The Angels announced that infielder Jeimer Candelario has been designated for assignment. The move creates roster space for fellow infielder Vaughn Grissom, who has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list.
Candelario signed a minor league contract with Los Angeles during the offseason, and earned himself a spot on the Opening Day roster due to a few factors. The veteran’s big Spring Training numbers helped him stand out from some other infield candidates like Christian Moore and Kyren Paris, and Grissom was also lost to a wrist sprain. Unfortunately, Candelario couldn’t keep his Cactus League performance going into the regular season, as he hit only .111/.200/.222 over 20 plate appearances.
The cold start continues the downward slide that began after Candelario signed a three-year, $45MM free agent deal with the Reds prior to the 2024 season. Candelario hit only .225/.279/.429 over 463 PA in the first season of his contract, and Cincinnati released him last June after he batted .113/.198/.213 in his first 91 PA of the 2025 campaign. Injuries such as knee tendinitis and a lumbar spine strain certainly contributed to that falloff over the last two seasons, but Candelario was thought to be healthy heading into 2026.
The Yankees signed Candelario after his release from the Reds but didn’t use him at the MLB level, and his struggles didn’t stop the Angels from taking a flier on the 32-year-old this past winter. Another team may feel Candelario still has something in the tank, and he would cost only a prorated Major League minimum salary for any time spent on a team’s active roster, as the Reds are still responsible for the $15MM still owed on his contract.
Even if another club has interest in Candelario, however, they might not be willing to devote a 40-man roster spot to him, so it seems likely that the infielder will clear waivers. He has enough MLB service time to reject an outright assignment and then elect free agency, so Candelario can test the market again for another minor league contract.
Grissom is now set to make his Angels debut, and get his first big league action of any kind since the 2024 season. Grissom has yet to live up to the promise of his impressive 2022 rookie season with the Braves, as he struggled in 2023 and then was a bust with the Red Sox after being dealt for Chris Sale during the 2023-24 offseason. While Sale resurrected his career in Atlanta, Grissom didn’t hit in Boston, battled injuries, and soon found himself supplanted by several other up-and-coming infield prospects.
Wow, remember when he was a top prospect? Me neither
That ship has Saled.
Was that at Soup Plantation it saled?
Been a big leaguer for 10 years, career WAR is 9.2, earned over $50M. How long did you play and how much have you earned? And what is your WAR?
Vaughn Grissom > Jared Kellenic
Loved your time with the Nats, Jeimer!
850mil
My WAR is 75
Three 7 year Max contracts
3402 consecutive games played and in 21 years I only struck out 15 times.
Maxing out on a created player on MLB the show is fun. 😂
Jeimer is that you?
Jeimer put up a .900 OPS in Iowa, flirted with the Top 100, blocked by Bryzzo, traded to Detroit. Avila traded his own son to get him!
Jesus Avila?
He was more than a top prospect. He had several good years. I’ll bet some team will pick him up, even if it’s a minor league deal.
Candelario has 110 career homers and zero with the Angels.
Anthony Rendon has 158 career homers and 22 with the Angels.
Yet I think we can all agree that Candelario’s Anaheim career was not as bad as Rendon’s time with the Halos.
Jeimer will get paid a lot of money to be unemployed. Krall was really impressed with that good half season to waste all that money that could have helped the sorry corner outfield situation the last two years.
This really should be the end of the line for Candelario. Not sure how much is left in the tank, but it doesn’t matter when the guy seems unmotivated and just going through the motions of existing in the big leagues.
Yankee-bound again? Maybe walking papers for McMahon. 🙏
Uhhh no.
@YBC- 😭😂🤣 Can’t stop laughing!!!
Was glad when the Tigers moved on from him. He always looked older than his official age. I don’t feel bad for him; he’s had a decent, lucrative career.
Candelario hit the ball well this spring. Grissom did not and that was before the injury.
But Grissom has defensive value and upside.
I’m not very excited about Grissom and would rather give Paris or Lugo a shot over him, as Grissom didn’t look great during spring. Too bad Candelario couldn’t continue his hitting from spring.
Paris is hurt, so that will have to wait.
The Angels think so highly of Lugo that both he and Campero are toiling in AA now.
I agree Grissom has a lot to prove. The Statcast numbers in spring, though, were encouraging (high exit velocity) even if the batting average didn’t show it.
The lowly Angels are sitting at the second Wildcard spot in the AL. The dumdums must think they did something so well! And some fools would think the team will stay there.
Ahhh but you’re smarter than everyone else. I get it
Certainly not. But I would never state that the fans would not necessarily consider winning as a priority.
Thankfully I am not that dumb.
Arte said that, Not the fans
I hope nobody is drawing conclusions at 14/162 games.
Last season the Angels were 9-5 after 14 games. So, the fans should know better by now. They typically get off to decent starts and hover around .500 into July until the wheels fall off.
Yes, the second depth is required the Angels fall apart.
The organization then blames injuries for their failures as though only Angels get hurt.
Rinse and repeat.
Any “fan” with the dillusion that the Angels were going make a playoff run is not really much of a fan.
The Angels will need a slow and steady progression. Maybe next year they climb to be a wild card contender.
also…
I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to see what you’ve got with Grissom. He needed to be added to the roster, so let’s see if he finds some magic.
@Aragon. Enjoy your hotdog and remember to swallow.
Pumping me up!!!!!
Love to see Grissom have a great game today.
Another one of Perry’s big moves already DFA’ed. Many more to come stay tuned folks
Minor league signings can hardly be considered big moves
Who said he was a big move ?
Ref….
ZERO people said Candelerio was an Angel big move. ZERO
He was a flyer. That is it.
Every big Perry move was a flyer this year
Who exactly is excited about Grissom?
You continually make up things, so you have something to complain about.
No one said Candelerio was a big move NO ONE
And once again post something a substance rather than Troll me
Everybody needs to calm down about Grissom
Another top prospect that can’t hit Major league pitching
@soccer_ it’s sign not sing. Weird when you call someone a moron and continue to do it 15 times over.
@rexhudler
Ref is singing all the way to 110 loses
At least Soccer Ref stopped didnt a 1000 word essay how he knows more about constructing a roster while proving he hasn’t got a clue. I
I’m still amazed he once led the league in doubles and had a second season where he had 39 of them.
A lot of hate for a guy that led the league in doubles one year. Acting like he was a complete bust and earned a 45 million deal. The guys hating work at Walmart.
Go on the simple phrase of what have you done for me lately. Look at track records and trends. This guy has not hit in two years. That is not gonna change. Most of the guys brought in either have not hit in two plus seasons or have never hit at all. Like a ln article said in baseball America. This would be a great roster if it was 2021.
Retreads. Hope they can be healthy and our coaches can fix them. Maybe we catch lightning in a bottle Should not be the top criteria’s in creating a roster. One or two guys sure but when you get above 4 or 5. You have problems. Take a flyer on a guy. That’s fine but not when there are 7 of them
You don’t know anymore about creating a roster than I do. But I know numbers I work with numbers for a living and I have 6 years of a college education studying them and will have my doctorate next winter working with them. The one thing about numbers especially in baseball. They do not lie. Long term downward trends do not come back very often. Who is the next DFA. I predict Lowe
Is there a reason you need to proclaim what your education may or may not be? You can proclaim to be a numbers doctor all you want, it does not mean you actually are. Working with numbers does not make you an baseball “expert” or baseball “doctor”.
By the way, humans, not numbers, play the game of baseball. All your number theories would never have predicted Soriano starting off 4-0 with a sub 1 ERA. Additionally you keep stating you STILL feel strong about your completely illogical 110 loss season prediction. There were no numbers supporting that prediction whatsoever, and the probablility has diminished to nearly impossibly with each win.