The Los Angeles Angels and third baseman Anthony Rendon officially parted ways today, “agreeing to a restructuring of his contract”, according to MLB and Angels beat writer of The Athletic, Sam Blum.
Blum mentions that, as for specifics, the contract “will be deferred in the range of 3-5 years, and it’s unclear exactly how the payout will be structured”, states Blum in The Athletic.
According to Spotrac, Rendon had one year and $38.57 million left on his current contract for the 2026 season. Rendon signed a seven-year, $245 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels in December of 2019. This came after Rendon won the 2019 World Series with the Washington Nationals versus the Houston Astros, and was considered to be one of the best available players on the free agent market at the time of his upcoming free agency in the 2019 offseason.
Rendon Angels Contract Was Disaster
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However, Rendon’s contract with the Angels has been a complete disaster. Starting with overall health, Rendon never appeared in more than 58 games during any of his five seasons with the Angels. 2020 was the COVID-19 pandemic year (60-game season). Still, Rendon from 2021-24 on average appeared in 51 games during his Angels tenure, with the most coming during the 2021 season, in which he appeared in 58 games, which is still considerably less than half of an entire regular season (162 games).
Rendon was sidelined for the whole 2025 campaign due to having left hip surgery in early February before Spring Training. He also had the same surgery, except on his right hip, in July of 2022, which put him out for the remainder of that season as well. Rendon has also dealt with a myriad of other injuries with the Angels, including ones involving his back, groin, wrist, triceps, knee, and elbow.
Started Well But Quickly Went South
The first year of Rendon’s contract, the pandemic year, 2020, started well. Despite the MLB season being reduced to 60 games because of COVID-19, Rendon appeared in 52 games and posted a 2.2 WAR with a .286/.418/.497 slash line and .915 OPS while playing above-average defense at third base.
From there, everything went downhill. Rendon couldn’t stay healthy to play or produce effectively on the field. He posted a combined 1.7 WAR from 2021-24, in which was a steep drop off from Rendon being a 7.3 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) kind of player in 2019 alone with the Nationals, or at the very least hovering around a 5-6 WAR in his prior years with Washington, being a player who could hit you between 20-25 home runs on average while being an above average defender at a premium position, third base.
Rendon also dealt with off-field issues during his Angels tenure, including an altercation with a fan on Opening Day 2023 in Oakland, for which he was suspended for four games. Rendon also received mixed reviews when he answered a question regarding where baseball falls in terms of his biggest priorities, he stated; “It’s never been a top priority for me. This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, family come before this job. So if those things come before it, I’m leaving”, stated Rendon in February of 2024.
Rendon further added how his “enthusiasm” for the game “changed” since being drafted in 2011 at the age of 21 from Rice University, in which Rendon clarified by stating, “my enthusiasm has not been the same since I got drafted, to be honest with you.” Rendon later added, “I emailed myself a pro and con list of why I wanted to stay in the game. This was 2014.”
Rendon, as a Los Angeles Angel, appeared in just 257 games within five years, posting an underwhelming .242/.348./369 slash line with 22 home runs, 93 RBIs and a .717 OPS within that time frame.
According to The Athletic’s Sam Blum, it is not known whether Anthony Rendon, who’s 35, will retire. His time with the Angels, however, is officially done.
For the Angels and Rendon’s sake, this can be considered a mutual parting of ways that was long overdue.
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This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
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