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Based on reports from Sunday night, Eugenio Suarez is coming back to the Queen City to do more than renew acquaintances with former teammates and hit up Graeter’s for some black raspberry chip.

He’s expected to actually be a major part of a lineup sorely in need of more power and, let’s face it, good vibes.

This is a franchise that needs the latter as much as the former after failing to bring home Kyle Schwarber (I was all set to write something on that if he signed, but alas he did not…), but hopefully they killed two birds with one stone.

Suarez is 34, but he hit 49 home runs last season, and we know that swing plays at Great American Ball Park.

Is Suarez going to be the final piece to the puzzle for division winner?

Well, that might be going too far, but it’s within the realm of possibility he unlocks a lot of run scoring by providing protection for Elly De La Cruz.

He’ll also be arguably their first real designated hitter since the National League unfortunately adopted that terrible rule.

The 2025 Reds made the playoffs with a terrible offense last year, so a little bit of help could go a long way.

As I said on a Reds podcast recently (check that out below), I am going to be optimistic going into this season anyway because the season is too long to start off negative.

But also they not only have the potential for a great rotation but the lineup is at least pretty much filled with guys who are proven everyday players or still prospects. That is one of my baselines as far as what my expectations should be. At least there is reason to hope they could have respectable (or better!) at all nine regular spots in the line up now.

They also appear to have done a good job fortifying the bullpen, which has been an issue at times in recent seasons that seemed to be dead on arrival.

Beyond that, maybe reacquiring Suarez will restore some balance to The Force as he was sent out in a bad trade that kicked off an unpleasant part of the last team teardown that I didn’t find necessary at the time.

Let’s do this!

Say this for Ryan Day: He seems intent on moving forward always.

Last week, he brought in an offensive coordinator not only from the outside but the NFL, defying expectations he might just promote from within.

This weekend, we had reports he’s also adding a full-time special teams coach from a Big Ten rival (The battle for the Illibuck will be even more intense this fall, guaranteed!).

I believe CBS Sports was the first to report Illinois assistant Robby Discher is going to handling Ohio State’s special teams, which have been in need of an overhaul for a while.

It can be hard to quantify with numbers, but there’s just been a negative feel for the kicking games and the return teams over the last few years, and the explanation has been Day doesn’t take them seriously when it comes to team building.

Well, this at least looks like taking it seriously, so we’ll see what sort of results follow.

Also the Buckeyes missed field goals at crucial times in both losses this season and the ’24 Michigan game. They did get a kickoff return for a touchdown this season and a punt return TD in ’24 (plus a blocked punt) against Indiana, but those moments are few and far between.

Advanced stats tell us Ohio State was not good on special teams last season: The Buckeyes ranked 63rd in F+ rankings for special teams in 2025. Don’t ask me how they determined that, but’s much lower than anyone else in the overall top 10 (Indiana was fourth).

If college football is going to become more parity-driven, this is another place it is important to strengthen on the margins to avoid losing hidden yardage (not to mention points).

Actually making special teams a weapon with an elite kicker and return units would be even better, but I guess they have to crawl before they can walk.

I was at the Schottenstein Center when the Suarez news broke Sunday night.

That’s where the 11th-ranked Ohio State women’s basketball team improved to 20-3 with a 19-point win over a solid Nebraska team that received votes in the most recent Associated Press poll.

More than 7,000 fans were on hand to watch Kevin McGuff’s team nearly blow a 20-point lead before wining comfortably 90-71.

The Buckeyes shot the ball well, held Nebraska to 40% shooting, forced 21 turnovers and scored 33 points off them.

They even won the rebounding battles (by one) despite having to play their third game in a row without power forward Kylee Kitts, who is still out with a shoulder injury.

All five starters scored in double figures, led by sophomore star Jaloni Cambridge’s 30 while her older sister, Kennedy, had 12 points and seven steals.

That’s pretty much their formula for winning every night, but McGuff also got to harp on what he didn’t like in the second half when the Huskers made a game of it.

“I think that we’ve gotten significantly better from the start of the season to right now, but I think the biggest thing right now and this is another game that’s a good example is that we’ve still got to get closer to 40 minutes of playing the way we want,” McGuff said. “We played really well and then we had a terrible stretch there where they came back, and we’ve got to get rid of those stretches and be a more consistent team throughout 40 minutes if we’re going to be who we’re capable of being.”

Next up is a trip to the West Coast to face Washington and Oregon. The Huskies and Ducks both have 17 wins and are in the middle of the bloated Big Ten standings, so those figure to be good tests for McGuff’s team even without the travel aspect.