Apr 29, 2021; Arlington, Texas, USA; A view of the Boston Red Sox logo and a field bag during batting practice before the game between the Texas Rangers and the Boston Red Sox at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Red Sox Urged to Target Unlikely All-Star Slugger

Originally posted on Boston Red Sox on SI
By Patrick McAvoy | Last updated Jan 27, 2026 4:00 PM ET

If the Boston Red Sox get one more move over the finish line to help the middle of the order, they will be in a very good position in 2025.

But the question remains: Who could be an option? A handful of names have been thrown out there over the last few weeks. On Tuesday, MLB Network's Harold Reynolds and Matt Vasgersian both had the same answer for Boston: Eugenio Suárez.

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"I'm going Red Sox," Reynolds said. "They need that power. They need a third baseman to hit the ball over that wall."

The Red Sox need more power

"I'm with you," Vasgersian responded. "I'm with you on that. At the risk of sounding really boring here, I'm going to say the same thing. If the Red Sox don't trade for Isaac Paredes, which is Option A for me. This guy is a nice 1-A, if you will. You can survive the strikeouts there because that's a pretty good contact-hitting lineup.

"He's tailor-made for pulling the ball off the Monster," Reynolds continued. "It's what he does."

Suárez fits one need extremely well, but not another. This is a guy who hit 49 homers and drove in 118 runs in 2025. That arguably should make him a hot commodity in free agency. But his market has moved slowly. He brings massive power, but is 34 years old, isn't great defensively and strikes out a lot.

Arguably, he should be considered. He would bring enough to the table to mitigate the loss of Alex Bregman. Having him and Willson Contreras at the corner infield spots would arguably bring enough pop to the middle of the order, plus a full season of Roman Anthony at the top of the order.

But chief baseball officer Craig Breslow's recent comments about the importance of infield defense aren't great for the idea of pursuing Suárez.

"Defense is a significant contributor to run prevention," Breslow said. "We tend to get caught up in the pitching side of this but there are other key components in this as well, defense being the most obvious. So, it's really important that we improve our defense, particularly our infield defense.

"I would argue that we have the best defensive outfield in baseball, but we led the league in errors last year and our out conversion needs to be improved and I think there's some things we've already started to do internally to prioritize that. But also, the additions we may make will be very mindful of the defensive skills too."

Suárez had -6 outs above average in 2025, good for the eighth percentile in all of baseball. Boston should still go after Suárez, but if the club's priority is defense, Suárez doesn't help much there.

More MLB: New Red Sox Infield Option Reportedly Emerges

This article first appeared on Boston Red Sox on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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