Seiya Suzuki Prefers to Play RF, Understands Role as DH

There was a bit of a kerfuffle earlier in the offseason when Seiya Suzuki trade rumors intensified in the wake of his agent saying he didn’t care much for the DH role to which he’d been relegated last season. The acquisition of Kyle Tucker did nothing to quiet the speculation, but that has since died down as it’s become clear the Cubs don’t want to further degrade an offense that could still use a little help. During his panel at Cubs Convention, Craig Counsell quickly put to bed any concerns over internal strife regarding Suzuki’s role.

“So I think Seiya’s gonna DH a lot,” Counsell told the crowd. “That’s what’s gonna happen. And Kyle’s gonna play right field, Pete’s gonna play center, and Ian’s gonna play a lot of left field. We feel like we have another outfielder in Seiya if something happens to one of those guys, but we talked to Seiya this week about that and he understands that and he’s on board with that…

“He wants to play right field, but he understands that right now, this is kind of where the team sits.”

At the risk of denying everyone another of my overly long journeys through all the possible iterations here, I think we can just leave well enough alone. Suzuki hit better as a DH and his defense left a lot to be desired, so this is what’s best for both him and the team right now. Counsell acknowledged the obvious possibility for injuries to necessitate a change in plans, and it’s entirely possible Tucker is only around for one year.

Getting an even better offensive performance from Suzuki is really all that matters, and we’ve seen in the past how getting a little time to reflect has made him better. If that’s true of his defense, he should be a Gold Glover by 2026.