With Eugenio Suárez to the Cincinnati Reds, A's External Options at Third Limited
In this story:
The writing may have been on the wall back in December when the A's decided to trade for second baseman Jeff McNeil from the New York Mets, but there has been persistent speculation that they could make another big splash and sign free agent Eugenio Suárez.
The A's don't have anyone solidified at third base (though they have internal options), and Geno could have taken this offense from a top-10 group to perhaps even a top-5 assortment of bats. Alas, Suárez has decided to sign back with the Cincinnati Reds on a one-year, $15 million deal that also includes a $16 mutual option for 2027.
McNeil is owed $15.75 million in 2026, though the Mets also included $5.75 million in the trade to limit his contract to $10 million for the A's to pay. They needed to make an outside addition with at least one of second or third base, and they went with McNeil, who will cost less and is also more valuable defensively.
But with Suárez off the board, what are the A's options are third base?
External options
With Suárez no longer in consideration for the A's, we should point out that none of the remaining free agents at third base represent the kind of immediate and fairly certain upgrade that Suárez does. Depth Charts over at FanGraphs have the new Reds slugger pegged for 32 home runs, 91 RBI, a 103 wRC+, and 2.2 fWAR. Those are all solid numbers.
With him off the market, the remaining options for teams to consider are Miguel Andujar (0.4 WAR), Ramón Urías (0.4) and Gio Urshela (0.3). All three of those players have ties to the 2025 Athletics club, with Adujar getting traded to the Reds at the deadline, Urshela getting released in August, and Ramón's brother Luis also playing for the A's before he was released in late August.
Of the trio, Andujar would be the most likely to sign back on with the A's. The front office has expressed interest in bringing him back, and he could fit into a couple of different roles with the club. The first would be as a somewhat regular third baseman, while the other would be to serve as a platoon partner with Lawrence Butler in right field.
The downside of this addition would be that his defense has never graded out well. He was well below league average (-6 DRS, -4 OAA) in his 237 2/3 innings at the hot corner last season, though he hovered more around league average in the outfield in previous campaigns with the A's. His addition would also likely move Colby Thomas back to the Triple-A roster.
Andujar's familiarity with the club could be a selling point for him, who was well liked in the A's clubhouse.
Beyond those options, there is Jon Berti (0.2), Luis Rengifo (0.1), Kyle Farmer (0.1), Enrique Hernández (0.1), Santiago Espinal (0.1), Jose Iglesias (0.1), Chris Taylor (0.0), Isiah Kiner-Falefa (0.0) and Jeimer Candelario (0.0). According to the projections, there isn't a ton of upside left on the market anymore.
Where will the A's turn?
The assumption for awhile now has been that the A's will be handling third base internally. The only reason that Suárez was even a potential fit is that he was still hanging around the market, and perhaps the A's couldn't pass up adding another big bat on a short-term deal at a relative bargain.
Now they will enter camp with three main internal options, barring any other additions. Those options are former first-rounder Max Muncy, the ever-improving Darell Hernaiz, and the glove-first option of Brett Harris.
As we begin February, Muncy is seen as the favorite to land the role on Opening Day, though we have recently written about what to watch for from both Muncy and Hernaiz as the competition between the two could be fairly close.
This will be the biggest positional battle to keep an eye on in Mesa this spring.
Recommended Articles:
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
Follow byjasonb