Mike Hazen seemed very pleased with the deal he was able to conclude today on Thanksgiving eve. The Diamondbacks have been seeking a longer term solution at third base. Today he brought in Eugeno Suarez from the Mariners in exchange for minor league reliever Carlos Vargas and backup catcher Seby Zavala. Suarez will earn $11.3 million in 2024 and there is a $15 million option for 2024, with a $2 million buyout. This gives the D-backs up to two years to develop one of their several internal third base options.
Hazen ticked off the qualities that Suarez brings to the table. "We feel like this is a guy that adds a power element, good defender, everyday player at position that we've been platooning for a few years now. He adds stability to that spot. And an incredible clubhouse guy." Suarez has hit 246 career homers, driven in 730 runs and has a .788 career OPS. He's played in 95% of all possible games over the last eight years.
Hazen emphasized several times today the clubhouse element. The team lost several important clubhouse guys to free agency, and Hazen believes Suarez has the right work ethic and attitude to fit in with the ball club. One piece of evidence for that is the improvement in Suarez' defense in the 2023 season. Typically rated as neutral or even negative in years prior, his outs above average metric at Statcast jumped to +8 in 2023.
"Our scouts said that he really worked hard this season on his defense. That's going to be something we're going to continue to push. As you know that's an area of our team that we pride ourselves on. Everything we gathered on his work ethic and commitment to being a really good defender, I think he's going to fit in nicely with how we approach things."
Hazen said that Suarez will convert all the balls he gets to. He may not have the greatest range, but the steadiness he brings to the position reminded him of the way Evan Longoria played the position.
The cost to acquire Suarez was relatively low. When looking at the free agent market, the price tags seemed to be a great deal higher to Hazen than the salary Suarez will be paid over the next two seasons. While Vargas has a live arm, and Zavala is a solid enough back up, Hazen was pleased how this sets him up to make moves going forward.
"We didn't trade from the top of our farm system to make this trade....this is obviously one year plus an option for a position player. In other deals it will look different." What Hazen is alluding to here is he still has the flexibility to trade from at or near the top of his minor league system to address his starting pitching needs. At the same time he made sure to note that both avenues of trade and free agent route are wide open.
The timing was critical to making this trade. He began conversations with Jerry Dipoto at the General Managers meetings earlier this month. With a long shopping list of pieces to add this offseason, Hazen felt a sense of urgency to knock out this piece of the puzzle. He feels he can now go about the rest of the offseason more methodically. Whether by trade or free agency, the stakes to get starting pitching help will be much higher, and he wants to avoid a mistake.
One other catching note. With Zavala gone, the only internal option for back up to Gabriel Moreno is now José Herrera. Hazen made clear he will look to external options to shore up the catching depth, as the minor league depth they currently have is still a year or two away.
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