The Angels signed an infielder Jeimer Candelario to a minor league deal, according to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Candelario’s deal comes with an invitation to the big league Spring Training.
Candelario, 32, will enter camp seeking a roster spot ahead of his 11th major league season. Signed by the Cubs out of the Dominican Republic as a rookie, he made his professional debut back in 2011 and reached the majors with a five-game hitting streak during Chicago’s World Series-winning campaign in 2016. He also pitched in various games off the bench with the team in 2017 before being sidelined. Isaac Paredes in a trade at the deadline with the Tigers where the Cubs came up with the catch Alex Avila again Justin Wilson. After the deadline, he played in 27 games for Detroit and hit an impressive .330/.406/.468 in 106 trips to the plate.
The switch-hitter will struggle at the plate for the next few years with the Tigers before breaking out in the shortened 2020 season. Since 2020-21, Candelario has slashed a career-best .278/.356/.458 with a 124 wRC+, and led his league with 42 doubles last season. Some regression across the board led to a difficult 2022 campaign that saw the Tigers non-tender him, but he rebounded in 2023 with strong seasons (118 wRC+, 3.2 fWAR) for the Nationals and Cubs to return to free agency with a strong chance of a multi-year deal.
That deal eventually came with the Reds, who signed him to a three-year, $45MM contract that would run from 2024 to 2026. His first year in Cincinnati was disappointing, as he hit just .225/.279/.429 with an 89 wRC+ in 112 games to go along with atrocious defensive numbers at third base. That down season came when he battled tendonitis and a broken toe. Even if that injury casts doubt on his performance, Candelario’s defense was still good enough for him to lose his third job when the Reds enter 2025. He played in just 22 games for the Reds last year (and posted a lousy 10 wRC+ in those 91 plate appearances) before being sidelined with a lumbar strain. When his window to rehab that injury ended in late June, the Reds opted to release him rather than give him another shot on their roster.
He eventually signed with the Yankees on a minor league deal to finish out last season, and ended up hitting .203/.289/.357 in Triple-A without being called up to the majors. Returning to free agency this offseason, he represented an interesting approach the team could take with relatively low risk. Given that Candelario will earn his $13MM salary with Cincinnati this year even after the release, he will only cost the club that places him on the active roster the scheduled league minimum, which will come out of what the Reds have to pay him this year.
The team that decided to take this newspaper from Candelario is the Angels, which will now be able to enter the camp Yoan Moncada, Vaughn Grissomagain Oswald Peraza in a combination of reps at third base with Nolan Schanuel is locked to the first base and some combination of Mike Trout again Jorge Soler expected to handle DH. That seems to leave little room for Candelario to make the roster, but it’s possible he could find his way into one of those positions with strong play in camp or an injury or two that clears the way for him to snag a roster spot.
