SEATTLE – The Mariners will have a new third baseman to open the 2026 season.
Seattle fan favorite Eugenio Suárez, who authored one of the greatest swings in Mariners history last October, has agreed to a one-year, $15-million deal with the Cincinnati Reds, according to multiple reports.
The Mariners had already been planning to hand over the third-base job to one of their young players. Ben Williamson is penciled in as the starter going into spring training, and 20-year-old top prospect Colt Emerson will be given every opportunity to win a regular role – and Suárez’s departure cements those plans.
The first handful of pitchers and catchers will report to spring training in just seven days, and the Mariners are still on the lookout for one more proven hitter to bolster their 2026 lineup.
And while they had been in periodic talks with Suárez’s representatives this winter, another reunion with the 34-year-old slugger was never the Mariners’ top priority.
“We love Geno. We really do … (but) I do think that it’s an unlikely fit for this team moving forward,” Mariners GM Justin Hollander said Sunday afternoon during the Mariners’ FanFest event at T-Mobile Park, just before news of Suárez’s agreement with the Reds became public.
Suárez hit 49 homers between the Diamondbacks and Mariners in 2025, and then three more in the postseason. His eighth-inning grand slam in Game 5 of the ALCS will go down as one of the biggest home runs in Mariners history, and there’s no denying his influence as a clubhouse leader.
The Mariners front office, though, has maintained its desire to clear space for the likes of Williamson, Emerson and Cole Young to earn roster spots at second and third base this spring.
“That’s probably the highest upside version of the Mariners in the short and long term, is developing homegrown, star-level players and then ideally signing them and keeping them for a long time,” Hollander said. “But that doesn’t mean you want to forsake what you think are clear upgrades. I don’t want to get older for the sake of getting older.
“If we can get better, I think we’re open-minded.”
As a rookie last season, Williamson posted a 1.3 bWAR in 85 games, and the Mariners see him as a Gold Glove-caliber defender at third. He was sent back down to Triple-A Tacoma after the Mariners reacquired Suárez at the July trade deadline. The lingering question surrounding Williamson is whether he can hit – and hit with power – enough at the major-league level to stick as a regular in the lineup.
“We know what Ben can do on one side of the ball, and that’s elite,” Hollander said. “It’s so good that it brings a floor to his overall contribution that if we can marry that with some of the things we saw in the second half with the adjustments he made (with his swing) in Triple-A – that’s a really good player.”
Emerson is a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport and perhaps the most hyped shortstop prospect the Mariners have had since Álex Rodríguez more than 30 years ago.
“He’s a special player with special tools – and special makeup, too,” Hollander said. “And I have found that if you try and artificially decide when those players are ready or not ready, you do a disservice to those guys.”
It’s “certainly” possible, Hollander said, that Mariners could make a move to add a hitter this week, before the start of spring training.
The Mariners have been widely linked to St. Louis super utility player Brendan Donovan, an All-Star in 2025. Donovan can play second, third or left field, and the Mariners are known to have had trade talks with the Cardinals about him in each of the past two offseasons.
Donovan still appears to be the most likely target for the Mariners, and there is industry-wide belief that the Cardinals are motivated to move him.
Two other infielders the Mariners have coveted in the past – the Mets’ Brett Baty and the Cubs’ Nico Hoerner – are outside trade possibility, though neither the Mets nor the Cubs appear eager to trade them.