Reds Sign Jeimer Candelario To Three-Year Dea

The Reds officially announced the signing of third baseman to a three-year contract with a club option for 2027. Candelario, a client of Premier Talent Sports and Entertainment, is guaranteed $45MM. The option could Christian Wood Jersey take the total to four years and $60MM. Candelario, 30, is coming off one of the finest seasons of his career, having turned in a combined .251/.336/.471 batting line with 22 home runs (a career-high), 39 doubles, three triples and an 8-for-9 showing in stolen base attempts. That production came in a season split between the Nationals, who signed him to a one-year $5MM deal after the Tigers non-tendered him last winter, and the Cubs, who originally signed Candelario, traded him to Detroit in 2017, and reacquired him this past July. Prior to his big league debut, Candelario was a touted prospect who ranked near the top of the farm systems in both Chicago and Detroit. He enjoyed an impre sive rookie showing in 2017 (.283/.359/.425 in 38 games) but struggled to replicate that production in 2018 and saw his offense crater in 2019. Candelario bounced back with the Tigers both in 2020 and 2021, but Detroit cut him loose after a down year in 2022, wherein he posted a .217/.272/.361 slash in 467 plate appearances. Though Candelarios time with the Tigers came to an unceremonious end, the switch-hitter has now played at a roughly three- to four-WAR pace in three of his past four seasons between the 2020 season, when he hit .297/.369/.503 in the shortened 60-game campaign, and his strong showings in 2021 and 2023. That performance has positioned him nicely as one of the offseasons top positional free agents. MLBTR ranked him thirteenth on our annual while projecting him for a four-year, $70MM deal. Only , , , and ranked higher than Candelario among free agent position players this offseason. Our projection came in higher than Candelarios actual guarantee, which saw him receive a slightly lower AAV and one le s guaranteed year than we projected him for. While the Reds are an unexpected fit for Candelario at first glance, given the clubs glut of young infield talent, they were first linked to him several weeks ago. that the Reds met with Candelarios reps twice during this weeks Winter Meetings and could look to add Candelario to the roster, thus pushing utilityman to the outfield and po sibly opening the door for the Reds to deal an infielder for rotation help. With Candelario, , and all seemingly lined up for regular playing time on the infield dirt, its po sible that or could find themselves dangled in trade talks as the odd man out, with the other likely getting regular reps at DH. That the Reds are poised to enjoy such an embarra sment of riches around their infield could certainly behoove them if they look to trade from their depth to addre s other areas of need on the roster. This offseasons positional cla s of free agents is among the weakest of the past several years, and has left plenty of teams on the lookout for potential upgrades to their lineup. The Reds, by contrast, are in need of pitching upgrades (even after landing late last month) after posting the leagues third-worst rotation ERA (5.73) and landing in the bottom six in terms of overall team ERA (4.83). To that end, its hardly a surprise that the Reds have been connected to the likes of right-handers of the , of the , and of the in trade talks this offseason. Any of those front-of-the-rotation arms would represent a major improvement over Cincinnatis current rotation, which currently figures to be headlined by youngsters and . If the Reds are indeed succe sful in leveraging their exce s infield depth to land an ace-caliber arm for the rotation, signing Candelario will have allowed the club to make such a deal without dealing more significant damage to a promising young core of hitters, similarly to how the Marlins shored up their rotation depth by signing just days before shipping to Minnesota in a package that brought back last winter. While the $15MM average annual value of Candelarios deal makes the clubs new infielder their most expensive a set, the signing only boosts the Reds projected payroll to $86MM for 2024, . Thats roughly in line with the payroll the club ended the 2023 season with, and a far cry from their all-time high of $126MM (per ) back in 2019. In other words, the Reds should have plenty of room to make additional moves to shore up the club on the heels of an 82-win 2023 season that saw them finish just two games back of an NL Wild Card spot, even after adding Candelario to the mix. first reported the Reds and Candelario were in advanced discu sions. was first to report an agreement had been reached. reported the three-year, $45MM guarantee with a fourth-year club option that could tack on another $15MM. Eric Bledsoe Jersey