Eugenio Suárez decision makes feel-good Mariners reunion feel even more bittersweet

Today is a good day to think back to July 31, 2025, when the Seattle Mariners went all-in on "Good Vibes Only" for the rest of their season.

That was the day they closed a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks to bring Eugenio Suárez back to the Pacific Northwest. The trade felt like a lot of things all at once, but particularly like a righting of a wrong and the proper start of something truly special. The salary dump that landed "Geno" in Arizona in the first place was a thing of the past, and his bat figured to propel the Mariners from a strong 58-52 start to an even stronger finish.

The book on this chapter of Mariners history officially closed on Sunday. They paid lip service to the idea of re-signing Suárez as a free agent here and there, but that ship sailed when he went back to the Cincinnati Reds on a one-year, $15 million contract.

It's a sad ending for Geno's second stint in Seattle… but also, kind of not?

Eugenio Suárez's return to Reds ends a disappointing second act with the Mariners

If the question is whether the Mariners' trade for Suárez was worth it, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

It's not like they paid a huge price to get him from the D-backs, who have already been hit hard by injury news concerning their centerpiece in the deal, Tyler Locklear. And if nothing else, Mariners fandom will always have Geno's grand slam in Game 5 of the ALCS.

The sheer emotion of that moment was like nothing Mariners fans had ever experienced before. It was a long-awaited sigh of relief after losses in Games 3 and 4 and a hard battle to begin Game 5. And as soon as the last out gave Seattle a 3-2 lead over Toronto in the series, the realization hit like a bomb: the Mariners needed one more win to finally go to the World Series.

And yet, you can also look back and do a Larry David in thinking about the legacy of the Suárez trade.

We don't need to relive the specifics, but Geno's grand slam was obviously not the World Series stepping stone that it felt like in the moment. And in context, the two homers he hit in Game 5 are a tropical island amid a sea of mediocrity at the plate in a Mariners uniform:

• As a Diamondback: .897 OPS, 36 HR
• As a Mariner: .685 OPS, 16 HR

Coupled with the reality that Suárez is now 34 years old, what the Mariners got in 2025 was an up-close look at the exact reasons not to re-sign him during the winter. And in the end, they weren't even a major player in the bidding.

Don't be surprised if letting Geno go ends up looking like a self-own by the Mariners. They're risking calamity by trusting third base to either the light-hitting Ben Williamson or the untested Colt Emerson. And given Great American Ball Park's bandbox tendencies, it seems fair to pencil in Suárez for what would be his third season of 40-plus homers.

Right now, though, it hardly feels like an outrage that Suárez is a Red again in lieu of a Mariner again. He gave the Mariners every reason to say "Thanks, and good luck," and that is what they did.

Thankfully, the video of that grand slam will live forever. And even knowing what came next, it's still a heck of a watch.