SEATTLE -- Eugenio Suárez's reunion with the Mariners on Thursday lived up to its “Good Vibes Only” billing, one that featured an epic surprise to catch the team charter past midnight, laughs and hugs to just about everyone in the organization and a roaring ovation when he took the field at T-Mobile Park for the first time in two years.
The feel-good moments were compounded by the two-year separation between the team and its clubhouse and fan favorite, leading Suárez to say, “It feels like I never left.”
Which led to a broader question of reflection -- one that was directly posed to the architect of Seattle’s roster: Why was he traded in the first place?
“You make decisions based on where you are,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said on Thursday, shortly after the 3 p.m. PT Trade Deadline passed. “If we could have called and asked for a re-do ... that would have been great. But that's not how it works.”
Suárez’s departure represented the most defining subtraction from Seattle’s roster overhaul in the 2023-24 offseason, sparked by major payroll reallocations due to what the club described at the time as unforeseen circumstances.
“What we didn’t know the day we traded Geno to Arizona was that we were later going to be able to make a deal with the Braves that kind of answered our needs,” Dipoto said, citing another cost-cutting trade that sent Jarred Kelenic, Marco Gonzales and Evan White to Atlanta 11 days later, which saved nearly $25 million in payroll.
“If we'd known that we had that deal in our back pocket, we might have done something different. The November [2023] deal that sent Geno to Arizona, I told him that day -- and I think he'll verify it being true -- one of my least favorite trades we ever did.”
Bringing Suárez back, however, not only expressed the front office’s commitment to boldly chasing a title in 2025 to the clubhouse and to the fanbase; it was also arguably the Deadline’s biggest domino.
“I believe that adding to this team, adding some energy to the room, and just showing the guys that we believe in what we're doing was important,” Dipoto said. “And I think the response has been great.”
Hitting 36 homers, earning his second All-Star selection and legitimately being in the National League MVP discussion, Suárez was the best bat that moved at the Deadline. A case could be made that the Mariners also netted the second-best in first baseman Josh Naylor, also from Arizona in a separate deal six days prior.
There’s a chance that Naylor, who possesses an elite contact and power combination and a high baseball IQ, winds up being the more productive of the two down the stretch.
“They were Nos. 1 and 2 on our list, or 1 and 1A, and we were able to reel them both in,” Dipoto said.
Added Cal Raleigh, who himself is in a two-man AL MVP race with Aaron Judge: “Two elite hitters. We played Naylor for many years when he was in Cleveland. He protected José Ramirez for a lot of years, and did it at an extremely high level. An elite guy -- elite driver-in of runs. ... And obviously, we know what Geno brings to the table.”
Add in left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson, acquired from the Pirates, and virtually all analysis across the sport declared the Mariners’ one of the Deadline’s biggest winners.
“This one, we went a little bigger,” Dipoto said, “and it was players who are free agents at year's end, which is a little unique for us. But we felt like this team deserved the opportunity to just go out and see if we can win the World Series.”
If they do that, Suárez’s return will truly achieve its full-circle potential.
He’s 34 years old and only here for this stretch run. But because he was an instrumental piece to the 2022 team that snapped a franchise-defining playoff drought, if the Mariners embark on another October, he’ll be viewed as both a core player to this overall era -- and potentially, a piece that puts them over the top in 2025.
“I think this is a sign,” Suárez said. “A sign that [after] we made it three years ago, they're hungry for more. They had a really good team this year. We had a really good team [in '22] that's even better now. And I think we're picking it up where we left off, and I think this is going to be a special year for the Seattle Mariners.”