Reds frittered away money on Jeimer Candelario but the Cardinals waste is staggering

If you’re a Cincinnati Reds fan trying to talk yourself into a clean, efficient offseason, Jeimer Candelario is the annoying reminder that “efficient” is more of a hope than a plan.

Cincinnati is essentially paying roughly $16 million for a player who isn’t helping them win games in 2026 after being designated for assignment last June, and the remaining money on his deal has been a lingering cap on flexibility ever since. 

Yes, that kind of dead money hurts in Cincinnati. The Reds are definitely not known as a team to have “oops money.” Every wasted dollar is a reliever they didn’t sign, or a much needed bat they couldn’t add. But if you want a little perspective (or just want to point and laugh), the Cardinals just cannonballed into a whole different tier of financial waste.

The Reds wasted money on Jeimer Candelario, but the Cardinals just reset the definition of waste

St. Louis traded Nolan Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks this week, and the numbers attached to it are mind-boggling. Arenado has $42 million remaining over the next two seasons, and multiple reports indicate the Cardinals are covering $31 million of that to move him. So, the Cardinals are paying tens of millions of dollars so a future Hall of Famer can play somewhere else.

That’s the gulf. The Reds’ Candelario mess is painful because Cincinnati needs every ounce of payroll to produce on-field value. The Cardinals’ Arenado dump is staggering because it shows what happens when a franchise decides it wants out of a direction so badly that it’s willing to burn a fortune just to change the page. 

So what’s the Reds angle here besides “at least we’re not that”? Cincinnati can’t afford many more Candelario-type mistakes if it wants to keep its window clean. The NL Central is too volatile, and the margin is too thin. When the Cardinals are comfortable lighting $31 million on fire to reset, it means the division is going to keep shifting quickly under everyone’s feet.

The Reds don’t need to outspend that kind of chaos. They need to out-execute it. Because if you’re already paying $16 million for nothing, the only way to survive is to make sure the next dollar actually buys you wins.