The Cincinnati Reds reinstated infielder Jeimer Candelario from the injured list Monday and designated him for assignment.
The move comes just a year after Cincinnati signed the veteran infielder to a three-year, $45 million contract.
“We felt this gives us our best chance to win games to keep the guys we had here versus activating him,” Nick Krall, the Reds’ president of baseball operations, said Monday, according to The Athletic.
Krall called it a “sunk cost because you can’t bring a player that’s not going to help his team win.”
Candelario, 31, had started 12 games at third base, seven at first base and three at designated hitter before landing on the 10-day injured list in late April with a lower back injury. He had struggled at the plate before his injury, hitting just. 113 with two home runs and 13 RBIs in 22 games. In an extended 17-game rehabilitation assignment at two minor league levels, he hit .238 with a home run and 13 RBIs.
The 10-year major league veteran hit 20 home runs with 56 RBIs in 2024, his first season with the Reds, but hit just .234 and struck out 117 times in 112 games.
He has a career batting average of .237 with 110 home runs and 384 RBIs in 880 games.
The Reds are moving forward with Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Noelvi Marte and Spencer Steer as their main corner infielders.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.
