Detroit Tigers: 3 players to ditch before the end of the season

3B Jeimer Candelario

Sigh. This last one is just depressing. I’ve always liked Jeimer. Even when he got sent down in 2019, I hadn’t given up hope on him. And I was rewarded for that with strong 2020 and 2021 campaigns from the 28-year-old.

The 2020 season where he slashed .297/.369/.503 could have been a little deceiving because of the small sample size, but he backed it up in 2021 by slashing .271/.351/.443 with 16 homers and an American League leading 42 doubles. He also posted a 3.8 bWAR. There was even some thought of possibly extending him last offseason. Boy, did the Detroit Tigers dodge a bullet there.

Candelario, like many others on this team, has fallen off a cliff this season. His slash line of .204/.268/.350 is just sad. He has looked lost at the plate for most of the year, save for a small hot streak out of the gate after the All-Star break.

The one thing Candy has always been able to boast about is his eye. Even in his lackluster 2019 season he still had an 11.1% walk rate. But that is completely gone, as he’s only walking at a 6.3% clip this season. What on earth happened here?

That’s not to mention how bad he’s been with the glove this season. Candelario has never been a gold glover over at the hot corner, but he’s never been this bad either. He’s worth -3 outs above average according to Baseball Savant. He has seven errors this season, but he could easily have more if official scorers weren’t trying to pad stats.

I think it’s far more likely the Detroit Tigers wait to make a final decision on Jeimer until after the season, but he has shown little sign of improvement. With one year left until he’s a free agent, it’s best to just cut their losses. They need to create a 40-man spot for Ryan Kreidler anyway, so let him play third base the rest of the season.

Sigh. This just makes me sad.