The New York Yankees and their fans would love nothing more than to bring Eugenio Suarez in at the MLB Trade Deadline. With DJ LeMahieu off the roster and Jazz Chisholm Jr. back at second base, the Diamondbacks slugger would be the ideal power bat that the Yankees need in the lineup. However, New York and Brian Cashman were already facing one problem, namely the demand for Suarez and their lack of prospect talent in comparison to other buyers. But now they have an even bigger issue that will be even more difficult to overcome: the Detroit Tigers.
Suarez, of course, is a rental at the trade deadline as a pending free agent. However, competition can raise the price more than anything, and it seems that the Yankees are among many teams that view the D’Backs power hitter with 31 homers at the All-Star break as one of the best available bats overall, especially at a corner infield spot. The Tigers, however, could be one of those teams to finally solidify third base after this offseason’s failed pursuit of Alex Bregman.
The worse news for the Yankees, though, is that not only would Detroit be interested in Suarez, the player is also interested in playing for the Tigers. Suarez spoke with Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press on Friday and, quite bluntly, made it clear that he would like to return to the team that initially signed him out of Venezuela and that he made his MLB debut with in 2014, the Tigers.
“To finish where everything started, it would be cool,” Suárez said. “It would mean a lot to me.”
Tigers threaten to derail Yankees’ trade pursuit of Eugenio Suarez
Of course, this is the trade deadline and, without a no-trade clause (which Suarez doesn’t have), the player only has but so much say in where he will get traded. However, the fact that the Tigers are Suarez’s preferred destination isn’t the only factor in this for Arizona in trading away the third baseman, especially in comparison to the Yankees.
Not only could the Diamondbacks do right by the player, but they would be better off for it. The Tigers have a Top 10 farm system in baseball by just about any ranking, and a Top 5 system in some. The Yankees, on the other hand, are trading from one of the worst collections of minor league talent and prospects in baseball. That, of course, hasn’t deterred New York before, but it might hold them back in a pursuit such as this.
In that same light, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported this week that the Diamondbacks are looking for young, controllable starting pitching in return for their trade assets. That makes complete sense given that both Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, who could also be traded, are free agents after this season. But when it comes to that department, the Tigers have the Yankees beat yet again, particularly when you consider the situation.
Detroit simply has more MLB-ready pitching in the system than New York does. In fact, the Yankees don’t have a single pitcher ranked among their Top 15 prospects who is above Double-A right now — and again, that’s in one of the league’s weakest systems — other than Cam Schlittler. But Schlittler might actually not be a viable option in this conversation after recently making his MLB debut simply because New York might need him to continue their playoff push this season.
All told, the Yankees trading for Eugenio Suarez is simply starting to look more and more like a pipe dream. To some, it was already hard to believe that New York could compete with better farm systems, even if they were willing to get aggressive. Now, knowing that this match with the Tigers is there, it’s starting to look like an impossible hurdle for Cashman to clear at the deadline.
