Blue Jays pass on the Eugenio Suárez opportunity as Reds' slugger clears waivers

For a few hours, Eugenio Suárez felt like the exact kind of late-August swing the Toronto Blue Jays had to at least consider.

It was never going to be a perfect fit, but the 35-year-old Suárez is only one year removed from a monster season. Sure, he strikes out a ton and has *only* hit 19 home runs this year, but the appeal was obvious. He is a proven right-handed slugger, still capable of changing a game with one swing and his 19 home runs are the same amount that George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero have hit combined in 2026. For a Blue Jays lineup that has spent far too much of the year searching for reliable power, that was enough to make the possibility interesting.

Now that possibility is gone. Suárez reportedly cleared waivers Thursday afternoon and will remain with the Cincinnati Reds, closing the door on any short-term Blue Jays speculation. Cincinnati had placed Suárez and TJ Friedl on outright waivers with the hope that another club would claim the remaining salary before the postseason eligibility deadline of Sept. 1, but both players went unclaimed and are expected to stay with the Reds.

That leaves the Blue Jays exactly where they were before Suárez briefly hit the waiver wire: still in need of more thump, still trying to stretch an imperfect lineup through a playoff race and still waiting for someone other than Kazuma Okamoto to consistently provide game-changing power.

Blue Jays playoff hopes could be dashed by their inability to hit the big home runs when they need it

Okamoto has given Toronto the kind of middle-of-the-order presence the lineup desperately needed, but one slugger cannot carry an entire offense by himself, especially when he's been known to dip into ice cold stretches. The Blue Jays need to impose some danger to opposing pitchers in more than one spot. They need pitchers to feel as though a mistake to the sixth or seventh hitter can leave the yard.

That is what made the Suárez idea so tempting, even with all the flaws attached. He might have been limited mostly to designated hitter or occasional corner-infield looks, and there would have been legitimate questions about how many strikeouts Toronto could tolerate in pursuit of a few more home runs. But in late August, teams chasing October do not always get perfect solutions. Sometimes they get imperfect power and have to decide whether the upside is worth the risk.

The Blue Jays no longer have that decision to make. If they are going to find another power source, it almost certainly has to come from within.

Sean Keys may be the most intriguing name in that conversation. He is not the same type of player as Suárez, and expecting him to step in and instantly provide veteran-level impact would be unfair. But the Blue Jays are at the point of the season where they might have to believe in the upside.

Suárez staying in Cincinnati does not kill the Blue Jays’ postseason hopes, but it does remove one of the more obvious boom-or-bust power swings they could have made before September. Now they will have to ask a group of players who have 24th ranked slug in the league to start doing something they have failed to do consistently through the first 134 games - start slugging.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow