Nothing would be easy in a potential Yankees' pursuit of Eugenio Suarez

New York Post

5 days ago

TORONTO — The Yankees' first hurdle to acquiring Eugenio Suárez will be the Diamondbacks actually deciding to sell.
Then comes the stiffer challenge: beating out other contenders who also happen to need a third baseman or power bat.
Because Suárez is not just the top third baseman who might be on the market, he is also likely the top bat that could be available.
But while the Yankees are pursuing the 34-year-old slugger, who entered Tuesday tied with Aaron Judge for second in the majors with 36 home runs, they are far from alone.
The Cubs, Mariners, Tigers and perhaps even Brewers could use help at the hot corner, and all of those teams came into the year with a farm system ranked higher than the Yankees, according to Baseball America and MLB.com.
Meanwhile, Suárez is only raising his price tag by the day — assuming the Diamondbacks actually sell, as they entered Tuesday sitting at 50-51 and 5 ¹/₂ games back of the final playoff spot in the National League.
Suárez had been doing his best to try to keep them from being sellers, crushing 18 home runs over his past 32 games while batting .325 with a 1.220 OPS.
'He's obviously having a great year,' Aaron Boone said. 'He's been a really good power hitter in the league for a long time. I'm sure he's going to be talked about by a lot of teams. Arizona seems like one of those teams that you don't know what they're doing either. They're kind of on the periphery of contention right now, but have obviously had some guys injured. So we'll see.'
Suárez has his warts, like his below-average fielding and high strikeout rate.
But his bat would be head and shoulders above what the Yankees have gotten from the position this season — aside from the time Jazz Chisholm Jr. spent there before moving back to second base — with a mix of Oswald Peraza, Jorbit Vivas, the since-DFA'd Pablo Reyes and injured Oswaldo Cabrera.
Eugenio Suárez will have many more suitors than just the Yankees if the Diamondbacks decide to be sellers before the MLB trade deadline.
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Entering Tuesday, the Yankees had received 0.1 bWAR from their third basemen this season, which ranked 16th in the majors.
Their 0.7 fWAR at the position was tied for 21st.
The Cubs had been even weaker by both versions of WAR — -0.3 in bWAR (21st) -0.4 in fWAR (29th).
Though third base might be the top need of those other contending teams, there is an argument to be made that the biggest Yankees need is arms — particularly in the bullpen, but also a starter.
The bullpen has been overworked, exposed and injured over the past few months, while the Yankees offense has scored the third-most runs per game despite the black hole at third base.
So how they allocate their resources in the farm system — with top prospect George Lombard Jr. likely untouchable and the red-hot Spencer Jones perhaps joining him — to get deals done before the July 31 trade deadline remains to be seen.
The Diamondbacks are believed to be targeting pitching in return if they deal Suárez.
The top Yankees pitching prospect, Cam Schlittler, made his second big league start on Tuesday, while most of their other top young arms are at High-A or Double-A.
Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon could be another option for the Yankees if they're unable to land Eugenio Suárez before the MLB trade deadline.
AP
If the Yankees are not able to match up with the Diamondbacks, their secondary options at third base include the Rockies' Ryan McMahon and the Pirates' Ke'Bryan Hayes.
Both are signed beyond this year (McMahon through 2027 and Hayes through 2029). Both are talented defenders (especially Hayes) but have below-average OPS (especially Hayes) this season.
'I think McMahon would flourish for them,' an NL scout said. 'He'll be playing more meaningful games. He's a Gold Glove defender at third base, really, really good. He would extremely stabilize the left side of their infield. I think with the short porch in New York, being a left-handed hitter, I think he could flourish there.'