Sitting on the tarmac of Sacramento International Airport late Wednesday night for an extended period after losing the final game of a road trip didn’t make sense at first to those on the Mariners’ charter flight.
After a series like what transpired in West Sacramento, Calif. — dropping two of three games to the Athletics — the Mariners wanted to get home. Quickly.
Then the mood changed. And as Julio Rodríguez recalled: “Once he came on the plane, I feel like everybody threw a party.”
“He” would be Eugenio Suárez. The party Rodríguez referenced would be the atmosphere of the M’s team plane when Suárez boarded around 11:30 p.m. PT, along with his family, as an unexpected passenger on the team charter back home. Suárez and the Diamondbacks were already traveling to Sacramento for a weekend series against the A’s.
The M’s clubhouse was already provided a jolt of good vibes when they learned Suárez was set to return to Seattle following the loss to the A’s. It was only amplified when a little surprise was unveiled, and he walked on the plane.
“Obviously, it was a special moment to see all my teammates on the plane cheer for me,” Suárez said. “It’s something that I obviously feel really good (about) because I see everybody in the same place, so I got to say hello to everybody together.”
And that part is true. From players to coaches to staff to broadcasters, Suárez went through the plane and greeted everyone.
The hug he gave infield coach Perry Hill?
“I was so excited. I almost broke his back when I hugged him,” Suárez said, to which Hill confirmed.
The ovation Suárez received on the plane was a precursor. The ovation he received on Thursday night — when the Mariners returned to T-Mobile Park to open their series against Texas — was akin to a folk hero returning or a rock star taking center stage, rather than someone who spent only two seasons in a Mariners uniform before now.
Any mention of his name during pregame intros on Thursday night drew the loudest cheers. He turned a slick 5-4-3 double play to end the first inning, then received a rousing standing ovation when he led off the second inning at the plate. The reaction showed how much of an impact Suárez made on the fan base, not to mention those that previously played with him.
“I’m really happy for him. I’m really happy for the team to decide to do that move,” closer Andrés Muñoz said. “To be honest, I’m not anybody here to say if it’s the right move or not. But from our perspective, it was a really good move.”
Landing Suárez was the completion of several weeks of work by M’s president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander staying diligent in conversations with the Diamondbacks’ front office.
Initially, the M’s pushed a deal that included Josh Naylor and Suárez together. Eventually, the Diamondbacks chose to break up the moves into separate deals, which meant a higher cost in terms of talent loss, but not one that was overly significant.
“We had been talking to them for weeks. And when I say weeks, it’s probably closer to months about the concept of acquiring both Josh and Geno together,” Dipoto said. “They wisely broke the two apart, and I think they did better by doing that. We knew we were going to be the team that was ultimately likely to do better for them. They were Nos. 1 and 2 on our list, or 1 and 1A, and we were able to reel them both in.”
Suárez said a few weeks ago he hoped not to be traded from Arizona, but as the D-backs faded from playoff contention, the possibility increased of that happening. So being moved wasn’t a surprise.
The surprise came that it was back to Seattle, in part because the Mariners already made the move for Naylor. Suárez said when he left Comerica Park in Detroit on Wednesday afternoon, there was no indication a move was pending. Suárez flew separately from the D-backs because his family was traveling with him.
When he landed in Sacramento, his phone erupted with messages.
“I understand this being a business like that and to get traded here and see my teammates and see everybody, and see the fans ask for me in different places I went before (I) got traded. A lot of Mariners fans ask for me. It means a lot to be back and feel the love again, not only from my teammates, but from the fans,” Suárez said.
Naylor didn’t have a relationship with Suárez before this year when the pair became teammates after Naylor was traded from Cleveland to Arizona last offseason.
He called Suárez an “incredible teammate,” and someone everyone in the D-backs’ clubhouse would gravitate toward.
“This is my first year playing with him and he impacted me a lot,” Naylor said. “Just his love for baseball, for his teammates. Kind of high energy every single day, same person. He’s incredible.”
Suárez’s arrival did cost Ben Williamson his roster spot as he was the player optioned to Triple-A Tacoma, while the more versatile Miles Mastrobuoni was recalled to join the roster along with Suárez.
While he’s been one of the best defensive third basemen in the league this season, ultimately, Williamson needs to play consistently rather than sitting on the bench and perhaps getting a couple of at-bats and maybe one start per week.
“Geno’s your third baseman and that’s likely, barring injury, to be the case through what we hope is the end of the World Series,” Dipoto said. “He’s not a guy that generally takes too many days off. He’s not a guy that you replace. He’s not a guy you pinch-hit for. He’s going to hit in the middle of your lineup, and we didn’t want Ben to sit as a caddie and then watch somebody else play when he can probably go get a couple hundred plate appearances and play quite a bit, if we allow him to do that in Tacoma.”
