Eugenio Suarez Returns to Cincinnati | Fantasy Baseball Impact

There's been a handful of notable MLB transactions over the weekend. I planned to cover them on Monday, but a bigger deal just went down that I just had to cover immediately.

Eugenio Suarez signed a one year, $15 million deal with the Reds. It includes a mutual option for the 2027 season.

Let's discuss what the move means for Suarez and the Reds as a whole.

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Suarez's Numbers

Suarez is 34 years old and has played in the big leagues since 2014, so 12 years.

He started with the Tigers, then played for the Reds for seven years. Suarez joined the Mariners for a couple years, then landed with the Diamondbacks. He was traded to the Mariners at the trade deadline last season. Now, he's going back to the place he's called home the longest.

Suarez has a .246 average and .328 on-base percentage over his career. He's popped 325 home runs, 49 of which came last season.

Suarez has 1,434 total hits. Along with the homers, he has 262 doubles and 15 triples. He's drove in 949 runs, scored 831 times, stole 36 bases, walked 632 times and struck out on 1,814 occasions.

Suarez's Fantasy Outlook

Suarez's fantasy outlook is driven by his slugging numbers. He was a great asset last season with all those homers, plus a career-high 118 RBIs.

His average is never that good, but he usually gets on base enough to provide a bit more. Suarez strikes out a ton, so he's the typical slugger in today's game.

The Reds are a team on the rise, and they have a solid lineup, so this is a nice landing spot for Suarez.

He should hit cleanup for the Reds, and he's projected to hit after TJ Friedl, Noelvi Marte and Elly De La Cruz. After Suarez, Sal Stewart, Tyler Stephenson, JJ Bleday (and Dane Myers in a platoon), Matt McLain and Ke'Bryan Hayes are the other projected starters in Cincy.

There's enough talent in that lineup, especially around Suarez to give the slugger some good fantasy upside. He can play third base, but with Hayes a plus-defender there, Suarez should slot in as the team's designated hitter more often than not.

Suarez should still be eligible at 3B all year, so that's all that matters for fantasy. He'll be a good draftable asset, and I'm curious exactly where he will fall.

Regardless of where Suarez goes, he could end up being a draft steal if he slugs like he did last season.

Outlook for the Reds

Adding a slugger like Suarez is a massive thing for any MLB team, and especially the batters at the top of the order.

Friedl, Marte and De La Cruz all get at least a slight bump, just knowing that Suarez will pop some homers and allow them all to score some more runs. De La Cruz is obviously a fantasy stud, so things for him aren't that affected, but Friedl and Marte each get a pretty decent fantasy bump from the Suarez signing.

The guys after Suarez in the order won't have their fantasy outlooks altered very much. If Suarez can get on base a good amount (and isn't homering as much as last season), then guys like Stewart, Stephenson and others batting after Suarez could see their fantasy outlooks go up.

Obviously, adding Suarez to the lineup takes away a starting spot. Him being the designated hitter doesn't directly take away a spot, and there's nobody projected to be on the bench that is that great of a hitter anyways.

Right now, Jose Trevino, Spencer Steer and Will Benson are the projected bench guys. At full health, those are just depth options for the Reds, and guys who will rarely make the starting lineup.

This signing will have some trickle down effect in the Reds' organization. Looking at some of the other notable options projected to open the season in the minor leagues, we have Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Michael Toglia and Rece Hinds - it makes a lot of sense why Suarez was signed, doesn't it? 

Stewart is a top-100 prospect, but he's still projected to make the team and starting lineup every day. The Suarez signing doesn't impact his fantasy outlook very much. There's no other top-100 prospects from the Reds that have 2026 ETAs.

There's other good hitting prospects in the team's organization too. The Suarez signing could slow some of those guys down this year, and if he sticks around in Cincy for a bit.

Really though, Suarez's signing does not impact too many MLB players, just the outlook for some players on the fringe of the roster or prospects hoping to make an impact this season.