The Cincinnati Reds made the surprising decision to place both Eugenio Suarez and TJ Friedl on waivers, meaning that the 29 other MLB teams had a golden opportunity to claim one or both of those players without parting with a player in return. All the claiming team(s) had to do was pay the remainder of the salaries for both players.
Friedl, a player hitting .158 with a .476 OPS this season, going unclaimed wasn't a shock, but it was a bit surprising to see Suarez, a player who has hit 19 home runs this season and 344 of them in his career, not get picked up by a contending team. I mean, not a single contender wanted to take a shot on a player who hit 49 home runs in 2025, essentially for free? Ultimately, there's a reason why the Reds were willing to waive Suarez, and there're several reasons why he was not claimed.
Eugenio Suarez has had a lackluster offensive season
Suarez having 19 home runs is cool and all, but that's about all he's done that's positive offensively this season. He's slashing .208/.295/.410 this season, and he has a 34.9 percent strikeout rate, which is quite high. He doesn't get on base, doesn't make much contact, and while he's hit home runs, playing half the time at hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark certainly helps him (although it's worth noting his numbers on the road this season are slightly better).
Suarez has a 91 wRC+ this season, which is good for a share of 130th out of the 154 players with at least 400 plate appearances. Is that really good enough for a player who has been predominantly a designated hitter this season? I mean, a primary DH being a below-average hitter is a pretty rough look. He might hit a home run here and there, but most of the time, he won't contribute at all.
Eugenio Suarez doesn't contribute at all away from the plate
Now, if Suarez were a slight below league-average hitter but contributed in other ways, perhaps he'd be coveted around the league. Bryan Rocchio, a player with the exact same 91 wRC+ as Suarez, has been worth 2.8 fWAR this season because he's an elite defender at a premium position. Unfortunately, Suarez doesn't do much away from the plate.
As mentioned above, he's primarily DH'd this season, but he does have 39 appearances at third base. Unfortunately, even with that limited sample, he's been worth -7 OAA, which makes him one of the worst defenders at the position. It's not as if he runs well either, as Suarez ranks in the 18th percentile in sprint speed per Baseball Savant.
Kyle Schwarber is a slugger who doesn't defend or run well, but he hits home runs at an absurd clip and draws a ton of walks. Suarez hit for a ton of power in 2025 when he was coveted, but he isn't hitting enough home runs to convince contending teams to ignore his flaws.
Eugenio Suarez wouldn't come cheap financially if claimed
While it's 100 percent true that teams wouldn't need to trade a player to acquire Suarez, claiming him off waivers would've meant eating the remainder of the one-year, $15 million deal he inked with the Reds in the offseason. This means that if a team were to claim him, they'd owe him a little less than $3 million to play for a month.
Is that really worthwhile? Suarez certainly has some power upside worth dreaming about, but he's been worth -0.4 fWAR this season, meaning he's essentially been below replacement level. He has a track record when it comes to going on insane power surges, but we haven't seen that this season.
Ultimately, it's hard to blame contending teams for not wanting to spend around $3 million on a player who might not even be better than their internal options. Now, if the Reds were to DFA and release Suarez (unlikely), contending teams would love to sign him for the league minimum. But them paying him $3 million for a month of what projects to be underwhelming play never seemed all that realistic.
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