Candelario, 32, will enter camp looking for a roster spot ahead of what would be his 11th season in the big leagues. Signed as an amateur by the Cubs from the Dominican Republic, he made his professional debut in 2011 and reached the majors for a five-game cup of coffee during Chicago’s 2016 World Series-winning campaign. In 2017, he again played a few games in an up-and-down bench role with the club before being drafted alongside the club Isaac Paredes in a deadline trade with the Tigers where the Cubs landed the catcher Alex Avila And Justin Wilson. After the deadline, he played in 27 games for Detroit, hitting an impressive .330/.406/.468 in 106 trips to the plate.
The switch-hitter would struggle at the plate for the Tigers for the next few years before breaking out during the shortened 2020 season. From 2020-21, Candelario slashed an excellent .278/.356/.458 with a wRC+ of 124, and led his league with 42 doubles last season. Some regression across the board led to a tough 2022 campaign in which the Tigers didn’t tender him, but he bounced back nicely in 2023 with a strong season (118 wRC+, 3.2 fWAR) for the Nationals and Cubs to return to free agency with a solid chance at a multi-year deal.
That deal ultimately came with the Reds, who signed him to a three-year, $45 million contract that would run from 2024 through 2026. His first year in Cincinnati was disappointing, as he hit just .225/.279/.429 with a wRC+ of 89 in 112 games, which came with atrocious defensive numbers at third base. That season came when he was dealing with knee tendonitis and a broken toe. Even with the injuries that brought uncertainty to his performance, Candelario’s defensive issues were still enough to lose him the Reds’ third base job in 2025. He played just 22 games for the Reds last year (and posted an ugly 10 wRC+ in those 91 at-bats) before being sidelined with a lumbar spine issue. When his rehabilitation period for that injury ended in late June, the Reds opted to release him rather than give him another chance on their roster.
He eventually signed with the Yankees on a minor league deal to finish out last season, finishing just .203/.289/.357 at Triple-A without getting a call-up to the majors. When he returned to free agency this offseason, he represented an interesting flier for a team to take with relatively low risk. Considering Candelario will earn his $13 million salary with Cincinnati this year even after he is released, he will only cost any club that puts him on the active roster the prorated league minimum, which comes from what the Reds have to pay him this year.
The team that decided to take that flier on Candelario are the Angels, with whom they are currently looking to enter camp Yoan Moncada, Vaughn GrissomAnd Oswald Peraza in the mix for reps at third base with Nolan Schanuel locked up at first base and a combination thereof Mike Trout And Jorge Soler expect him to handle DH. That seemingly leaves little room for Candelario to make the roster, but it’s certainly possible he could find his way into the mix at one of those positions with a strong performance in camp or an injury or two paving the way for him to clinch a roster spot.
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