The Reds’ Eugenio Suarez has morphed into one of the majors’ most valuable third basemen over the past few years. Dating back to 2017, Suarez has accounted for 12.3 fWAR – the eighth-highest figure at his position and one that puts him in company with names like Kris Bryant and Josh Donaldson. At this point, it’s fair to call Suarez a cornerstone for the Reds, who signed him to a seven-year extension worth $66MM after his breakout effort in ’17. That now looks like a brilliant move from the team’s perspective, while acquiring him in the first place counts as one of former general manager Walt Jocketty’s shrewdest decisions atop their front office.
Let’s start with how Suarez got to this level after first joining the Tigers as a free agent out of Venezuela in 2008. Within five years, Suarez was regarded among the top five prospects in their system, though he didn’t wow anyone during his lone action in Detroit’s uniform. In his first season in the majors in 2014, Suarez played shortstop and batted .242/.316/.336 (86 wRC+) with 0.9 fWAR over 277 plate appearances and 85 games. The Tigers then shipped him and pitching prospect Jonathon Crawford to Cincinnati for right-hander Alfredo Simon heading into the 2015 season.
Simon was, of course, the headliner when the trade occurred. Then 33 years old, Simon was coming off an All-Star season in which he pitched to a 3.44 ERA/4.33 FIP over 196 1/3 innings. It was just the first season as a full-time starter for Simon, who functioned either as a reliever or a swingman in prior years. Unfortunately for Detroit, it would go down as his sole effective season from the rotation, though that wasn’t entirely surprising.
As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd wrote when the trade happened: “Of course, Simon comes with plenty of questions as to whether he can repeat his effort. ERA estimators were not nearly as high on his work last year. And his ERA ballooned to 4.52 in the second half of the season.”
The Tigers didn’t make the playoffs in 2015, which proved to be Simon’s lone year with the franchise, and he was only able to muster a 5.05 ERA/4.77 FIP in 187 frames along the way. Then-president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who acquired Simon, didn’t make it through the season. Simon went back to the Reds in free agency thereafter, but he also struggled in his return to Cincy and hasn’t been heard from since at the major league level.
So, buying one year of control over Simon clearly didn’t go as hoped for the Tigers. It gets worse when you consider what they gave up. Sure, Crawford – the Tigers’ first-round pick in 2013 – didn’t amount to anything in the majors. In fact, he never even advanced beyond the High-A level, where he last pitched in 2017. Conversely, Suarez can be counted as one who got away for the Tigers.
It took Suarez until 2017 to truly find his groove in a Reds uniform, but as mentioned, he has established himself as a highly valuable member of the team and someone who could help key their resurgence sometime soon. Now a prolific slugger, Suarez has combined for 130 home runs in the past four seasons. He hit a jaw-dropping 49 last year to finish second in the majors, trailing only Mets Rookie of the Year winner Pete Alonso. Additionally, Suarez managed a .271/.358/.572 line (good for a 133 wRC+), totaled a personal-high 4.5 fWAR and missed a mere three of the Reds’ 162 games.
Suarez, still just 28, is on track to stay a Red through at least 2024. He’ll make reasonable salaries ranging from $9.25MM to $11MM through then, and the Reds will have a decision to make on a club option come 2025 ($15MM guarantee versus $2MM buyout). By FanGraphs’ estimate, Suarez’s production in Cincinnati has already been worth around $116MM. All the Tigers got for parting with that was a disappointing season from Simon, and they still haven’t found a clear answer at third since moving on from Suarez.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Thanks, Dave!
Yep. One of the worse trades Tigers made in the last 25 years.
As a tigers fan I have no idea where suarez’s power came from. Having watched him for nearly a year in 2014 I never though he would be more than depth player. When he was traded to the reds I honestly thought it was a solid trade at the time. Simon was coming off a solid season and Suarez didn’t seem to be going anywhere at the plate. Now here we are, over 5 years later and I can’t believe the tigers gave up this kind of bat. Obviously it’s easy to look back and be disappointed in the trade and wish they would have held onto him, but I don’t think anyone at the time expected him to turn into this kind of hitter
I also thought Suarez was a 4th infielder when he came up in Detroit. I thought it was a perfectly fine deal since Iglesias looked like he’d provide more value than Suarez.
Even now I just expected Suarez to fall off a cliff watching him the last couple years. Had the same feeling about about Jesus Aguilar. I’m always skeptical when guys come out of nowhere and develop power. Not for performance enhancing drugs, but for a falloff after a brief peak. Suarez feels like an outlier, but a great lucky break for the Reds who need it.
The Tigers never gave Suarez a chance at substantial major league playing time…..Tigers liked veteran utility players like Don Kelly better than giving a chance to younger players. Hernan Perez was a young guy the Tigers gave up on also who had some decent years with the Brewers.
Going from Comerica Park to Great American BallpRk probably helped a little bit. Tigers blew this trade. They gave up too early on Jose Iglesias too.
Love Geno..never expected that trade to work out like it did..going back to his time in Detroit, you can see a major difference in him at the plate..approach AND production..
big pasta went limp
All it took was juiced baseballs!
umm…no
AGREED!
not remotely accurate
Another prime example of teams giving up on talent way too early without giving them a chance to succeed at the MLB level.. Suarez always had potential even if some fans thought otherwise, and patience paid off handsomely for the Reds.
bingo
It was simple at the time. Castellanos was the 3B of the future. Suarez was not a true SS, and showed limited power. The Tigers needed a starter and got a reasonable one for a player who appeared to be a utility fielder.
…Suarez could have played any number of positions for the Tigers including 3B, OF, 2B, DH or super utility guy.
Tigers were always in love with old veteran guys and did not give some of their young players a chance
Tigers had no patience with some of their up and coming rookies.
Tigers were too interested in declining Veterans.
Tigers did not continue to infuse the team with young talent
like some of the other contenders: Dodgers, Yankees etc.
Infusing young talent frees up $$$ in case your team needs to spend on a closer or a set up man or a leadoff guy who can run and steal you 60 bases etc…and manufacture runs,,,
It doesn’t matter anymore really but how was he not an allstar last year?
wasnt he injured early? missed the chance to make the good first few weeks impression a lot of guys use to push them to ASG spots.
The injury was 2018
The reds weren’t good. Meh teams generally don’t fill up all star rosters. Gray and Castillo were also good.
20 HR and .810 OPS in the first half. Obviously that’s still good, but not quite enough to get a spot given all the other good NL 3B. If you swapped his two halves, he’s no doubt an All Star.
Because third base is the most stacked freaking position in baseball!
Rendon, Arenado, Bryant, Moose, Machado, Donaldson, Turner and that was just in the NL. last year.
Alfredo heckin Simon
This is more about the Tigers abandoning their Venezuela investment. At one point it yielded undrafted prospects that they could develop or trade, like Suarez.
I think it was a desperation move by Dombrowski. He had Scherzer walk and he was trading Porcello. Wow, Porcello was traded the very same day as the Simon trade.
They could have had Scherzer, Price, JV, Sanchez, ? for a whole year. Suarez could have come up to play third… move Nick to right. They wouldn’t have bothered with Upton. That’s over 20 mil saved per year. No Zimmermann another 25 mil saved. Eric Aybar for 9 mil??? Good God
They had those 4 plus Porcello in the rotation. Got swept by the Os.
Teams like those Tigers with freakish talent can win if the ownership, GM, and coach are all three at least decent. Illitch would’ve sold his last year of life for a championship, so he was aces. Dombrowski won in Florida and Boston, so no queen of spades there. That leaves Ausmus… How on earth do you lose with that team? Huh Mr Ausmus? Huh?
Not making excuses for Ausmus, he was horrible, but it was Leyland who laid the big egg. The Tiger rosters from 2010 – 2014 featured 3 future Hall of Famers plus many many other very good players.
Look at the roster Ausmus had in 2017 and the roster they had in 2018 (Gardenhire) and explain to me why they both ended up with identical 64 and 98 records.
Ausmus had Miggy, Kinsler, Upton, JD, JV, Justin Wilson, and a healthy Fulmer. 4 regulars with over 100 OPS +, 4 bench players over 100 and 6 pitchers with over 100 ERA+
Gardenhire had Miggy hurt most of the year… Hicks, Machado, Candelario, Jacoby Jones, Leonis Martin, Fernando Liriano, Shane Greene and an injured Fulmer. 1 starter with over 100 OPS +. 3 bench players over 100 OPS+. 5 pitchers with over 100 ERA+… 3 just barely.
Dombrowski won in Montreal, Florida (built both their WS contending teams,), Detroit and Boston.
Tigers cut corners on their bullpen. They never had a shut down closer or shut down set up men during those years. That cost them at least 1 WS title.
Also, the team was not really built for the home ballpark, Their home ballpark was built for speed,defense, doubles, triples, little ball.
The Tigers cornered the market on big boppers hot/cold hitters, DH style players like Magglio, Cabrera, Fielder etc, etc….
They did a terrible job on their bullpen. They always seemed to take the guy that was past his prime every time and hope he remembered how to do it. Also, they built their offense on power… Miggy, Magglio, Fielder, VMart, Upton, JD… They never seemed to find a guy with great OBP to hit in front of them or a guy with speed and strong defense in the OF. OBP, Speed and defense don’t go in slumps.
…Suarez could have played any number of positions for the Tigers including 3B, OF, 2B, DH or super utility guy.
Tigers were always in love with old veteran guys and did not give some of their young players a chance
I thought getting anything of value for Simon was great. Smoke and mirrors wasn’t anywhere close to the pitcher his stat line said. Mediocre swing man.
Suarez seems like a fast burner. I thought 2018 was a fluke but then he hit 49. I think he can be in the 20’s but the primo power is not going to last.
I’m not sure he will ever hit 49 again, but he hit 34 in 2018. I think he’s a safe bet for 30 for the next 5 or so years at least.
Hitting in that band box in Cinci will help his power numbers.
The dude feasted off Cubs pitching 19 times last year. Every damn game that guy would hit a bomb against the Cubs. All you can do is just hope nobody is on base.
Shame that Suarez injured his shoulder and required surgery after freak preseason swimming pool accident. Hope he fully recovers and continues his tremendous breakthrough as a hitter these last few years. Seems like a quality dude and I love his swing mechanics/approach.
CORRUPTION
HAM
Late owner Mike Illitch’s orders…
Trade every young prospect and draft pick to win WS Now…
Dombrowski followed his
“marching orders” and sent future stars packing:
3B Suarez,
SS Willy Adames,Closer
Cory Kneibel,
SP Jair Jurrjens,
SO/Reliever Drew Smyly, relievers Cessa and Green
(Yankees bullpen),
the list is long.
Then, in his last acts as Tigers GM, Dave reverses course to send out veterans for young talent:
Fulmer, Boyd, Norris, Jones etc…
Irking late owner
Mike Illitch who fires one of the few GMs in baseball who could reverse course and get young, top level talent for veterans in deals
(With Expos, Marlins(2X)etc?!).
Go figure…
Tigers ownership shot itself in both feet dumping Dombrowski…
Now, Tigers rebuild the slow, glacial way…
with a well meaning GM who is not as skilled a Trader as Dave Dombrowski…
I agree that Mike Illitch had a “win-now” mentality, but I disagree that he was his scapegoat.
Trader Dave had his hand on many bad contracts and trades. Illitch was not guiding most of these transactions. Sure, Dave had some big acquisitions, but he had far more misses. It’s one thing to mortgage the future if you’re making prudent trades, but he wasn’t. He was shipping prospects and getting players who did not live up to their reputation.
He did the same thing in Boston. Bad contracts and a depleted farm system.
In Detroit and Boston, Ownership’s’ mandates was for Dombrowski to
“Pull out all the stops and Win Now”.. Dombrowski did what his bosses/ownership ordered him to do in Detroit and Boston.
Many of Dombrowski’s trades were very beneficial to his teams
(Tigers and Red Sox)…Cabrera, Scherzer, Fister, Anibal Sanchez the list was long in Detroit. He had a few clunkers..
Illitch was pushed by agents, including Boros, to make some of those free agent deals like Fielder. The last Victor Martinez extension was all Illitch and a disaster for Tigers payroll.
Red Sox do not win their Division multiple times and their last WS without Dombrowski’s deals…
The really weird thing about this trade is how similar it is to the Shields/Tatis trade. Both cases it was the secondary prospect that made the deal a winner,. Erik Johnson was more highly touted when the Padres acquired the pair. Jonathan Crawford was far more highly touted than Suarez as well. Suarez was basically a guy that filled in for Jose Iglesias when the latter broke his leg. Once Iglesias healed, Suarez was basically a throw in for Simon.
Most White Sox fans who post on this claim they are not upset about giving away Tatis.
Suarez was not given ample playing time in Detroit….3B, 1B, 2b, OF…..many times will find a place for a hitter who is a good defender….Tigers were playing veterans and not giving he young talent enough of a chance to get established in their “win now”mode..
Let’s face it, during the Dumbrowski reign of terror, few prospects got an opportunity to shine or even play. He was notorious for trading prospects for established players to try and win it all. Good or bad it was the status quo back then.
Dave Dombrowski’s Era in Detroit was hardly “the golden age of terror”.
Dombrowski’s run in Detroit took an 119 loss last place club on a 9 year run of pennant contention including multiple American League Championships , at least 5 Division Titles, 2 World Series appearances etc…
Reds found a way to swipe Suarez from DET and Duvall from SF. Obviously Suarez turned out a better production in Cincy but those were two good trades.
Mistake was made by ownership…Should have let Dombrowski trade Scherzer in his walk year….A big package of talent would have come back to Tigers. Suarez would still be a Tigers..