Phillies Criticized for Not Pursuing One-Year Contract With Eugenio Suárez

Eugenio Suarez signed with his original team, the Cincinnati Reds in free agency, coming after a strong run with the Seattle Mariners during their unlikely run to the 2025 ALCS. It could've been the Philadelphia Phillies, since the price ended up being lower than expected.

Suarez's inconsistency at the plate, marked by a strikeout rate that had franchises unconvinced to sign him to a long-term deal, produced a one-year, $15 million contract, though. On Pattison's Tim Kelly believes the front office choked by not following up with Suarez after his value dropped to become highly affordable.

"As things stand now, Rob Thomson may very well be forced to have Alec Bohm — making $10.2 million in his final year of arbitration eligibility — hit cleanup for a team with World Series aspirations when the Phillies open their 2026 slate against the Texas Rangers on March 26," Kelly prefaced before saying, "What we learned Sunday evening is they could have had Eugenio Suárez hitting cleanup and playing third base on Opening Day for $15 million.

"That may seem like an oversimplification, but Suárez — who is coming off of the second 49-homer season of his career — is returning to the Cincinnati Reds, his original team, on a one-year/$15 million contract. The deal was first reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN, with Jon Heyman of The New York Post reporting that there's a mutual option for 2027 worth $16 million. Suárez is hardly a perfect player, and we're not going to overlook some of his shortcomings to prove a point here.

"For those reasons, when the New York Mets seemingly stole Bo Bichette away from the Phillies on Jan. 16, it didn't make sense for Dave Dombrowski and company to immediately pivot to Suárez on a multi-year deal. (We can argue about whether pivoting to Realmuto on a three-year/$45 million deal made sense, but they needed a catcher and what's done is done.) However, Suárez didn't wind up getting a multi-year deal. And while he wouldn't come without his flaws, you'll be hard pressed to find an opposing team that would be more scared to face the Phillies with any of Bohm, García or Realmuto hitting cleanup, as opposed to Suárez."

Alec Bohm 'Unlikely' to be in Phillies' Future Plans

Even if Suarez ended up being a one-year rental, that's what the team may be getting out of Alec Bohm when it's all said and done, anyway. PhillyVoice's Evan Macy put Bohm, Adolis Garcia, and Jose Alvarado in the same boat: "Probably won't be back" in 2027.

"For various reasons, the Phillies will probably elect to replace these guys with up and coming prospects or players on the open market. Bohm has been the subject of trade rumors for years now, and he seems unlikely to be in the team's future plans," Macy wrote.

Perhaps Philadelphia ends up with a more long-term option by the trade deadline. If not, the 2026/2027 offseason was set to see big change regardless of whether Suarez or Bohm was manning third base.