The Reds announced that infielder Jeimer Candelario has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and designated for assignment. He had been on a rehab assignment but the club has decided against adding him back to their active roster. The move drops their 40-man roster count from 39 to 38.
The Reds signed Candelario to a three-year, $45MM deal heading into last year and that pact will now go down as a big bust. He did hit 20 home runs last year but with a low batting average and on-base percentage. His .225/.279/.429 line translated to a wRC+ of 87, with poor defensive grades to boot. Here in 2025, it’s been even worse. Thanks to poor health, he has only played 22 games with a dismal .113/.198/.213 line. FanGraphs has credited him as being one win worse than replacement level since signing with the Reds.
Today’s transaction very likely ends his time with the organization. The Reds could take five days to explore trade talks but won’t find much interest. As mentioned, his performance has been rough this year. Even on his recent rehab assignment, he hit just .211/.318/.333 in his 15 Triple-A games, production that translates to a wRC+ of 80. He is making $15MM this year and will be owed $12MM next year, plus a $3MM buyout on a 2027 club option.
Candelario has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while keeping all that money coming to him. It’s possible the Reds will skip that formality and release him. Either way, he’s likely to be a free agent in a few days. At that point, any club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum salary, which would be subtracted from what the Reds pay.
At that price point, some clubs may be interested in taking a flier. Candelario was a solid player before joining the Reds, which is why they gave him that hefty deal in the first place. With the Tigers over 2020 and 2021, he slashed .278/.356/.458 for a wRC+ of 124. His production dipped in 2022, as he hit .217/.272/.361 for a wRC+ of 80 and got non-tendered. He signed with the Nationals for 2023 and bounced back, getting flipped to the Cubs at that year’s deadline. He finished that campaign with a .251/.336/.471 line and 118 wRC+.
Whether he can bounce back to something resembling that kind of production is anyone’s guess. The most charitable explanation for his recent struggles is that he hasn’t been healthy. On June 21st of last year, it was reported that Candelario had been battling knee tendinitis. He had a .255/.310/.506 batting line and 118 wRC+ on that date, very much in line with his previous good seasons. He had already hit 14 of the 20 home runs he would finish the season with.
After the news of that knee issue, he hit .182/.233/.318 the rest of the year. He finished the campaign on the IL due to a toe fracture. As mentioned, his performance has been bad here in 2025 as well, but he landed on the IL due to a lumbar spine strain after just 22 games. He hasn’t been hitting much on his recent rehab but that could be a bit of rust after his injury layoff.
The Reds clearly ran out of patience with waiting for a bounceback. He was coming to the end of his 20-day rehab window and they opted to give up on him, as opposed to adding him back on the roster and hoping for the best. That’s a little bit of a curious decision. Their corner infield playing time is currently being shared by Gavin Lux, Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Santiago Espinal. Lux is providing league-average offense but none of the other three has a wRC+ of 72.
Cincinnati could have reinstated Candelario and optioned Steer or Encarnacion-Strand to the minor for regular at-bats. CES, in particular, is hitting just .202/.229/.384 for a 58 wRC+ this year. But the club has decided that they want to move on from Candelario and stick with those other guys. They will be eating a little under $23MM in the process.
There are other clubs out there who might be more willing to take a chance on Candelario and hope for that bounceback. Teams with holes at the infield corners don’t have many options for addressing those deficiencies right now, with the trade deadline still over a month away. Those clubs could try out Candelario for a few weeks at no real cost, then move on and acquire someone else at the deadline if it’s not working out.
Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images
I can’t believe people were raving about this guy… he’s only been good, like, what, one season?
I hate when this happens to a small market team. They need these contracts to hit. Better decision making is needed.
It was a head-scratcher at the time anyways because they had an abundance of position players and desperately needed pitching.
Pitching is much more expensive & difficult to get. (Especially in a bandbox)
Pretty much everyone on here was asking themselves why the low budget Reds would sign a garbage man for $45M over three years when they were neck deep in controllable young talent.
Please read in President Trump’s voice in honor of Chadwick Tromp, his illegitimate son being selected the the majors. Chadwick will soon be dropping bombs for whatever team he is currently the star on.
Trevor Bauer says hi.
Trevor Bore is an autist and a pervert.
2.5 seasons but yeah
True, I think I noticed two decent seasons, but the point still stands
If that
According to the article, four seasons. Reading is fundamental.
Who was raving about this guy?
Wow! That’s a lot of dead money
Double wow.
About $25 mill. including buyout of the 2027 club option.
In most businesses, people get fired for costing the company that kind of money.
It does seem like the Reds’ front office turned one lucky season into a lot of undeserved raises and internal promotions.
Would the Tigers have to add him to the 40 man roster, or could they sign him to a minor league contract ? I’d like him, but not at the expense of knocking someone off the 40 man roster, unless it’s Alex Cobb…..
The Tigers could actually use Alex Cobb, if he was healthy. Once released, Candelario can be signed to any contract he’s willing to accept. He’ll probably want a roster spot though.
A contract everyone knew was awful at the time
If I recall correctly they didn’t really need another infielder when they signed him. Regardless, he has done next to nothing in CIN and really didn’t impress during his brief stay with the Cubs leading up to free agency.
There’s some question about whether or not the team knew yet when they signed Candelario, but it was right around the time their top 3B prospect Noelvi Marte got hit with a PED suspension.
Marte may or may not pan out but they now have a couple other IF prospects knocking on the door. On top of a couple of veteran placeholders in Espinal and Lux who make Candelario redundant.
But he got suspended for 80 games, not 3 years. If you are signing someone to replace Marte, why not sign a vet for 1 year instead?
You might suddenly want to sign someone long term if you were banking on a top prospect whose past performance you now might suspect may have been attributable to PEDS
That would make sense if they released Marte, but in keeping him and giving him playing time I don’t think the Reds were thinking that.
This time “everyone” is indeed everyone. What were they thinking when they coughed up $45 million?
Welcome to the White Sox
Agree – why not?
ChiSox: Only to be flipped for a twentieth round draft pick.
You don’t follow baseball, huh?
Wouldn’t matter. It’s still free.
Reinsdorf’s ears just perked up.
Can’t trade. Only competitive balance a or b picks can be traded before the draft.
don’t give big contracts to guys who struggle to put together consecutive good seasons.
Got to sell a lot of vegetables to cover the 23 million you just threw away
Was a headscratcher when he signed. A year and a half in, DFA’d.
Thank goodness Toronto didn’t get him. I was so confused this guy got paid the way he did. One decent season.
I’m glad the Cubs didn’t re-sign him.
Jed, Jed JED!- Keep it in your pants Jed. I know you love this guy but……….No Jed!
He got paid top of market rate for his production going into this contract, the contract didn’t work out, but at the time, he was paid accordingly. It is what it is. Good for him. He got his nut / bag / set for life-ish money and if he’s done in the game, he can live the rest of his life without worrying about his next career move or paycheck.
Yeah it just sucks that the reds won’t make better decisions or they’ll let candy and moose be the reason not to spend for a couple of years…
A Tiger reunion perhaps as they need a 3rd Baseman…would be a nominal investment to see if it works prior to the trade deadline, so why not?
Three reasons why not. Because. He. Sucks.
Three more words. Plays. Bad. Defense.
Because Colt Keith needs a position and now he plays 3rd. And Jeimer has always sucked besides like one or two seasons, and he’s washed too.
He’s so washed he’s on spin cycle.
This guy will never get claimed due to salary, but once he becomes a FA, he might make a really good bounceback candidate at minimum salary. Brewers maybe?
Team took a chance and it didn’t pay off. Much less margin for error for a small market team like Cincy. They did ok with their other big spends from that offseason though – Nick Martinez, Emilio Pagan.
But it was a chance they didn’t need to take. They didn’t have a need at his position when they signed him. It’s almost like they signed him just in case something happened. That is fine for a team like the Dodgers with nearly unlimited resources. But for a team like the Reds, it was a gamble not worth taking. Honestly I have no sympathy for them because it is the exact same mistake they made a few years earlier when they signed Mike Moustakas and didn’t have a spot for him. A team that doesn’t learn from its own mistakes deserves the failures that accompany them.
Swing and a miss. Small market teams can’t afford to spend 45 Million on this kind of return, and another 20+ million on long relief qualifiers.
Time to re-evaluate the front office? Retention of the future coming soon. Can’t pay more for unemployed players than the current roster, on a limited budget. Candelario was always a hope to return to previous form signing. Most don’t.
Damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Everyone’s always demanding their teams make additions. But you can only sign from the very limited pool of players available.
And, they can only sign players that want to sign there. Still, probably could have put him into the rotation for a month or so and dumped at the deadline so it wouldn’t be a total loss.
The three largest FA contracts in Reds history have been signed in the last six years.
Of them, Castellanos opted out and not only left for Philly, but the Reds didn’t even make a real attempt to bring him back. Moustakas was bought out of the last year of his deal and now Candelario.
Can’t continuously miss on free agents; a front office shakeup is needed, but this is Mr Krabstellini and the Reds, so I have my doubts.
Votto, Griffey, Homer Bailey
A year and a half of practically free Baseball to whomever decides to give Candelario a chance.
The part that scares me is that Candelario can play 1B and only costs the prorated league minimum, soneone needs to hide Breslow’s phone…
Almost as bad for the Reds as the Moustakas contract.
The Reds just shouldn’t ever sign expensive free agent position players.
The Reds should do all of the players a favor and not sign anyone.
I can see the Yankees putting a claim for him 3rd base since they show interest before.
No one will claim him – you take the contract if you do. He’ll be released then someone will take a flier for the minimum both this year and next.
I like him for the Padres, keep playing Sheets in LF and DH Candelario. I bet he would love to play with a ton of talented fellow Dominican/Latin players.
I don’t mind this. Get rid of the dead weight. Francona shaping the roster. Goodbye Diaz, he can’t help us, goodbye Candyman. You never helped us move their three best hitters up from AA to AAA, Chase Byrne starts tomorrow. We’ve got a two or three year window before we really lose Ellie. He can leave after 29 but we will have to make a decision midway through 28
Boras is his agent and will be gone. Might as well trade him this coming winter and not wait 2 more years of the package is good.
Blue Jays fans just reading this as Santander’s horoscope.
Just as it was made up that he was born in New York, New York, it was also made up on the same piece of paper that he was born in 1993. So he was not a 17-year-old amateur signing in 2010 out of the Dominican Republic. I bring this up because his declining skills are showing his age.
Shawn: Wait until Soto’s decline starts to pick up. He’s gotta be 31-32 already. These guys out of the DR are just like the D-ball guys from the 90’s. You don’t know what you’re getting if you sign them long term.
Yeah, no. Soto is legit.
Sure he is dclive. Dudes come up all the time and pillage the league at 19. In late 2023 MLB admitted they’d lost the plot on the DR and there were 100’s of guys in Milb and MLB from specifically the DR with age “concerns”. Soto’s safe from getting outed but don’t be surprised when he’s declining in a couple of years.
I think they deserve credit. Did the choice they made suck. Yup!. Im sure they’ve explored every option of getting him off the team without biting the bullet. It didnt work. At that point alot of teams would then just let him try to figure it out and recover as much value as possible. It was a bad signing from day one though and they are now willing to eat the money and admit a mistake. Good for them. Didn’t even need the 40 spot lol.
Welcome back to Detroit!!
Wait. What? You just responded to me..Because. He. Sucks.
Make up your mind, Bro
Martinez was offered qualified offer of 21 million that’s why he signed with the reds.
Another sunk cost contract for the Reds. To be a “small market” franchise they’ve really break the bank.
He’ll get released and go to the dbacks. Like everyone else has been doing. James mccann, Anthony gose
They have a pretty darn good third baseman though
I might be wrong but I swore I read somewhere teams have to spend a minimum per year on free agents(or payroll?)if they’re participating in revenue sharing. Could his original signing been a part of that requirement? I’d be curious to know how much the Reds get per year in revenue sharing before shedding a tear here.
If that was the reason, it was piss poor management when outfield had been a need for three years.
But then we know who is running things.
He made Mike Rizzo look like a genius in ’23. He hit with surprising power and played excellent defense at 3d; then Rizzo had the prescient smarts to trade him to the Cubs for a young pitcher. The world is still scratching its collective head over the Reds contract. But ’21 and ’23 were very good years for Jeimer, and most teams would take those numbers for a 3B in any season.
This Nats fan appreciated Candelario’s contribution to our struggling team, including bringing in Herz in trade.
IF your one skill was power which collapsed and everything else is failing miserably….enjoy the $$$$$ Jeimer
Mets need to sign him, he is a better option then Baty and Vientos currently to play third. Baty is a better fielder and Vientos is a better hitter, but Candelario is pretty much average at both
Moustakis was a waste of 64 million dollars,Candelario was a waste of 45 million dollars (and others) but just these 2 is a waste of $109 million,mixed in terrible trades
How does anyone in the front office still have a job ?
Correction, won’t find any interest!
The Reds declined the contract option on their future player Hof Votto in 2024, but preferred to give 45 million over three years to a player who couldn’t even play half of his contract. Absurd.