{"id":556769,"date":"2026-02-05T22:28:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T22:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/556769\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T22:28:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T22:28:16","slug":"phillies-draw-criticism-for-passing-on-eugenio-suarez-after-low-cost-deal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/556769\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies draw criticism for passing on Eugenio Su\u00e1rez after low\u2011cost deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> missed an unexpected opportunity to add a powerful bat to their lineup this offseason. Eugenio Su\u00e1rez, coming off an impressive 2025 with the Seattle Mariners, ultimately returned to his original team, the Cincinnati Reds<\/a>, on a one-year deal, leaving Phillies fans and analysts questioning front-office decisions.<\/p>\n

Su\u00e1rez\u2019s price dropped to a surprisingly affordable $15 million, yet Philadelphia chose not to pursue him. His inconsistency at the plate may have been a factor, but the decision has sparked debate over whether the team could have strengthened its roster for 2026 with minimal financial risk.<\/p>\n

MLB analyst Tim Kelly recently argued that the Phillies \u201cchoked\u201d by not following up on Su\u00e1rez after his market value fell. \u201cAs things stand now, Rob Thomson may very well be forced to have Alec Bohm \u2014 making $10.2 million in his final year of arbitration eligibility \u2014 hit cleanup for a team with World Series aspirations,\u201d Kelly said. <\/p>\n

He added, \u201cWhat we learned Sunday evening is they could have had Eugenio Su\u00e1rez hitting cleanup and playing third base on Opening Day for $15 million.\u201d While Su\u00e1rez isn\u2019t perfect, his two 49-homer seasons make him a dangerous bat, one that might have transformed Philadelphia\u2019s lineup immediately.<\/p>\n

\"\"Is Alec Bohm a long-term solution at third base?<\/p>\n

Even with Su\u00e1rez sidelined, the Phillies still face uncertainty at third base as Evan Macy of PhillyVoice notes that Alec Bohm \u2014 along with Adolis Garc\u00eda and Jos\u00e9 Alvarado \u2014 may not be part of Philadelphia\u2019s plans beyond 2026.<\/p>\n

\"Tigers<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Tigers land Framber Valdez on big contract amid arbitration\u2011battle uncertainty surrounding Tarik Skubal<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Phillies may still make a trade or find a long-term option before or during the 2026 season. Until then, Philadelphia will open the year with Bohm or internal alternatives at third, leaving fans to wonder how the lineup could have looked with Su\u00e1rez in place.<\/p>\n

SurveyShould the Phillies have signed Eugenio Su\u00e1rez?<\/p>\n

Should the Phillies have signed Eugenio Su\u00e1rez?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia Phillies missed an unexpected opportunity to add a powerful bat to their lineup this offseason. Eugenio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,92,4,144,25,4216,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-556769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-eugenio-suarez","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","13":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","14":"tag-phillies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116020387387502036","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556769","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=556769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}