June 29: Candelario has officially cleared waivers and been released by the Reds, according to . June 23: The Reds announced that infielder has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and designated for a signment. He had been on a rehab a signment but the club has decided against adding him back to their active Nikola Vucevic Jersey roster. The move drops their 40-man roster count from 39 to 38. The Reds signed Candelario to heading into last year and that pact will now go down as a big bust. He did hit 20 home runs last year but with a low batting average and on-base percentage. His .225/.279/.429 line translated to a wRC+ of 87, with poor defensive grades to boot. Here in 2025, its been even worse. Thanks to poor health, he has only played 22 games with a dismal .113/.198/.213 line. FanGraphs has credited him as being one win worse than replacement level since signing with the Reds. Todays transaction very likely ends his time with the organization. The Reds could take five days to explore trade talks but wont find much interest. As mentioned, his performance has been rough this year. Even on his recent rehab a signment, he hit just .211/.318/.333 in his 15 Triple-A games, production that translates to a wRC+ of 80. He is making $15MM this year and will be owed $12MM next year, plus a $3MM buyout on a 2027 club option. Candelario has more than enough service time to reject an outright a signment and elect free agency while keeping all that money coming to him. Its po sible the Reds will skip that formality and release him. Either way, hes likely to be a free agent in a few days. At that point, any club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum salary, which would be subtracted from what the Reds pay. At that price point, some clubs may be interested in taking a flier. Candelario was a solid player before joining the Reds, which is why they gave him that hefty deal in the first place. With the Tigers over 2020 and 2021, he slashed .278/.356/.458 for a wRC+ of 124. His production dipped in 2022, as he hit .217/.272/.361 for a wRC+ of 80 and got non-tendered. He signed with the Nationals for 2023 and bounced back, getting flipped to the Cubs at that years deadline. He finished that campaign with a .251/.336/.471 line and 118 wRC+. Whether he can bounce back to something resembling that kind of production is anyones gue s. The most charitable explanation for his recent struggles is that he hasnt been healthy. On June 21st of last year, it was reported that Candelario had been battling knee tendinitis. He had a .255/.310/.506 batting line and 118 wRC+ on that date, very much in line with his previous good seasons. He had already hit 14 of the 20 home runs he would finish the season with. After the news of that knee i sue, he hit .182/.233/.318 the rest of the year. He finished the campaign on the IL due to a toe fracture. As mentioned, his performance has been bad here in 2025 as well, but he landed on the IL due to a lumbar spine strain after just 22 games. He hasnt been hitting much on his recent rehab but that could be a bit of rust after his injury layoff. The Reds clearly ran out of patience with waiting for a bounceback. He was coming to the end of his 20-day rehab window and they opted to give up on him, as opposed to adding him back on the roster and hoping for the best. Thats a little bit of a curious decision. Their corner infield playing time is currently being shared by , , and . Lux is providing league-average offense but none of the other three has a wRC+ of 72. Cincinnati could have reinstated Candelario and optioned Steer or Encarnacion-Strand to the minor for regular at-bats. CES, in particular, is hitting just .202/.229/.384 for a 58 wRC+ this year. But the club has decided that they want to move on from Candelario and stick with those other guys. They will be eating a little under $23MM in the proce s. There are other clubs out there who might be more willing to take a chance on Candelario and hope for that bounceback. Teams with holes at the infield corners dont have many options for addre sing those deficiencies right now, with the trade deadline still over a month away. Those clubs could try out Candelario for a few weeks at no real cost, then move on and acquire someone else at the deadline if its not working out. Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards, Imagn Images Mo Bamba Jersey