Tigers Considered Best Free Agent Fit for Two-Time All-Star Third Baseman
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With free agent options dwindling and the Detroit Tigers still in need of help at third base, the club continues to be connected to a well-traveled veteran slugger coming off of an All-Star season who began his career in Motown.
In the aftermath of Alex Bregman signing with the Chicago Cubs, the Tigers have been linked to a potential reunion with two-time All-Star Eugenio Suarez, who was most recently a member of the Seattle Mariners team that fell to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. That report came from Fox Sports.
Just as Suarez's time in Seattle represented a second tour of duty with the Mariners, he would be making a potential return to Detroit. The 34-year-old made his big league debut with the Tigers in 2014, hitting four home runs while slashing a line of .242/.316/.336 in 85 games before being traded that winter for Alfredo Simon.
If Detroit were to sign Suarez, it would be more than just for nostalgia.
Suarez Reunion Makes Sense for the Tigers
Unless Bo Bichette would consider a move to third base, Suarez stands as the clear best remaining free agent option at the position. He is coming off a season in which he matched his career-best by belting 49 home runs and drove in a career-high 118 runs between Arizona and Seattle while logging an .824 OPS.
Suarez's production dipped considerably after being traded to the Mariners at the trade deadline. However, his underwhelming numbers in Seattle (.189 average, .255 on-base percentage) could easily be chalked up to a change of leagues and a relatively small sample size (201 at-bats) with Seattle. In the playoffs, he only had 10 hits in 47 at-bats, but three of those were home runs.
The concerns around Suarez are obvious. He will turn 35 in July and strikeouts continue to be a problem for the Venezuelan slugger (he had 196 in 2025). Age could ultimately hinder his home run totals moving forward, but he has remained remarkably durable, missing just seven total games over the past three seasons.
The price tag on Bregman (he signed with Chicago for five years and $175 million) reportedly kept the Tigers from making a serious push despite their positional need. Suarez, however, is unlikely to command the same term or annual salary, giving him some appeal as a more affordable power bat at third.
If Suarez joined Detroit, he could boost the offensive attack of a club that had just one every day player (Riley Greene) finish with an OPS above .800. He would also allow the versatile Zach McKinstry to move into a super-sub role, thus improving the team's over-all depth.
It's been a rather quiet offseason for the Tigers thus far, adding KBO standout Drew Anderson to the starting rotation and signing veteran reliever Kenley Jansen as Tarik Skubal's future still looms large over the club. Suarez wouldn't fix all of Detroit's issues, but it would fill a significant gap and seems to be a solid fit at a reasonable price.
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Ben Fisher is a long-time sportswriter and baseball lover, dating back to 2008, when he was a member of the media relations team for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has covered a wide range of sports for a seemingly endless array of publications, including The Canadian Press, Fansided and The Hockey Writers. When he isn't writing about sports, he can be found coaching his equally baseball-obsessed sons' Little League teams.