The Seattle Mariners are finalizing a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks to land Eugenio Suárez, whose offensive renaissance made him one of the most coveted targets of this year’s trade deadline market, a source confirmed on Wednesday night to The Athletic.
Under the agreement, Suárez’s right-handed power bat returns to Seattle, where he hit 53 home runs for the Mariners across the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks, amid a selloff, would cash in a valuable trade chip. In the deal, Arizona is set to receive first baseman Tyler Locklear and pitching prospects Hunter Cranton and Juan Burgos.
The Boston Red Sox were also in the mix to acquire Suárez, with the intention of playing him at first base, sources told The Athletic.
Source confirms: Mariners in agreement to acquire 3B Eugenio Suárez from Diamondbacks for 1B Tyler Locklear, RHP Hunter Cranton and RHP Juan Burgos. Still details to be finalized. First with agreement, names: @JeffPassan, @DKramer_
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2025
Suárez, who turned 34 just a few days after he appeared in his second All-Star Game, is headed for free agency this winter once he completes the final season of the long-term extension he signed with the Cincinnati Reds in March 2018. How convenient, then, that he’s enjoying his best season since 2019, partly the product of mechanical adjustments that have produced strong results since the middle of last season.
In April, Suárez became the 19th player in major-league history with a four-homer game. He hasn’t stopped slugging since then. He entered play Wednesday with 36 homers.
Suárez is also among the sport’s leaders this season in RBIs, and he’s tracking to post his highest OPS since 2019 and the highest single-season WAR total of his career, third in the NL behind Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber.
He is a rental, though, so the Diamondbacks deemed him expendable at the deadline after the team failed to gain any traction in the NL West. He’s owed roughly $4.8 million for the remainder of the season.
While Seattle is giving up a solid prospect in Locklear, the Mariners didn’t touch their best group (Colt Emerson, Lazaro Montes, Jonny Farmelo, Ryan Sloan, Harry Ford, Jurrangelo Cijinte, Felnin Celesten, etc.) to make this deal.
Eugenio Suárez ranked No. 3 on Big Board
In a move that will please fans in the Pacific Northwest, Mariners’ president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto brought back Suárez to join a surging Seattle offense and add some much-needed thump to the infield.
Among the bats on The Athletic’s Big Board, Suárez had the best rest-of-season projected value by WAR. That production is mostly propped up by power — over the past calendar year, only Shohei Ohtani (60 homers) and Aaron Judge (58) have hit more than the third baseman’s 53 homers. There’s little reason to doubt that power, though. The underlying batted ball metrics were all best on the Board for Suárez as well.
He hasn’t been a great defender this year, but has been a positive at third base on Statcast’s Outs Above Average every other year they’ve tracked that number. Seattle may also have a defensive replacement in Ben Williamson if they choose to keep the youngster on the roster.
Locklear may hit enough to play first base in the major leagues, and one of the pitching prospects they gave up may help the Diamondbacks in the future.
For now, though, it’s “good vibes only” time again for the Mariners. — Eno Sarris
— The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard contributed to this report.
(Photo of Eugenio Suárez celebrating a homer earlier this month: Norm Hall / Getty Images)
