{"id":563918,"date":"2026-02-10T10:10:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T10:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/563918\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T10:10:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T10:10:34","slug":"eugenio-suarez-buzz-dominates-cincinnati-reds-start-of-spring-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/563918\/","title":{"rendered":"Eugenio Su\u00e1rez buzz dominates Cincinnati Reds start of spring training"},"content":{"rendered":"

GOODYEAR, Arizona \u2013 Cincinnati Reds<\/a> manager Terry Francona was just about to leave his home in Tucson, Arizona, to drive the 135 miles for the start of spring training<\/a> when he got the news of Eugenio Su\u00e1rez\u2019s signing.<\/p>\n

Francona quickly called team president Nick Krall. \u201cI said, \u2018I\u2019m going to get up and run to Goodyear,\u2019 \u201d Francona said<\/p>\n

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\u201cI mean, everybody got fired up<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Eugenio<\/p>\n

Eugenio Su\u00e1rez<\/p>\n

W&W: Is Eugenio Suarez better fit for Reds than Kyle Schwarber?<\/a><\/p>\n

More: How the Reds’ Eugenio Su\u00e1rez signing helps Elly De La Cruz<\/a><\/p>\n

Su\u00e1rez hadn\u2019t even shown up to camp yet as pitchers and catchers reported this week in Arizona. But he was the topic of the most conversation and greatest buzz as this year of higher expectations for the team gets underway \u2013 mostly because he\u2019s one of the biggest reasons<\/a> for those higher expectations.<\/p>\n

“What he can do for this lineup would be huge,\u201d said starting pitcher Rhett Lowder \u2013 another projected impact addition this year as he returns healthy from missing all of last year<\/a> with elbow and oblique injuries.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m excited to meet him,\u201d Lowder said. \u201cIt was super fun watching him play last year and obviously with what he\u2019s done \u2013 I\u2019m fired up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Su\u00e1rez hit 49 home runs last year, matching his 2019 career high during his seven-year stretch with the Reds before being traded to Seattle four years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That kind of power \u2014 that kind of mere threat in the middle of the lineup \u2013 was the single greatest deficit the Reds experienced last year as they rode their stellar starting rotation and back-end bullpen performance to the final playoff berth in the National League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The last time they had a player hit even 30 home runs was the last year Su\u00e1rez was on the team, when he was one of three who hit that many in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously there\u2019s no secret that homers are a big part of today\u2019s game,\u201d said closer Emilo Pag\u00e1n<\/a>, who touted Su\u00e1rez\u2019s potential impact not only on the lineup but also for a well known charisma and clubhouse presence that has made him a favorite of teammates and fans in his career.<\/p>\n

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Like anything else in baseball, there are no guarantees with the best-laid plans and roster execution of a front office, Pag\u00e1n said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut on paper, I don\u2019t think you can add a better fit,\u201d he said. \u201cSomebody who\u2019s comfortable in our organization, has a great relationship with everybody that\u2019s here, wants to be here \u2013 which is a huge part of it \u2013 wants to come help this team take another step forward and hopefully win a World Series championship this year. You add in all that with the caliber of player he is, I don\u2019t think there is a better fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe as good a fit as Middletown slugger Kyle Schwarber? The perfect-fit home run champ and clubhouse influencer the Reds made a five-year, $125 million offer to this winter?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know truth be told \u2013 I don\u2019t want to ever be remotely disrespectful to Schwarber because I don\u2019t feel that way \u2013 but getting a guy almost on a shorter deal for us might be better,\u201d Francona said. \u201cTalking to Schwarber, just talking to him, you can see why people love him so much. But for us, this was real good.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Reds landed Su\u00e1rez for $15 million on a one-year deal, with a $16 million mutual option for 2027.<\/p>\n

And even that took an 11th-hour conversation with ownership during the negotiations, with the Castellinis stretching the payroll budget to make it work.<\/p>\n

Francona wasn\u2019t part of the front office\u2019s pitch to ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need to be. I never need to be,\u201d the manager said, adding that he did have one conversation with Bob Castellini about it:<\/p>\n

\u201cI did call Bob when we signed him because, damn, I was fired up. And I wanted him to know I appreciated it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Eugenio Su\u00e1rez buzz dominates Cincinnati Reds start of spring training<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GOODYEAR, Arizona \u2013 Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona was just about to leave his home in Tucson, Arizona,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2400],"tags":[146,5,535,50,4259,1177,92,35471,81,4,536,6967,619,1175,973],"class_list":{"0":"post-563918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-reds","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-cincinnati","11":"tag-cincinnati-reds","12":"tag-cincinnatireds","13":"tag-elly-de-la-cruz","14":"tag-eugenio-suarez","15":"tag-goodyear","16":"tag-kyle-schwarber","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-reds","19":"tag-rhett-lowder","20":"tag-seattle","21":"tag-terry-francona","22":"tag-the-reds"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116045797162384906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563918","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=563918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}