sox","13":"tag-bostonredsox","14":"tag-chicago-cubs","15":"tag-cincinnati-reds","16":"tag-craig-breslow","17":"tag-eugenio-suarez","18":"tag-free-agent-market","19":"tag-jim-bowden","20":"tag-mlb","21":"tag-pittsburgh","22":"tag-red-sox","23":"tag-redsox","24":"tag-seattle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115967369299338454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}