The Reds and Eugenio Suarez have reached a deal on a 7-year contract. The Reds already had control of Suarez (26) through the 2020 season. So this buys out three years of arbitration and four years of free agency. The club option in 2025 would be a fifth year.
Details from C. Trent Rosecrans: $2M signing bonus, $2.25M (2018) $7M (2019), $9.25M (2020), $10.5M (2021) $11M (2022) $11M (2023) $11M (2024) then a club option for $15M (2025) with a $2M buyout.
Suarez will turn 33 in July of 2024, the last guaranteed year of the contract.
In what may prove to be one of the most lopsided, favorable trades in the history of the organization, the Reds acquired Suarez from the Detroit Tigers before the 2015 season in exchange for a year of Alfredo Simon.
Absolutely stunning deal for the reds. By the end of this deal a free market WAR could easily be 12 million.
This is a jay Bruce like deal that I simply could never imagine Suarez would take. Congrats to him for salary certainty, and congrats to Dick Williams. I strongly feel Senzel lurking motivated Suarez to get the job certainty this contract also suggests. Just wow.
Suarez said, “this is my family… Awesome signing!
Love this deal. It’s not far off what I predicted about a year ago.
https://redlegnation.com/2017/04/26/contracts-for-the-new-core-eugenio-suarez/
The contracts are obviously laid out a little differently, but the money is nearly the same. It’s a very friendly team deal that will either see a very good player in Cincinnati for the better part of a decade, or will be very easily tradable if events lead themselves to that point.
Add another W to the DW column. The Jock(etty) stench is fading fast.
Nice call!
Great deal for the Reds. Jordan, in your deal, the Reds would pay $92M for 7 years; in this deal, they pay $66 for the first 7 years — a difference of $26M. This deal is much better for the Reds than your prediction.
Absolutely! What makes this even more awesome is that my deal is more realistic 😉
Was Jocketty the GM who traded for Suarez? I’m certainly not a WJ fan by any stretch of the imagination, but he does deserve the credit for getting him into the organization, I tihnk
Yes sir!
Dec. 11, 2014  in separate deals for Simon and Latos, both of whom were potential free agents. (Jocketty said the Reds definitely wanted to trade Latos but not necessarily Simon, and jumped only when the Tigers agreed to part with Suarez).
How’d that work out?
Good sound deal. I really like it. Had some initial misgiving when I saw duration but that was resolved when I saw year 7 was club option. Break even around 1.5WAR p/a over the contract…remember that in the worst case (I.e. he regresses from last years 4.0 to -only- 2.0 to 2.5……chuckle) and he is movable at any point in the term sheet. (The green eyeshade part is based on WAR staying at around 8M per point. Unlike some, I’m wondering if we are going into a period of cost management and (relative) deflation in the value of WAR instead of regular annual increases)
Relived to have his bat, his glove and, most importantly, his attitude around for the next few seasons…could fill the same role that Rolen did. Don’t expect it to block Senzel but it will put a lot of pressure on Perazza, Gennett and any other prospective 2B of the future to deliver because we will have to deploy Senzel -somewhere-. .
Would love to see the risk management policies/hedging strategy in place for these long term deals. Given DW’s background, I expect the Reds financial management may be setting up very nicely. Seems the talent evaluation is also developing very well. With this and the Barnhart deal, and the pitching pool in place, the window may be opening very wide.
Great news, as far as I’m concerned.
And I just can’t forget that the Reds acquired Suarez in exchange for the bloated corpse of Alfredo Simon.
Suarez was not considered a top prospect in the Tiger organization. He was someone that the Reds scouted and liked, and that judgment worked out very well.
I’ve quoted you on that one a few times today Chad, lol. Good trade (aging, ineffective pitcher for a poor-fielding, potentially very good SS), great improvement, incredible move to extend him!
Fantastic! Way to go DW!
Great news for the rebuilding process and for Eugenio and his family. Very team friendly contract that allows them to go after some more youngster down the road.
This move made by the most hatred – by some- Walt Jocketty might come down as one of the best trades in Reds’ history. Already pretty good.
This is the way a so-called “small market team” has to do business to retain star-caliber players over the long term. There is risk, but not $20-million-plus per year risk.
Wow great news!
Great move!
Who else is ready to wipe the slate clean in a big way and start 2018 fresh? I am. To that end, I’d bench Hamilton, put Bailey in the bullpen, and option Peraza to Louisville a week and a half into the season.
Maybe it’s worth a try but I think it is a huge stretch to think that Billy could even be a mediocre 2B. It’s just very hard or impossible for me to imagine.
As I see it, we all have to relax on the Billy Hamilton saga. He will be there until one of Siri/Trammel is ready. And I’m ok with that since his defense is most needed with the young pitchers. You can complain all you want about him leading off. The same will happen if he hits before or after the P spot, so my advice is: save it and pray for the kids in the minors to pan out soon or a trade/FA signing move is done.
Nice reply – Billy’s got some positive traits and the Reds need some of those. We’ve got some talent on the pitching staff, so let’s sit back & watch Billy the magician in CF and hope for healthy/developing pitching!
Moving Hamilton to 2B doesn’t improve his hitting skills. He’s a Gold Glove caliber defender in center, so moving him out of that position defensively doesn’t make any sense. It would if he had a great bat and wasn’t a good CF defender, but neither of those is the case.
I like bailey and finnigan in the pen to start the season if they can get some regular long work
You may see many, many more young players on all teams willing to go this route rather than wait a full six years for free agency, based on what happened this off-season with free agents.
Isn’t it interesting how market forces work? Clearly it isn’t what the collective bargaining agreement framework had in mind. Aside from generational talent like Pujols, Bryce Harper, Kershaw, etc, this seems a reasonable choice for many if not most.
The trends will be interesting. If small market teams go to this model aggressively it will reduce the impact of stars going to the big cities for their primes.
Tom Mitsoff,
Excellent point regarding how the current system is so skewed, small market teams need these deals to assemble enough talent in one period tor a contention window.
The real window for the Next Good Reds Team (TM) looks like 2020-24.
Votto, Suarez, Senzel and Winker all under control during that time, maybe Barnhart and Schebler stay decent long enough to stick, plus whichever kids win SP slots. And Bailey’s money freed up for signings.
Feels similar to the Royals core of Hosmer/Cain/Gordon/Moustakas/Perez that got to 2 World Series and won 1.
Dick Williams still has a lot of work to do to get ahead of the Cubs/Brewers/Devil Magic, just in the division, but he got Suarez for cheap and locked up a key position.
The funny thing is; I don’t think anyone is seeing this Reds train coming! But I’m really beginning to believe the window of contention is very near.
Whoa cowboy! It all begins/ends with some good pitching!
We’ve got a long way to go to be healthy/mature when it comes to pitching.
Suarez extension greatly strengthens the offense but contention rests with a solid pitching staff.
Agree: Castillo, Mahle, Romano and Garrett; along with the extension of Suarez; has me fired up.
Clearly Senzel will find a permanent home at either shortstop or second, which is a good excuse to send him to Class AAA to figure out which position will suit him best.
Taking Suarez to trial over 450K does not to dispel the insular #RedsWay view of the front office and ownership that is prevalent among MLB media. It only enhances it.
Many teams have a track record of refusing to go to trial, period, and others won’t go for such a small (in MLB terms) amount.
The Pirates front office took a hit over nickel-and-diming Gerrit Cole that they have yet to recover from, and led to having to dump the player early for less than fair value.
Suarez’s extension currently does not even rate a mention on FanGraphs.com, despite being a steal based on market value for the Reds front office. That speaks volumes on how the Reds as an organization are not really respected at all.
Your measurement of respect for the Reds organization is measured by fangraphs.com mentioning an extension for Eugenio Suarez?? The extension is all over the news, espn.com, cbssports.com, foxsports.com etc, etc.
Fine job by Dick Williams. A lot of Reds fans will be very pleased by this.
Puts Eugenio at 3rd base for a lot of years. He is a good guy, with a great work ethic and a very well liked player.
Now they HAVE to find a position for Senzel, and frankly, the outfield is a bit crowded (barring a trade).
Options for Reds:
Senzel works out at SS and can play there. A big maybe. But the best possible outcome, in my opinion.
Senzel plays second base, and very soon Scooter gets traded. Kind of too bad, as I like Scooter too. He seems like a good guy that WANTS to play in Cincinnati.
Or the third option, that they work Senzel into the outfield and one or two present outfield guys get traded.
Very long shot: Senzel is the centerpiece for a blockbuster trade to get a key player. And I think they missed the boat on that this winter, to get Yelich. He would have anchored CF and made the Reds a much better team immediately.
Now we have a General Manager. Congratulations to all concerned. Joey and Eugenio will lead the offense from the left and right side. Just the jolt the Reds needed.
Another mega bucks ,man crush deal by the owner. It’s his money to throw away as he see’s fit. Hamilton next since Mr. C said he hopes he’s a Red “Forever”.
I would definitely back that, especially if it were tied to performance incentives at 250+ PAs or 50 starts or something similar. He strikes me as a Tyler Eifert “I owed them something” kind of guy, as well. Depth is the biggest asset you can have in baseball (okay, maybe the biggest not named “Trout”), so sign him up midseason if he’s healthy (iffy), productive (likely, if healthy), and willing (hopeful).
A definite possibility…a little soon to discuss it. We probably need up to the break to see whether the bat is back and what his durability is behind the plate. (Might be better than a lot of people expect simply because the long time off has mitigated wear-and-tear on the body. Injury as rejuve — -there’s- a paradox). Need to know both to determine, for himself and for the club, what his path forward is beyond this season (prime catcher, backup catcher, DH – he doesn’t seem to fit any other position) and I’m assuming Barnhart stays based on relative age and compensation.
Even feeling that Okey and Stephenson may be three years out does not -demand- that all of the gap may be covered up front and there may be other ways of addressing this in any proposed extension:
(a) Rolling one-year extensions. Would probably work because, even with a good season, I don’t think clubs would ante up in free agency what he currently makes- look at what a healthy Lucroy ended up settling for as a cautionary guide> Buys time for time to restore value and improve negotiating posture while not letting too much time slip away. By the same token, even with great numbers, can the Reds affort to carry -two- high value catchers on the payroll for a protracted period?
(b) Two year with club option for year three – an attenuated version of the above. Desirable if he puts up above average numbers this year and/or Barnhart, for any reason, goes to the sideline for a period of time.
As pointed out, any deal – particularly (b) would require slightly lower base offset by performance incentives.