The Angels have had talks with the Nationals about third baseman Jeimer Candelario, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). The Halos just pulled off the biggest trade of deadline season thus far and continue to look for ways to upgrade the roster. It’s unclear whether a deal between the clubs is likely to come together.
Candelario, 29, spent several years as the Tigers’ primary third baseman before struggling through a career-worst season in 2022, when he hit just .217/.272/.361 in 124 games. Detroit non-tendered him rather than giving him a raise in what would’ve been his final year of arbitration eligibility, and the Nationals scooped him up on a one-year, $5MM deal in free agency. The gambit could scarcely have worked out better for the Nats.
In 94 games and 398 plate appearances, Candelario has rebounded with a .257/.338/.486 batting line, swatting 16 homers in addition to 29 doubles and a pair of triples. He’s already swiped five bases, a career-high, and should surpass his career-best mark of 19 home runs before long. The switch-hitting Candelario has never been known for his glovework, but he’s posted positive marks at third base in the estimation of Defensive Runs Saved (1), Ultimate Zone Rating (2.0) and especially Statcast’s Outs Above Average (6) so far in 2023.
The Halos certainly didn’t foresee themselves in position to be poking around the third base market at any trade deadlines in the near future three years ago, when they signed Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245MM contract. At the time, they hoped to be adding a perennial MVP candidate into a lineup that already featured MVP-caliber talents Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Rendon garnered MVP votes each season from 2017-19, including a third-place finish in his final season with the Nats before he became a free agent.
Although he was excellent for the Halos in the shortened 2020 season, things haven’t gone well since. Rendon has played in just 148 games since Opening Day 2021, hitting .235/.338/.364 while battling myriad injuries along the way. He’s currently on the shelf with a shin injury. The Angels have already acquired third base options Mike Moustakas and Eduardo Escobar in earlier summer trades, to say nothing of their signing of Brandon Drury as a free agent this past offseason. They’re not necessarily lacking in options at the hot corner, but Candelario would nonetheless provide an affordable, high-quality bat to slot into the lineup. If Rendon were to come back from the injured list and reclaim the third base job, Candelario could certainly fit into the mix at first base; he’s logged 518 career innings at the position.
The Angels sudden, blockbuster acquisition of Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez from the White Sox has already pushed them north of the luxury tax line, so the remaining $1.8MM that Candelario would add to their luxury ledger isn’t likely to be a major deterrent. They’ve already taken Ohtani off the trade market, and the Giolito/Lopez trade — for their two top prospects — only underscores the notion that owner Arte Moreno and GM Perry Minasian are going for broke in Ohtani’s final year of club control. Whether or not a deal involving Candelario comes together, it seems quite likely that the Angels will be in the market for further upgrades in the lineup. At this point, there’s no sense in holding anything back. They’ve committed to pushing in for a 2023 postseason bid, and there’s no turning back.
Damn Minassian is all in
Don’t need another. 3B.
Another?
Rendon never plays.
Moose isn’t good with the glove at third. Moving him to first and getting a legit third baseman would really help the infield.
If they get Jeimer, that likely moves Moose full time to 1st base. Which may or may not spell the end of the road for either Rengifo or Escobar. This team desperately needs to improve their infield defense to help out their pitchers. This is one such way
It is nice to see a team go for it when they can.
D will likely be in the prospect package heading back to the Nats
Drury no way goes back only if gets rerouted to another team.
This offense this year has gone as Drury has gone. He’s going nowhere!! Rengifo should be the odd man out.
Go Perry go
Sending Rendon back
Honestly it would make sense at this point if the Angels ate a good chunk of his contract. He could even have a Josh Hamilton-esque resurgence by leaving the Angels to return to a former team where he was a yearly MVP candidate (although Rendon never won one).
Angels throw in 2-3 prospects and the Nats throw in Kyle Finnegan and I think that deal could make sense. Just spit-balling though.
Yeah but he has a full no trade clause and I doubt he’s waving it to go back to a sub .500 team deep in a rebuild in a smaller market across the country even if he played there and loved it.
DC is like the 6th biggest market in the US. Rendon had no issue playing there before. I think it’s more likely the Nats have no interest in taking on his contract given his recent performance, injury history, and they know better than anyone that he doesn’t really want to play much longer.
If he were to go back which I think there’s next to 0 chance of, he’d not have the lineup protection he once enjoyed there or a year with a juiced ball. Hitting in a lineup with Harper, Soto, and Turner he had a ton of protection in lineup.
In what world does it make sense for the nationals to trade Rendon? Let’s forget that he has a no trade clause. Which is a slight hang up to the deal that would end the trade right from the beginning because Rendon isn’t waiving the no trade.
Rendon was the model of consistency in DC, and a good case could still be made that he was the NL MVP in 2019. His absolute faltering meltdown in Cali is baffling and disturbing, including that weird run-in with a fan. What up, Ant?? He was never injured in DC, either — now he’s injury-prone? Why do teams enter into fat, longterm contracts with anyone? The Phils signed another DC hero, Trea Turner, to a $300M deal — and he’s having the worst season of his career, including the dropsies at shortstop. Anyway, I think the Nats should keep Candelario and Finnegan — unless they get REALLY good return. At 43-60, the Nats are actually overperforming, and have become a pretty interesting team to watch — with nonstars, retreads and young talent leading the way.
@Goose, Candelario will b a free agent if offseason.
It wouldn’t make sense at all. Unless the prospects you’re talking are really really good prospects. Why would the rebuilding Nats trade a very solid bat and a solid bullpen arm on cheap contracts for a terrible, older, oft-injured bat on a BIG contract?
I’ll start a go fund me and I’m sure we can get him a first class ticket in no time. Probably a charter.
Link please!
Cubs are getting Drury in a three team trade or after the fact.
Why going to be Sellers but maybe Marlins or Giants.
I think the Cubs trade Stroman, keep Bellinger and are in on Candelario.
This just in: Angels trade for everyone.
..and still miss playoffs
Moreno and Minasian are going for broke, and broke they’ll be.
I still don’t get what they think is going to happen. Even with these moves I don’t see them being good enough to have a winning record with how tough their schedule is after the deadline. They’re basically playing all playoff teams outside the Mets and the A’s. Also in the process they’re depleting any talent they had in their already weak farm system. I think they’re probably going to finish a few games under .500 and loose Ohtani and all these rentals and be screwed for the next 5 years.
Are the Angels really much further out of the hunt than the Phillies were the night before they canned Joe Girardi?
There’s no guarantee the Angels will make the playoffs this year with these moves. But they’re highly unlikely to have made the postseason had they traded Ohtani.
And to all the trade-and-rebuild advocates, which prospect packages traded for superstars over the last 8-10 years would you accept for Ohtani, and how many of those packages have made playoff contenders out of the rebuilding teams involved in fewer than 3-5 years?
Honestly I think the better comparison for Ohtani is the Betts Deal. The Red Sox return wasn’t perfect but it was better than keeping a player they’re not going to resign and they got a decent return with Verdugo and Wong and cleared a bad contract. I don’t think the Phillies are a great comparison because the Phillies have lots of star level players in their primes under long term contracts, it wasn’t like they were going all in for one year and if it didn’t work they were going to loose their best player.
Girardi was fired in June though. Phils went on an immediate 13-0 run after his firing. I still love the Angels going for it, I just don’t think this comparison works.
How about the 2021 Braves being under .500 going into the trade deadline with Freddie Freeman in a walk year foregoing the shot at multiple prospects and retooling their way to a 40-20 record and a World Series championship?
My point is not that the Angels are exact matches with either example but have a truly phenomenal player in Ohtani and the potential to break into the postseason by keeping him.
100% agree with the main point. I’m all for it too.
I just think there schedule is too brutal for how many holes this roster has. They have to play 13 series against playoff teams the rest of the year and outside of the A’s the other teams they play are comparable. That is legit one of the hardest second half schedules in the whole league.
That’s fair but they’re about to basically acquire Trout and O’Hoppe at the deadline too. They won’t miss the 2 prospects except as trades for other players.
Look. The team is screwed for eternity until Moreno is out (probably). Their farm system was ravaged during the previous regime, so it was always going to take a little while to get it going, with or without Ohtani (though they’ve already started to see some of its rewards this season).
The AL is severely weakened this year. There’s an opening for the 3rd wild card and the 3rd wild card faces whatever team comes out of the cesspool that is the AL Central. They’ve already won the season series against the Yankees and the Red Sox, which is an advantage for the Halos in case of a tiebreaker. If they take sweep Toronto, that’s another tiebreaker win. If they take 2 of 3, it gets a little complicated but still very possible.
And lastly, if this were any other season, they’d already be 10 games under .500, 20 games out, and packing it up for next spring. But it’s not. They have better depth this year, and as a result, are still hanging around. Get Drury and Trout back? Watch out! Will it work? None of us know, but it’s certainly a much better spot than they’ve been in the last decade. So why not go for it when you literally have nothing left to lose?
Only a handful of games back. Got some bats coming back before season is over. Will get any needs in the next week. Just added a difference making starter and reliever. Whatever they done so far doesn’t really matter. This won’t be the same team for the next 2 months.
Adell probably gets thrown into one of these trades. Is this the one?
The Nationals have a ton of young outfielders coming up, so I like the idea of gambling on his talent but I doubt they’d make him a priority.
They’re still in talent acquisition mode so I guess if you like him enough you figure out the rest later, but I doubt he gets moved there unless they trade Lane Thomas. I agree that Adell is probably getting moved though.
Perhaps but he’s injured so the off-season could be more like it. Or he’s the 4th OF next year and injury insurance. I think he’s out of options after this season.
I see J Walsh heading out or outrighted to save salary tax.
Get a SS! And get rid of Rengifo!
There’s a common theme of ex-all-star or “coming off a down year”. With all these moves I’m not sure this proves anything to Ohtani about the future. you can’t guarantee trout and Rendon won’t get injured again next year or the next. So it’s always gonna be just like this year with one year deal guys, minor league callups, trades for replacement level players, expiring contract guys, fast tracking last year’s 1st rounder. And defense is an after thought.
Unless Moreno bumps up the payroll. And really, that seems like a necessity to keep Ohtani when he goes from 13% to 21% or more of the payroll next year. And it’s likely Moreno already made his decision on Ohtani.
Why does everyone hate on rengifo lol dudes hitting well
his throwing error started the tigers’ comeback. we almost lost a game. and that was from 2b.
He makes mental mistakes every game, only hits when they have a big lead. Rather have fletcher as the utility even if he’s not hitting. The bullpen might be better without rengifo extending the inning because of a gaffe.
me too.
He doesn’t play defense at a MLB professional level. Despite his offensive potential his glove has cost the team a few games this years and the game a couple of nights ago was an example of how his poor glove work out ways his offensive output. He is a liability on the field essentially.
NO NO NO, GO GRAB JUSTIN TURNER!!
Why would the better team with the best record and best offense in baseball over the last month (who just swept the Braves and are 11-1 against Yankees and Jays), trade the thriving right-handed hitter who has the most RBI in baseball since June 1st — to the ANGELS!?
Red Sox are not trading JT
I just don’t see how this ends well for the Angels. I commend them for going for it, but I just don’t see it. Talk about a hail Mary. Their farm isn’t that good and they just traded some of their top prospects. Now Ohtani is likely to leave and you already have a payroll next year. Looks bleak if you ask me, but I’d love to see them do well. I want to see Trout and Ohtani in the postseason!
I don’t think Ohtani is as likely to leave as people think. If anything this move convinces him that the Angels are trying to win now.
He’s not dumb, I don’t think showing that it requires mortgaging the farm to have an outside shot at a playoff spot is really all that convincing. They might be trying to win now, but are they actually capable of doing it?
He doesn’t care about the farm. Those guys will be playing past his prime. He wants to win now.
ya despite being able to go to a better team, if it Aung broke don’t fix it.
We’ve seen plenty of guys struggle after a change of scenery .
if they’re willing to pay him, why not?
Have you seen Aaron. Rodgers’ hail-marys? they do work?
They can spend 300 million a year. Don’t need much of a farm. You just need 1 bad year and a fire sale will give you a farm system.
Mets are a great case study, if they actually go through with the fire sale after their poor first half.
Rendon for Taillon. Rendon is owed $38.5M per year for the next three years and Taillon is owed $18M per year for the next three years. The Angels would give the Cubs roughly half of the difference ($10M in cash per year.) Angels could include a AAAA starter or a low level lottery ticket pitcher as a sweetener. The Angels could then use the cost savings to possibly re-sign Ohtani.
Angels would have to include the 2 prospects they just shipped out. Taillon should come back to form. Good enough as a back end starter right now.
Why would the Cubs trade Taillon for a guy who is perennially hurt and will cost double of what Taillon costs per year?……the Angels don’t have the resources too “sweeten” anything as they already shipped out the best assets they have….the farm ain’t got nobody else worth a bag of balls…..
I’m hoping the brewers get Candelario
I think the Angels are fooling themselves giving up top prospects and keeping Ohtani and most likely missing the playoffs
Yeah it’s July they should just give up lol
They’d likely never use those prospects unless for another trade. Might as well go for it now.
Ohtani wants to play for a playoff team and the Angels need outside help with injuries to key position players. A rental player will only return so much so it makes sense to buy and give themselves a shot at resigning him.
The farm system is weak no matter what happens.
If they make the playoffs and bounced early…..does this change Ohtani’s mind about “winning”…….personally, I feel he will stay as life in the OC is just too good to pass up when you make the $$$millions professional sports has to offer athletes………..but time will tell.
Rendon = players get hurt when they quit working at staying in shape. That was Moose too until this year. On the Reds he was out of shape and constantly injured; day to day dings ended being weeks/months on the IL.
Jeimer Candelario to the cubs for a couple mid-level prospects would be nice for the cubs.
The Angels can have DJLM from the Yankees or Torres
We need bull pen arms.
Honestly I hope this works out and they make it to the ALCS and Shohei extends with them.
Lol, and the Angels still won’t make the playoffs!
These Angel moves remind me of the desperation moves that the A’s made two years ago when they shipped Luzardo to the Marlins for a half year of Starling Marte.
The Angels need to somehow acquire Joc Pederson who is a big game player.
Look at the Anaheim baseball team’s schedule for the rest of the season- they have no chance,
The Red Sox probably aren’t in it (unless they catch fire), so I’m hopping on the Angels Bandwagon (unless they see the Sox in the playoffs). Everyone looking like Stan Marsh sitting in front of a computer shooting white goo everywhere for “Prospects” that never do anything, I applaud the Angels for going for it. Prospects are bulls*** until they come up and do something, by which point they’re no longer “Prospects.” Y’all all talk about “In 3 to 5 years” and the Angles have been saying “In 3 to 5 years” since 2005. The best time to try to win has been, and will always be, right now.
I loved the Candyman in Detroit. Yes he had a bad year last year but EVERYONE did. He’s a doubles machine.
Think the nats waited too long to trade this cat. He’s been tanking and I think his value is a little less than it otherwise could have been. Trade him a few weeks ago, think most go after him quick. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if teams ultimately don’t go get him unless the price is a lot less
Are the Halos going for a world record of how many third basemen-capable guys they can fit on one roster?
At least the Angels can make a QO for Ohtani, so they get a draft pick if he signs somewhere else this winter.