Jeimer Candelario, the Cincinnati Reds’ highest-priced free agent signing in the past five years, was designated for assignment June 23 halfway through a three-year, $45 million deal.
Welcome to the age of accountability and a new way of doing business since the hiring of high-profile manager Terry Francona.
“It’s a tough decision. He’s a great guy,” team president Nick Krall said. “We’ve played well. It is something we looked at as we’re trying to win games, and this gives us the best opportunity to win, to not bring him back.”
Candelario, who struggled to hit and play both corner infield positions even when healthy during an injury-plagued tenure with the Reds, had run out of time on a minor-league rehab assignment over the weekend after recovering from a lower back injury.
With no alternatives for keeping him on rehab and no appealing ways to fit Candelario and his .113-hitting production back into the lineup, the Reds chose to pay him $22.5 million not to play for them the next year-and-a-half rather than to play for them.
Candelario had been benched after struggling early in the season, even before landing on the IL.
It’s even more dead contract money than the club ate when cutting loose Mike Moustakas ($22 million) before the 2023 season.
“At the end of the day you have to look at it as sunk cost because if he’s not going to help you, you can’t bring a player that’s not going to help this team win,” Krall said. “We felt we were in a better spot with the players we had here.”
Not with the team putting itself into the fringes of the wild-card playoff picture with a 10-5 surge ahead of the move. Not with top prospect Chase Burns debuting against the Yankees this week one day ahead of the midway mark in the season.
Not with a newly hired Hall of Fame-bound manager at the helm.
“This is a statement of intent. Bringing Chase Burns is a statement of intent. We want to win games,” Krall said. “We felt that these are the moves that give us the best chance to win games.”
Candelario, 31, hit just .207 with a .660 OPS in 134 games with the Reds and was a negative WAR-value player both seasons (minus-1.6 total, according to baseball-reference.com).
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds DFA veteran Jeimer Candelario, eat $22.5 million remaining contract value
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
