February 2, 2026 • 10 mins
Eugenio Suarez is coming back to Cincinnati! Jeff Carr of the Locked on Reds Podcast joined us to discuss.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jeff is with us Locked on Reds podcast and did
like an emergency episode after yesterday's news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
So I know you've been busy, man, It's good to
have you. What's going on? Man?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I am so excited Mo, because this was I didn't
expect this. I thought he was going to go back
to Seattle and we were going to have to squint
really hard at Miguel, Andrew Harvey and the DH of
this team. So this is much better than what I
hadn't envisioned yesterday morning.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
If I would have asked you, what how do you
grade the Reds off season?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
What would you have said?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
C minus because the bullpen's awesome, but they missed out
on the biggest thing they need.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Now, what's the grade the Reds off season?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Give him a B because I think that they addressed
their biggest need. They probably didn't do it with like
the best dude on the market, I mean best available
right now. Yes, but it's not as if they went
and they got KYLEE. Schwarber. Although there are some things
to say that the deal that they got for the
guy that they have might be even better than what
they would have had to get for Kyle Schwarber. So
I give him a solid B the because I still
(01:00):
think you look at the outfield and you're like, Okay,
there's a lot of hope out there. You got to
you gotta work with some things out there. But the
lineup is better than it was last year in my opinion.
The pitching staff is better than it was in last
year in my opinion. So I think that this team,
as currently constructed as a division contender.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Does this is this is my hope. My hope is
this ends the era of not leaning in the home runs.
Can I say that this signifies that they're going to
start leaning back in the home runs?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yes, because they signed the guy that that is all
he is supposed to do. Like, he's not coming here
to be the third baseman. He's not coming here to
be the first baseman. He's coming here to hit dingers.
And that is exactly his his role as currently constructed,
because he comes in with an isolated power for his career,
isolated power being slugging percentage of minus batting average, trying
(01:56):
to you know, set aside the extra base hit potential
for a guy his career number on that is two eighteen.
There was no regular player in the reds Alan up
last year over two hundred. The closest to that was
Will Benson, but do we call him a regular player
in this atlaneup? So he was at two h nine,
nobody else was above two hundred. They immediately upgraded their
(02:17):
extra base hit potential.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Some will point out, and perhaps accurately so that, yes,
Gino hits a bunch of home runs, he also strikes
out a lot, and that while you have added more power,
or at least power potential, you're also adding a lot
more played appearances that end with no contact being made
for a team that already has a lot of guys
who at times make no contact.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
What would you say to.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
That, That's exactly what they would have added. How they
signed Kyle Schwarber because both guys have the same wifth percentage.
Were're swinging this percentage from last season of thirty three percent,
and in fact, Kyle Schwarber actually struck out one more
time than Auhanio Swarez did.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
All right, is there is there another move out there
that with spring training looming here now in less than
a week, is there another move out there that fans
should jump on the bandwagon and say, you know what,
for the right price, which at this stage in the
game is what you would be paying. Adding this guy
would make sense.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
In any free agent market, They don't think so, not
without a trade to open up a spot, because it
seems as though the Reds are going to enter camp
for better or for worse with a position battle for
the platoon of left field between JJ Bleda and Will Binson.
If they could upgrade it, that would be good. But
there isn't necessarily a just surefire upgrade that is available
(03:39):
on the market for the Reds at this point, and
then you'll be talking about are they going to make
a trade. There's a lot of rumors that have been
shut down, like rumors early on in the offseason of
Catel Marte or Jared Duran that have since been shut
down by both the Diamondbacks and the Red Sox. So
I don't foresee any other move that really moves the
needle for them. Could be, you know, those non roster invites,
(04:02):
the spring training type deals, but nobody that were going
to be doing another emergency podcast.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
For Jeff Carr locked on Red's podcast Emergency Podcast. Go
watch or to listen to it. Did it last night?
I think here's what I like most about the offseason.
And I do wish the outfield was better, I will
admit that. But they have addressed their biggest issue. And
yet Hunter Green is still a red, Nico Lodolo is
still a Red, Andrew Abbotts still a red, Chase Burns
(04:29):
still a red, Reet Louder still a red. They did
what I think a lot of folks did not expect
them to do or didn't think they could do. They
have made the team better. And we could debate how
much better they're going to be, but they have made
the team better and they haven't cut into their biggest strength.
That is the biggest win of all.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Because that's what we heard at the beginning of the
off season. They were going to have to do right.
Like you heard it from Mark Sheldon, heard it from
multiple peoples like, well, if they're gonna upgrade the lineup,
they have to trade one of those starting pitchers. They
have to do there's no two bones about it. And
yet they didn't. And they said the thing, and at
least in Charlie Goldsmith's SUBSEAC article that he wrote about
(05:11):
the signing of Suarez, they said the thing that none
of us would have put money that they said. They
said that there is no move that they have to
make in order to financially explain this signing, because they
are going to spend the necessary dollars to bring in
Suarez without damaging the rest of the roster, because they
want to build a winner. And while I think some
(05:34):
of us might snicker at that a little bit because
they're like, well, now now you're going to do that,
at least they're finally doing that, and it looks as
if they're going to commit to twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
You know what, I think I like beyond that more
than anything, that we're not talking about them giving something up.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
For Luise Robert.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I was out on that from the beginning. And look
at he may he may work out in New York.
We'll see. He's got to stay healthy. That's only been
an issue in Chicago. But I remember having a conversation
with somebody four or five weeks ago where I'm like, look,
Luis Robert or are u Haaneo Suarez. I will take
d one dimensional Geno instead of the perhaps zero dimensional
Luise Robert, do you agree?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
In fact, the moment that the news was announced that
Suarez was a red are Lockdown White Sox host Todd
Welter texted me and he said, eu Haneo Suarez is
better than Luise Robert. So he even admits that, and
he was the guy that had to watch Luis Robert
for the part of his career that he was in
Chicago now, So I am with you one hundred percent,
and I think that the biggest it's between that could
(06:41):
say that Luis Roberts a five tool player, you cannot
say that he is able. You absolutely have no doubt
about that with heyu Haneo Suarez because he's got several
seasons in a row now of playing at least one
hundred and fifty five ball games.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You mentioned the left field battle.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Beyond that, what is your biggest question about this team
going into spring training?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Who is Matt McClain. Is Matt McClain twenty twenty three,
Is Matt McLain twenty twenty five or is he somewhere
in between? What's that gonna be because that's going to
raise the ceiling of this fall club even more so
than the addition of au Haano Suarez, Because as much
as we talked about the lineup needs protection for La
de la Cruz. The lineup also got absolutely zilch out
(07:23):
of the number two spot in this lineup. And while
noelfe Marte is probably gonna be your opening day number
two hitter, and he's got a shot to really take
control of that, I know what I saw from Matt
McLain in twenty twenty three, and I know it wasn't
what we saw from him in twenty twenty five. So
if he comes back with more of twenty twenty five's
(07:44):
version of Matt McClain, then I'm gonna have a lot
more questions about this scene moving forward than if the
Reds had had gone and gotten you know, au Haaneo
Suarez light instead of the man who we will see
named Gino and yelling Sicara and goodbyes. Only.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I like the fact that Tito acknowledged that Sal Stewart
is going to have to make the team first. But
I get excited over this possibility, and you know, it
might not be the most likely outcome, But if I
could jot down in black magic marker, if he plays
the entire season, thirty to thirty five home runs from
a Uhaneosuarez, which would be down from forty nine last year.
(08:23):
If I could somehow get thirty from Sal Stewart, which
the dude did hit five in less than a month
last year. Maybe that's a little bit pie in the sky,
but you could take a team that had such a
hard time getting any pop, that hasn't had a guy
hit thirty home runs in a season since Gino did it.
If I can in the course of one season have
(08:43):
an offense that just with those two guys, not to
mention what you might be able to get from a
healthy Elie de la Cruz, suddenly I've gone from a
team that had no power threat to one that now
might have an over abundance of power threats.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Jeff right, and I end.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Up that is just causing damage left and right. I
felt like the narrative and kind of like you said,
You're like, they're finally committing to power because the narrative
of well, they've got to Bill Rowley, they've got a
string hits together, which is explaining how a bad offense
these less bad or it is less bad. So I
really like to see that jump forward and south Stewart
(09:21):
to your point, I mean, I think there's a lot
of folks around the country who evaluate minor league talent
that would say, we're not that far off expecting the
numbers that we're expecting from him, because he was one
of the very few guys in all of minor league
baseball the last couple of years to average really high
quality of contact and really low strikeout rates to be
(09:42):
called up to the major leagues. I think that we'll
see a lot more from sal. I think he's going
to be on this opening day roster.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Like you said, they're not handing it to him, but
I think it's going to be clear that he earns it,
especially given the alternatives. I mean, are we really thinking
that Cees is going to take his seat back on
this bench?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I doubt that.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I think that south Stewart's going to win this thing,
clear and a far and away very quickly into spring trading.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Stringing hits together is inefficient. Three hits for one run
doesn't work. One hit for one run works, and so
I like home runs awesome stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
As always, Man, thanks so much
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Mo, thanks for having man go d
Jeff is with us Locked on Reds podcast and did
like an emergency episode after yesterday's news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
So I know you've been busy, man, It's good to
have you. What's going on? Man?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I am so excited Mo, because this was I didn't
expect this. I thought he was going to go back
to Seattle and we were going to have to squint
really hard at Miguel, Andrew Harvey and the DH of
this team. So this is much better than what I
hadn't envisioned yesterday morning.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
If I would have asked you, what how do you
grade the Reds off season?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
What would you have said?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
C minus because the bullpen's awesome, but they missed out
on the biggest thing they need.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Now, what's the grade the Reds off season?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Give him a B because I think that they addressed
their biggest need. They probably didn't do it with like
the best dude on the market, I mean best available
right now. Yes, but it's not as if they went
and they got KYLEE. Schwarber. Although there are some things
to say that the deal that they got for the
guy that they have might be even better than what
they would have had to get for Kyle Schwarber. So
I give him a solid B the because I still
(01:00):
think you look at the outfield and you're like, Okay,
there's a lot of hope out there. You got to
you gotta work with some things out there. But the
lineup is better than it was last year in my opinion.
The pitching staff is better than it was in last
year in my opinion. So I think that this team,
as currently constructed as a division contender.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Does this is this is my hope. My hope is
this ends the era of not leaning in the home runs.
Can I say that this signifies that they're going to
start leaning back in the home runs?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yes, because they signed the guy that that is all
he is supposed to do. Like, he's not coming here
to be the third baseman. He's not coming here to
be the first baseman. He's coming here to hit dingers.
And that is exactly his his role as currently constructed,
because he comes in with an isolated power for his career,
isolated power being slugging percentage of minus batting average, trying
(01:56):
to you know, set aside the extra base hit potential
for a guy his career number on that is two eighteen.
There was no regular player in the reds Alan up
last year over two hundred. The closest to that was
Will Benson, but do we call him a regular player
in this atlaneup? So he was at two h nine,
nobody else was above two hundred. They immediately upgraded their
(02:17):
extra base hit potential.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Some will point out, and perhaps accurately so that, yes,
Gino hits a bunch of home runs, he also strikes
out a lot, and that while you have added more power,
or at least power potential, you're also adding a lot
more played appearances that end with no contact being made
for a team that already has a lot of guys
who at times make no contact.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
What would you say to.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
That, That's exactly what they would have added. How they
signed Kyle Schwarber because both guys have the same wifth percentage.
Were're swinging this percentage from last season of thirty three percent,
and in fact, Kyle Schwarber actually struck out one more
time than Auhanio Swarez did.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
All right, is there is there another move out there
that with spring training looming here now in less than
a week, is there another move out there that fans
should jump on the bandwagon and say, you know what,
for the right price, which at this stage in the
game is what you would be paying. Adding this guy
would make sense.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
In any free agent market, They don't think so, not
without a trade to open up a spot, because it
seems as though the Reds are going to enter camp
for better or for worse with a position battle for
the platoon of left field between JJ Bleda and Will Binson.
If they could upgrade it, that would be good. But
there isn't necessarily a just surefire upgrade that is available
(03:39):
on the market for the Reds at this point, and
then you'll be talking about are they going to make
a trade. There's a lot of rumors that have been
shut down, like rumors early on in the offseason of
Catel Marte or Jared Duran that have since been shut
down by both the Diamondbacks and the Red Sox. So
I don't foresee any other move that really moves the
needle for them. Could be, you know, those non roster invites,
(04:02):
the spring training type deals, but nobody that were going
to be doing another emergency podcast.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
For Jeff Carr locked on Red's podcast Emergency Podcast. Go
watch or to listen to it. Did it last night?
I think here's what I like most about the offseason.
And I do wish the outfield was better, I will
admit that. But they have addressed their biggest issue. And
yet Hunter Green is still a red, Nico Lodolo is
still a Red, Andrew Abbotts still a red, Chase Burns
(04:29):
still a red, Reet Louder still a red. They did
what I think a lot of folks did not expect
them to do or didn't think they could do. They
have made the team better. And we could debate how
much better they're going to be, but they have made
the team better and they haven't cut into their biggest strength.
That is the biggest win of all.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Because that's what we heard at the beginning of the
off season. They were going to have to do right.
Like you heard it from Mark Sheldon, heard it from
multiple peoples like, well, if they're gonna upgrade the lineup,
they have to trade one of those starting pitchers. They
have to do there's no two bones about it. And
yet they didn't. And they said the thing, and at
least in Charlie Goldsmith's SUBSEAC article that he wrote about
(05:11):
the signing of Suarez, they said the thing that none
of us would have put money that they said. They
said that there is no move that they have to
make in order to financially explain this signing, because they
are going to spend the necessary dollars to bring in
Suarez without damaging the rest of the roster, because they
want to build a winner. And while I think some
(05:34):
of us might snicker at that a little bit because
they're like, well, now now you're going to do that,
at least they're finally doing that, and it looks as
if they're going to commit to twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
You know what, I think I like beyond that more
than anything, that we're not talking about them giving something up.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
For Luise Robert.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I was out on that from the beginning. And look
at he may he may work out in New York.
We'll see. He's got to stay healthy. That's only been
an issue in Chicago. But I remember having a conversation
with somebody four or five weeks ago where I'm like, look,
Luis Robert or are u Haaneo Suarez. I will take
d one dimensional Geno instead of the perhaps zero dimensional
Luise Robert, do you agree?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
In fact, the moment that the news was announced that
Suarez was a red are Lockdown White Sox host Todd
Welter texted me and he said, eu Haneo Suarez is
better than Luise Robert. So he even admits that, and
he was the guy that had to watch Luis Robert
for the part of his career that he was in
Chicago now, So I am with you one hundred percent,
and I think that the biggest it's between that could
(06:41):
say that Luis Roberts a five tool player, you cannot
say that he is able. You absolutely have no doubt
about that with heyu Haneo Suarez because he's got several
seasons in a row now of playing at least one
hundred and fifty five ball games.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You mentioned the left field battle.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Beyond that, what is your biggest question about this team
going into spring training?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Who is Matt McClain. Is Matt McClain twenty twenty three,
Is Matt McLain twenty twenty five or is he somewhere
in between? What's that gonna be because that's going to
raise the ceiling of this fall club even more so
than the addition of au Haano Suarez, Because as much
as we talked about the lineup needs protection for La
de la Cruz. The lineup also got absolutely zilch out
(07:23):
of the number two spot in this lineup. And while
noelfe Marte is probably gonna be your opening day number
two hitter, and he's got a shot to really take
control of that, I know what I saw from Matt
McLain in twenty twenty three, and I know it wasn't
what we saw from him in twenty twenty five. So
if he comes back with more of twenty twenty five's
(07:44):
version of Matt McClain, then I'm gonna have a lot
more questions about this scene moving forward than if the
Reds had had gone and gotten you know, au Haaneo
Suarez light instead of the man who we will see
named Gino and yelling Sicara and goodbyes. Only.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I like the fact that Tito acknowledged that Sal Stewart
is going to have to make the team first. But
I get excited over this possibility, and you know, it
might not be the most likely outcome, But if I
could jot down in black magic marker, if he plays
the entire season, thirty to thirty five home runs from
a Uhaneosuarez, which would be down from forty nine last year.
(08:23):
If I could somehow get thirty from Sal Stewart, which
the dude did hit five in less than a month
last year. Maybe that's a little bit pie in the sky,
but you could take a team that had such a
hard time getting any pop, that hasn't had a guy
hit thirty home runs in a season since Gino did it.
If I can in the course of one season have
(08:43):
an offense that just with those two guys, not to
mention what you might be able to get from a
healthy Elie de la Cruz, suddenly I've gone from a
team that had no power threat to one that now
might have an over abundance of power threats.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Jeff right, and I end.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Up that is just causing damage left and right. I
felt like the narrative and kind of like you said,
You're like, they're finally committing to power because the narrative
of well, they've got to Bill Rowley, they've got a
string hits together, which is explaining how a bad offense
these less bad or it is less bad. So I
really like to see that jump forward and south Stewart
(09:21):
to your point, I mean, I think there's a lot
of folks around the country who evaluate minor league talent
that would say, we're not that far off expecting the
numbers that we're expecting from him, because he was one
of the very few guys in all of minor league
baseball the last couple of years to average really high
quality of contact and really low strikeout rates to be
(09:42):
called up to the major leagues. I think that we'll
see a lot more from sal. I think he's going
to be on this opening day roster.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Like you said, they're not handing it to him, but
I think it's going to be clear that he earns it,
especially given the alternatives. I mean, are we really thinking
that Cees is going to take his seat back on
this bench?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I doubt that.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I think that south Stewart's going to win this thing,
clear and a far and away very quickly into spring trading.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Stringing hits together is inefficient. Three hits for one run
doesn't work. One hit for one run works, and so
I like home runs awesome stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
As always, Man, thanks so much
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Mo, thanks for having man go d
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