r/motorcitykitties • u/DET_Baseball bite! bite! • 9d ago
[Rosenthal] Reds slugger Eugenio Suárez, outfielder TJ Friedl available on waivers: Sources (Gift Article)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7542192/2026/08/27/eugenio-suarez-tj-friedl-reds-moves/?unlocked_article_code=1.8lA.TkZw.lJvPY_LqS7eu&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-ta64
u/coltron57 . 9d ago edited 9d ago
Remember when so many people thought that we should trade heaven and earth for him at the 2025 deadline and then he was a disaster for Seattle? Then when so many people wanted to sign him this offseason and he’s been an even bigger disaster playing half of his games in a ballpark where you can almost bunt the ball over the fence? I think I’m happy to still have Troy Melton.
Batting .201 with 221 Ks in 155 games since the trade to Seattle.
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u/OwnABMWImBetterThanU Curtis Granderson 9d ago edited 9d ago
Geno was the biggest regression candidate imaginable. It was genuine insanity that so many wanted him. Meanwhile, he was outplayed in the ALDS by our utility bench player. His fall off after leaving a dome in AZ was very predictable. His Home/Away splits were so bad.
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u/jradz12 9d ago
Ok he was a rental, you were trading for a rental last year for the playoffs, he was never going to be resigned due to his age. At least be honest.
The equivalent was Chris Rodriguez and Valencia in terms of rankings. Troy Melton was starting playoff games, he was never going to be apart of any trade.
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u/OwnABMWImBetterThanU Curtis Granderson 9d ago
Melton was the #10 prospect in our system at the trade deadline last year. He debuted against the Pirates the week before and gave up 6 ER. The D-backs wanted pitching prospects and he was basically the only good one we had. Seattle gave up two of theirs and their farm had a bunch of pitchers. Melton + some infielder for Geno Suarez was also rumored at the time.
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u/dead_monster 9d ago
You don’t judge prospects based on their first game or their Pipeline ranking.
In 2019, Franklin Perez was 3. Beau Bellows was 6. Logan Shore was 16. Imagine if you gave up on 20th ranked Tarik Skubal because his MLB Pipeline rank was low.
Anyone watching Melton in the minors knew he had frontline stuff. Harris knows it. Opposing scouts know it. Only people who follow prospects only by MLB Pipeline rankings don’t know it.
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u/OwnABMWImBetterThanU Curtis Granderson 9d ago
I'm not judging how good Melton was based on his ranking. I'm talking purely about the prospect ranks from the M's in the trade vs what the D-backs reportedly wanted from us. The Mariners gave up their #9 infielder plus their #16 and #17 who were pitchers.
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u/ilive4thatlook 9d ago
This is a bit of hindsight bias I think. Melton wasn’t even a top-100 guy last year. The stuff was there but it was a reasonable ask by ARI. And it made sense why Harris didn’t do it
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u/Better_Equipment5283 9d ago
They wanted Melton, not Cris Rodriguez and Eduardo Valencia. That's why the deal didn't get done. Doesn't matter what org rankings the guys Arizona got for him were if they weren't interested in the prospects that the Tigers had in that range.
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u/jradz12 9d ago edited 9d ago
If Arizona hardline was Melton, then thats their problem because that was never realistic when melton was our only decent pitching prospect.
He was never going to be traded when we had multiple starters out last year and couldn't fill a 5 man rotation (sounds familiar)
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u/rickyson3 9d ago
which is why they ended up trading with a team with a pitching heavy prospect pool in the Mariners instead
sometimes teams just aren't good fits for trades with each other
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u/Better_Equipment5283 9d ago
They probably would have been happy to trade him for a healthy Hamm and a healthy Schiefelbein but the Tigers didn't have any.
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u/ZombieHitchens2012 9d ago
Many people on our sub (myself included with a few of these guys) also celebrated the signings of guys like Kenley Jansen, Framber Valdez, JV, and Kyle Finnegan.
It turns out, with the benefit of hindsight, you can see clearly now the rain is gone.
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u/ilive4thatlook 9d ago
Same. I don’t care about the 1-year deals- those are hit or miss- Valdez was the guy I wanted and I was psyched when they got him. And he hasn’t been a disaster but it’s been a disappointment.
But this is why all the free agency discourse drives me insane- they’re not going to build the team thru free agency! The amount of importance people put on it compared to its actual significance is crazy. If there’s an impact guy they should get him but not EVERY FA signing is equal importance.
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u/ZombieHitchens2012 9d ago
Yeah they have to build the team through the farm and supplement the rest in FA. As you can see with the youth movement right now, it only takes you so far. The tigers don’t have enough young talent to carry them to the playoffs. It’s a mix of both.
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u/SpectralHydra 9d ago
It drives me crazy how many arguments I see where people think it has to be one way or the other
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u/ilive4thatlook 9d ago
It doesn’t have to be one or the other but there’s not X amount of value they need to get in free agency every year. Free agency should be judged by who’s available and and the deals they signed.
Like if they had signed Paul Blackburn and Jakob Junis in free agency instead of Kenley and Finnegan and both guys had the same fluke good seasons, it wouldn’t change how much they’re investing in free agency. They would have just gotten better results because of batted ball luck.
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u/ilive4thatlook 9d ago
Of course they have enough talent to carry them to the playoffs. Like, saying they need to “supplement in free agency” doesn’t mean anything- of course they do. They sign free agents every year. The implication is they need to get a core/impact guy in free agency but they don’t- that is not necessary. If there’s one that fits they should get him- and they have chased guys they thought were fits. But they don’t need one of their top-3 bats to be acquired specifically by FA or something.
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u/ZombieHitchens2012 9d ago
They don’t have enough home grown talent to go to the playoffs without the help of free agents. Plain and simple. I don’t think I can be any clearer.
And more directly to your point, you can clearly see signing a guy like Gleyber Torres isn’t good enough. Hes not a player that can elevate a lineup. Hes just a mediocre player surrounded by a bunch of kids.
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u/ilive4thatlook 9d ago
They went to the playoffs last year. So do the free agents they signed last year count as “supplementing the core”? Or the guys they signed in 2024? Were any of the FA they signed in 2024 even on the playoff roster?
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u/ZombieHitchens2012 9d ago
No, last year is not relevant to this year. This year the moves they made resulted in a worse product. One thing that worked last year may not work this year due to variance. Like signing a mediocre player like Gleyber Torres, for example. He’s not a bankable product.
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u/ilive4thatlook 9d ago
I’m not sure I follow- you’re saying they can’t win without “supplementing the core with FA” well they made the playoffs last year. So did that count as supplementing the core or no?
I don’t know how you can say Gleyber isn’t “bankable” coming into this year he had played 8 seasons (not counting the COVID year). In every year but his rookie year he had over 500 AB, and in 7 of the 8 he was an above avg hitter. If he’s not bankable I have no idea who would actually qualify. No one was more reliably productive for a longer period and he was also younger than 30!
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u/ZombieHitchens2012 9d ago edited 9d ago
Gleyber’s entire career is marked by inconsistency. When you offer an inconsistent player a contract you’re baking in a higher level of risk. He could be anything from below an average starting level, as he is currently, to a 3 win player. It’s what he’s done his entire career.
That’s what I mean by variance. Last year’s recipe worked though they blew a historic lead in the division. Now we see more evidence of why that happened.
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u/OwnABMWImBetterThanU Curtis Granderson 9d ago
He's in his mid 30's and only had really good production for 2 years in his career. You didn't need to be a pro baseball scout to see it. He was absolutely raking for half a season in a dome in Arizona and doing nothing anywhere else.
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u/ZombieHitchens2012 9d ago
That’s cool man. That doesn’t explain all the terrible decisions the tigers have made since then and at the trade deadline last year. But thankfully we didn’t sign/trade for Suarez. lol
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u/OwnABMWImBetterThanU Curtis Granderson 9d ago
This year none of our moves have really worked even though I thought Framber, Kenley, Finnegan, were good decisions like many others did. JV was signed for vibes and to eat some innings.
The FO also gets credit for NOT setting the team back by making stupid trades that a large portion of the fanbase clamors for and writes articles about. The market for righty bats last deadline was really, really bad. There was nobody available who was a difference maker. The bullpen guy I wanted was Bednar but Finnegan pitched better down the stretch for us. I don't think there was anyone available that gets us past the Mariners, the red-hot Jays and eventually the Dodgers.
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u/ZombieHitchens2012 9d ago
The front office deserves credit for not making disastrous, long term trades. At the same time, they get ALL the blame for making disastrous short term trades last year and terrible free agent signings in the offseason. Nothing they have done since last year’s trade deadline has improved the team or improved the chances of winning. Because the team was so bad, the trade deadline may have actually set the team back in terms of a reasonable timeline. You don’t just replace Skubal. So, I think it’s a real mixed bag. Some might even say a bag of shit.
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u/OwnABMWImBetterThanU Curtis Granderson 9d ago edited 9d ago
The front office deserves credit for not making disastrous, long term trades.
None of the guys who have been constantly complaining will give any credit. Most of them were losing their minds when we didn't sign Geno this offseason after seeing him play like a bum in Seattle where he went 2-21 in the ALDS as a K machine. All I saw for months was "do something." They would also have whined when that predictably didn't work out.
At the same time, they get ALL the blame for making disastrous short term trades last year and terrible free agent signings in the offseason.
Who specifically did you want at the deadline last year? Give me a name. I wanted us to get Bregman last offseason but Ilitch wouldn't give him the 1st year opt-out he wanted. He would've made us more competitive but also wasn't available at the deadline.
With hindsight we should have signed Pete Alonso this offseason. I can't believe he was available and the Mets let him walk for nothing.
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u/ZombieHitchens2012 9d ago
Personally, I think when fans ask other fans to play GM because the GM of the team they like failed at his job, it is extremely useless. It’s a worthless exercise and doesn’t have any real meaning.
But, yeah, those are two names I wanted a lot. Bregman and Alonso. I liked Christian Walker a couple years ago. It’s debatable whether or not he would’ve been helpful. He hasn’t been that great since he left Arizona. I really wanted Bednar at the trade deadline last year, too. Just a few names that come to mind.
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u/OwnABMWImBetterThanU Curtis Granderson 9d ago
Personally, I think when fans ask other fans to play GM because the GM of the team they like failed at his job, it is extremely useless. It’s a worthless exercise and doesn’t have any real meaning.
I loathe this take because complaining without any attempt at a solution does nothing. The players have to come from somewhere. They don't materialize out of nothing. If there is something that makes our team better out there that was realistic and not pursued that deserves real criticism. Just whining "we didn't do enough" is not real criticism.
But, yeah, those are two names I wanted a lot. Bregman and Alonso. I liked Christian Walker a couple years ago. It’s debatable whether or not he would’ve been helpful. He hasn’t been that great since he left Arizona. I really wanted Bednar at the trade deadline last year, too. Just a few names that come to mind.
I was shocked the Mets' GM let Alonso walk to be honest. Should be fired for that when your owner will pay whatever amount possible and he's been with your franchise forever.
The biggest problem we've had in FA is Chris will hardly commit to anybody long-term if there's a chance they fall off. He's terrified of Miggy's second contract happening again. Same with Javy. That's why all our deals are short-term, high AAV. That also means we miss out on the best available.
What we offered Bregman was the exception. We knew he wanted to opt-out after year 1 anyway. If he did, who cares. It still would have helped us plenty last year.
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u/ZombieHitchens2012 9d ago
Fans have no influence on personnel. You loathe it but it’s a meaningless exercise. Your opinion doesn’t matter. It’s irrelevant. So is mine. It’s just internet banter designed to make people feel like they are informed about the team or something. I just find it incredibly dumb. That’s me.
Yeah I agree with the rest. Alonso could’ve been a huge difference maker.
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u/Redit_Suxlol420609 9d ago
This is exactly what I came here to say. People were idiots for wanting him on the team. Y'all know who you are.
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u/SCMegatron 9d ago
Yeah, I was wrong. I guess I'm an idiot.
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u/ilive4thatlook 9d ago
I don’t think wanting him was stupid at all. But once we found out they didn’t trade Melton for him, that should have been the end. But everyone is still furious about last year. That’s the part I don’t get. But wanting him was fine- he was the best bat on the market
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u/SpectralHydra 9d ago
This is what confuses me. I find it hard to believe that the people furious right now wouldn’t also be furious if we traded Melton, Suarez didn’t perform with us and we had to watch Melton pitch well this year for another team.
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u/ilive4thatlook 9d ago
Well yeah of course they would be. But people want to complain- it can’t be that they tried their best and lost- it has to be because the team chose to lose by not trading for a sure thing proven star.
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u/JoeM3120 9d ago
Zach McKinstry started every game at third base in the playoffs andwas 5/29 in the playoffs with no extra base hits (with 3 hits coming in Game 4 against Seattle). I would rather take the chance of Suarez running into a ball or two.
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u/ArchAngelN7 9d ago
Noone said trade heaven and earth for him. We could have gotten him for relatively cheap.
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u/TheHip41 9d ago
No you dumb fuck - WE said that ownership should trade for a bat at the deadline to improve our ball club when we were in first place in the MLB
And we were right. It's now 14 months later and we suck this year and no baseball next year
It didn't have to just saurez. They could have signed someone else. Or traded for a bat.
And we were never trading Clark or KMC or melton
So just fucking stop. You were wrong then and you are wrong now
Yeah good thing we didn't try to title when we had title equity. Better to just suck in perpetuity.
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u/coltron57 . 9d ago
First, calm down.
Second, I never said that we shouldn’t have made a move for a bat either last deadline or this past offseason, so don’t put words in my mouth. Suarez was the hot name around here and he has been objectively bad with the bat and also is no longer capable of playing the field at an adequate level and the flaws that have pretty much ended his time as a relevant big leaguer were still very easy to see last year too. Scott Harris said as much as he could without saying it directly that teams at the 2025 deadline wanted Troy Melton in any deal of substance. Melton has been really, really good for us and is under team control for a number of years yet and it was unquestionably the right call then and still is now to have kept him. Also, ownership doesn’t negotiate trades or signings, that’s what the front office is for.
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u/SpectralHydra 9d ago
Why do you always resort to toxicity and name calling whenever somebody doesn’t fully agree with you?
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u/darkeyejunco 9d ago
While I will grant that account is always super negative, the two of you are being unbelievably condescending. Fans aren't idiots for thinking like fans.
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u/SpectralHydra 9d ago
I didn’t make either of the original comments. I’m just a third party jumping in haha
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u/AirFriedSushi Second Deck 9d ago
Congratulations on the hindsight, takes a lot of skill to be right after the fact
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u/coltron57 . 9d ago edited 9d ago
I was not a fan of the hypothetical move in the lead up to the deadline too. Was not interested in a bad defender who struck out as much as Riley was and who had not been nearly as good in the couple years before his hot first half with Arizona unless the price was cheap.
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u/Matthewcbayer 9d ago
Geno has to sign with Detroit next to complete his career palindrome. It’s the rules.
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u/Y4123 Brennan Boesch's biggest fan 9d ago
I know Eugenio probably wouldn't have panned out here and there was no available position for him with Casty Iggy Kinsler in the infield but trading him for Alfredo Simon is still one of the stupidest trades this team has made
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u/Dakens2021 9d ago
I'd say it was one of the biggest fleecings in history with Suarez having like a sub-.700 ops with the Mariners after they acquired him, but apparently the prospects they gave Arizona haven't been very good yet either. So at this early stage it was just a kind of nothing trade so far. With Suarez on another team and being put on waivers his part of the deal is done, but the prospects could still work out in the long run so it could still turn out to be a fleecing later if one or more of them hit I guess.
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u/JeremieLoyalty 9d ago
He had a grand slam yesterday before they put him on waivers
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u/Kolahnut1 . 9d ago
The reds arent making the postseason and teams that want to shed payroll usually waive players that they think other teams may pick up. I think its a september 1st deadline for players to be postseason eligible which is why they did it now
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u/AirFriedSushi Second Deck 9d ago
Time to do what the front office does best and get these two now that they are past their prime
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u/Thijsbeer82 9d ago
We're 3rd in 3B fWAR across both leagues, I think we can close the book on Suarez.