With the Washington Nationals one of few clear sellers as the MLB trade deadline approaches, these 5 contenders should have Jeimer Candelario on their radar.
Here at the MLB All-Star break, there just aren’t many teams that are clear-cut sellers as the August 1 trade deadline approaches. However the Washington Nationals, at 36-54, are one team who should be selling. As much as they might have anyone of interest to contending teams anyway.
Jeimer Candelario may stand as the No. 1 trade asset for Washington. After a rough 2022 with the Detroit Tigers, which led to them not tendering him a contract for this year, he is hitting a solid .261/.337/.478 with 13 home runs, 43 RBI and 27 doubles at the break. He is not a Gold Glove-caliber third baseman but, as shown by FanGraphs, the banning of the shift has helped his defense this year.
Last season now looks like a blip more than the start of a trend for Candelario. In 2021 for Detroit, he posted a .271/.351/.443 slash line with 16 home runs, 67 RBI and a major league-high 42 doubles. Include the short 2020 season with 2021, and he had a .278/.356/.458 and a 125 OPS+ over that span. In the aforementioned piece, FanGraphs also cited better plate discipline as a reason for the rebound this year.
Playing on a one-year deal worth $5 million, with up to another $1 million in incentives ($400,000 he’s already cashed when he reached 200 and 300 plate appearances with another $200,000 looking like a lock 38 plate appearances shy of 400), Candelario is as easy and straight-forward a trade candidate as it gets.
These five contenders should have a deal for Candelario on their radar.