Why Jeimer Candelario 'on a mission’ to help Cincinnati Reds beat Cubs for NL Central

GOODYEAR, Arizona — Jeimer Candelario has been good at a lot of things in his baseball career.

Timing is not one of them.

Which is one way to look at how he and the Cincinnati Reds found each other — and in turn why he might be the right guy at the right time for this team that has so many big plans over the next few years.

“It’s go time,” Candelario said.

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That’s been the corner infielder’s attitude since the Reds made him the jewel of their $108 million offseason, signing him to a three-year, $45 million contract to help stabilize the middle of their order and mentor young infielders Elly De La Cruz and Noelvi Marte.

It’s also been a theme of the well-traveled Candelario’s career since he was a top-100 prospect himself with the Chicago Cubs and stuck behind MVP Kris Bryant and All-Star Anthony Rizzo seven years ago.

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Jeimer Candelario has been man on move in recent seasons

He debuted for a week in July during their 2016 World Series season, was traded to the Detroit Tigers for a catcher and reliever a year later at the trade deadline, had a breakout year for the Tigers in 2021 and was released by the Tigers after a 2022 season hampered by a shoulder dislocation.

He then signed as a free agent with the Washington Nationals, flirted with an All-Star selection, was traded at the deadline last summer back to the Cubs, clobbered the Reds with four hits in each of his first two games for his new/old team, missed time down the stretch with a lower back strain and then waited for an offer from the Cubs to return to a team that had no other everyday big-league answers at the positions he plays.

“He would have loved to be here, I know. I talked to him,” said Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks, a Candelario fan since their first go-around as teammates almost a decade ago, who added the feeling in the clubhouse was mutual. “He fit perfectly. Man, the things he did for us at the end of the year — he was huge.”

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The Reds reached out to Candelario right away. Then five other teams, including the New York Yankees, and the Nationals looking for a reunion, called.

The Cubs? Crickets.

“I loved my teammates when I was there. I loved the organization,” Candelario said. “Who wouldn’t want to go to Chicago? But this is a business.

“And I’m glad to be here in Cincinnati.”

The Cubs eventually sunk their winter hitters budget into Cody Bellinger ($80 million) and pushed their payroll close to the first luxury tax threshold.

“It’s not really as much about Jeimer as just our overall free agent conversations and figuring out where our needs are and then figure out how much we wanted to allocate to different positions and different players,” Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins said.

They’re still figuring out what to do at third base.

“I don’t know what’s the plan, but God bless,” Candelario said.

And heads up.

Because while Candelario may not hold grudges, he won’t forget who called this winter. And, more specifically, who didn’t.

“He’ll never say it,” said Hendricks, who swears he could tell Candelario was dialed in a little extra even during their spring training at-bat against each other Tuesday. “He’s the nicest guy in the world.

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“But he’s going to be on a mission for sure. He’s going to be on a mission all those three years. We’ll know.”

In a matchup of what might be the National League Central front-runners this year, the Reds and Cubs face 13 times this season, including the final three games of the season in Chicago.

“I don’t want to say they made a mistake,” Candelario said of the team that let him go twice. “They know what they’re doing. And if they think that I’m not the guy to be there through multiple years, who knows? Time will tell if it’s the right thing or not.”

Candelario’s performance, especially in those 13 games, will also tell.

“You know it,” Candelario said. “We’re in the same division, and I’m excited to see the guys and play against them again.

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“And,” he added, “in my history in the big leagues, I think I do really good against them.”

That hasn’t been the case throughout his career. But this version of Candelario — the one who hit a career high 22 home runs last season — homered twice in his most recent series against them, two weeks before last summer’s trade.

Whether Candelario’s “mission” against the Cubs becomes a competitive bonus for the Reds, it’s everything else he brings to the playoff-minded Reds that made him their target out of the chute this winter — a switch-hitter with power and versatility on the field, with a generous, charismatic personality built for mentoring younger teammates.

“That’s what we kept hearing,” Reds general manager Brad Meador said. “Everyone we talked to said he’s so good with young players. So him being able to connect with those guys and help them — it’s on the field, off the field, everything. It was a huge part of it.”

If the Reds didn’t feel sure about that just in the process of doing their due diligence, the fact that the Nationals wanted to sign him again for 2024 drove the point home.

“That always tells you something,” Meador said.

Being a mentor for young players comes naturally for Candelario

Marte and Elly De La Cruz have never seemed more than a few feet from Candelario all spring, and the veteran already is predicting a big year for De La Cruz in particular.

“He’s a good kid. He likes to listen,” Candelario said. “He likes to talk. He’s really humble. He’s a guy that if you tell him something he’s going to take it the right way.”

One of his first messages to De La Cruz: “You’ve just got to hit the ball no matter where it is. You don’t have to pull the ball. You hit the ball, you’re going to hit bombs.”

Just ask the Colorado Rockies. De La Cruz mis-hit a pitch in the 13th game of his big-league career that looked like an opposite-field popup — until it kept carrying far enough to land just over the fence and just inside the foul pole in left.

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“He’s going to have a lot of those,” Candelario said. “Because I’m going to be on top of him.”

For what it’s worth, De La Cruz’s first four hits of the spring were all to the opposite field.

Candelario, 30, says likes what he sees when he looks around the Reds’ clubhouse. He also knows first-hand a lot of what he sees when he looks around the division.

“I don’t want to put pressure on the guys, but day by day I think we’re going to be there,” he said.

As in a first NL Central title in a decade for the Reds?

“Again, I don’t want to put pressure on the guys to say we’re going to win the division,” he said, “but let’s play good ballgames like you have to do, and everything is going to take care of itself.

“It’s going to be fun.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Cincinnati Reds' Jeimer Candelario 'on a mission' in 2024