The Angels announced that Jeimer Candelario was outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake after being designated for assignment on Saturday. The team didn’t specify whether the veteran infielder will accept the assignment or elect free agency.
Candelario may prefer to stick in the organization rather than pursue what would surely be a minor league opportunity elsewhere. The 32-year-old broke camp with the Halos as a non-roster invitee. He appeared in seven regular season games, going 2-18 while striking out eight times. Candelario had slugged four home runs during Spring Training but fanned 19 times in 59 exhibition plate appearances.
The switch-hitter hasn’t been able to find his footing since signing a three-year free agent deal with Cincinnati over the 2023-24 offseason. Candelario was coming off a .251/.336/.471 showing and had been a well above-average hitter in three of the preceding four years. He owns a .204/.263/.389 batting line in 574 plate appearances over the past two-plus seasons.
Candelario played through knee discomfort during the 2024 season. He spent time on the injured list with a broken toe and a lumbar spine strain over the past two years. He couldn’t get on track after being released by the Reds, hitting .203/.289/.357 over 61 Triple-A games in the Yankees system to close the ’25 campaign.
The Halos are looking for consistent production out of second and third base. Adam Frazier, Oswald Peraza and Vaughn Grissom are all rotating through the keystone. Peraza also offers a glove-first alternative to the struggling Yoán Moncada at the hot corner.
What was worse for the Reds FO signing Candelario or acquiring Kebryan Hayes?
Candelario by far. Way more money, less productive
The money is lower and more spread out but Hayes will still cost $36MM to Candy’s $45MM.
They cut bait a little over a year on Candelario. Hopefully they don’t run a useless bat of Hayes out there for more than that.
Both.
Yes
Mike Moustakas. Or Frankie Montas. Or trading Luis Castillo for Noelvi Marte? I’m torn.
They are a division rival but I still feel bad anytime a small market team ventures into the free agent/trade market for veterans and they massively fail. Best guy they paid is Castillo who they traded. Go figure.
The worst part of the Castillo trade was that he signed an extension with SEA 4 weeks after the trade….an extension the Reds certainly could have afforded.
Hayes will linger much longer than Candelario did. At least he’s one of the best defensive 3B in the game, but he’s never gonna hit much. I hope I’m wrong.
I always liked watching Hayes play, he’s incredible on the diamond. Unfortunately, I don’t think his back is going to hold up.
I’ll always be rooting for him though.
He had a career, and he’ll get 3 million next year which is a fantastic severance pay for any human being. Then there is always foreign countries if hes not ready to retire.
Like Fries, and civil liberties, free agency ain’t free
Kurt Suzuki has no clue how to run this pitching staff. Not the rotation, not the bullpen,
He keeps leaving relievers in way too long, even when everyone can see they’re out of gas. And then he lets Jordan Romano sit for EIGHT DAYS like he forgot he’s the closer. You had chances in Cincinnati to give Romano a simple inning, get him loose, keep him sharp but instead Suzuki stuck with tired arms until they blew up.
Then tonight Romano comes in ice cold and struggles.
That’s on the manager who didn’t use him.
And on top of that, the first week of the season Suzuki keeps throwing rookies into high‑pressure spots No idea when to pull a guy or when to trust a veteran.
Kurt Suzuki does not have a manager IQ.
He’s guessing, and the Angels are paying for it.
This is how seasons get buried before they even start. And I can’t blame Perry Minasian. He just doesn’t have the support of.
Arte Moreno who has a pretty good team this year but Arte didn’t have money to spend on the bullpen
Credit to Minasian for signing him for just a year. Suzuki just hoping to make it the whole year.
Dead on correct Johnny. Dead on
Johnny,
Why are you throw all the blame on Suzuki?
He has a staff, that staff is supposed to keep him informed as well.
At the end of the day you are giving (and blaming) the manager way too much credit. It is the players who win and lose the ballgames.
AngelsFan1972
At some point you’ve got to decide
Is it the players making blunders on the field, or the manager making blunders from the dugout? Because when the same mistakes keep happening, that’s not random that’s direction.
This isn’t checkers.
This is a game of chess.
And if the person calling the shots can’t see the board, the pieces are going to look lost no matter what
Who usually gets fired?
But you are also less than 20 games in to the season. You are making critical decision based of a fairly smalll sample size. Couple that with the fact that he has no prior track record to base your decisions off of.
If the Angels started 12-4 would you be praising him and asking, why did we only sign Suzuki for one year? People tend to react negatively far faster than they react positively.
Lastly, if the Angels finish the season at .500 I feel nearly every Angel fan would take that and hope the build on it.
This is how I look at it The games you mismanage in April and May the games you flat out blow
They come back and hit you right in the standings when August rolls around.
This is the first month of the season. Give Kurt a break. He can have a learning curve. That’s why they hired all of those experienced coaches to advise him.
Teamspirit
I hope nobody in that clubhouse bought into Arte Moreno’s nonsense about winning not being a top priority.
NOT YOU! Not me. Not this fanbase. Not this team.
I’m fighting for every win.
And don’t tell me these games don’t matter there are three losses already this season that should’ve been wins. Three games that slipped away Kurt Suzuki, bad judgment
And then to hear people say cut Kurt Suzuki some slack?
No. This franchise has been riding an 11‑year playoff drought. Nobody gets slack. Not the owner. Not the front office. Not anyone who shrugs off losing like it’s normal.
But here’s the twist
This Angels team actually has a shot. A real one. for a wild card.
I get what you are saying, but I still feel the sample size of Suzuki’s managerial career is too small to make any sort of judegment on.
As far as the games that have “slipped away”, in the course of a 162 game season, the will more than likely be the same amount of wins, that the Angels, really had no buisness winning, it just happens like that.
Any team desperate enough to give this guy another shot? Seems like an old Rockies target. They used to sign 2 or 3 guys like this every year and MAYBE give them a callup. Several years ago they signed Greg Bird to a minors deal and kept him in Albuquerque the entire year.
We need an established Closer as evident tonight. Wasted 2 Bombs from Trout. Pry Estevez off the Royals or Jansen from wherever the hell he’s at.
I was calling for a closer in January. This team never filled the holes of 3b. 2b left field back or rotation and closer
They attempted to but at least tried to convince us they did
They had every opportunity to bring back Kenley Jansen, who publicly stated his preference to remain with the team. Instead, Perry preferred to roll the dice on Yates, Pomeranz and Romano for a little more than what they would’ve paid Jansen.
Angels need an established closer. Bring back Estevez. Pry him loose from the Royals. Or Bring back Jansen. We wasted 2 bombs from Trout tonight. This could have been a game you can build momentum with.
Sorry for the double post. I didn’t see the first one counting down. So I made another one.
Cardinals have 2 good high leverage RPs in what is otherwise a dumpster fire BP. And they arent trying to compete.
Riley O’brien has crazy stuff and is multiyear controllable. Jojo Romero is in a contract year and has strong track record.
Either could be had with the right prospect offer but everyone wants leverage relievers so the Cards can wait for a strong offer – it would take an overpay to make the move this early in the season.
Question is whether the Angels are competitive enough to be worth weakening an already below-average farm for a 2026 upgrade. I’d say not, personally, wait and see where the Angels sit at the ASB.
And yet, Shaun Anderson remains on the roster.
@orange2001. Not for much longer. Im guessing Yates takes his spot.
Anderson should never have been called up, let alone re-signed in the offseason.
What a game. They were not going to win this game. Pomeranian should have stated the ninth
Should have, could have
The angels look just as good as every team
Imagine a full season of trout like play.
I would have brought Ferris in earlier
Anderson being left in was not a good idea
Just happy for soler
Lowe sure had a good at bat
Romano just doesn’t look good
Candelario was a bad signing for the Reds. Krall is lucky he didn’t lose his jo over this signing. Candelario is a washed up player who can’t get it done anymore
Elton John was enamored enough with this kids swing path to pen that tribute ditty, “Candel in the wind” even going as far as to celebrate the Angels cutting ties to their incumbent third baseman. “Goodbye Norma Jean”.
Can anyone explain to me why Shawn Anderson is still on this roster? I am convinced he is one of the worst pitchers I have seen the Angels have had on a roster in the last decade
Would love your thoughts
Perry Minasian.
soccer_ref
Because it’s the absolute cheapest way to cycle through pitchers when you don’t want to pay for real bullpen arms.
Minor league deals bargain bin arms you can shuffle in and out without spending a dime.
That is definitely one way to look at it. Also I think any decent arm really would not want to come to Anaheim knowing they will get traded at the deadline for scraps
I am gonna throw this out there. With all the young players that are getting mega deals. I have nothing or a though of what it could or should be but
What would a Zach Neto mega deal look like in terms or money and length???