ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported in late November that the 2 events had been engaged on a buyout of kinds concerning the ultimate yr and $38M on the seven-year, $245M contract Rendon signed following his monster 2019 season. It proved to be a catastrophic misstep for the Halos — one of many least productive main signings within the sport’s historical past. Rendon performed in solely 257 video games for Anaheim, slashing simply .242/.348/.369 with 22 residence runs in 1,095 plate appearances. Of a attainable 1,032 video games he may have performed with the Angels, Rendon will wind up showing in slightly below one-quarter of them.
It’s simple to neglect, however Rendon’s Angels tenure began out fairly nicely. He performed in 52 of 60 video games throughout the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and slashed a sturdy .286/.418/.497 with 9 homers, 11 doubles, a triple and extra walks (16.4%) than strikeouts (13.4%). It was exactly the kind of star-level output for which the Angels hoped when signing the reigning World Collection MVP after a sensational run in Washington; from 2017-19, Rendon had slashed .310/.397/.556 with the Nationals.
All the pieces fell other than that time forth. Rendon’s 2021 season was lower quick by hip surgical procedure. His 2022 season ended early resulting from wrist surgical procedure. He missed the entire 2025 season following a second hip surgical procedure. Even within the 2023-24 seasons, when he averted present process any sort of surgical process, Rendon was restricted to simply 90 video games because of the mixture of a fractured tibia (suffered when fouling a ball into his leg), a torn hamstring and an indirect pressure.
As one would anticipate, as these accidents piled up, Rendon’s manufacturing wilted. Following his terrific 2020 marketing campaign, he performed in simply 202 video games with the Angels and hit .231/.329/.336 with poor protection. He was successfully a replacement-level participant — and a often injured one at that. Rendon additionally sparked controversy off the sphere as nicely in 2023, when he was captured on video grabbing an A’s fan by the shirt after he’d been stubborn at whereas leaving the sphere. Rendon swore on the fan and took a swipe at him after releasing his shirt. He was suspended for 4 video games and fined by the league.
The Angels weren’t relying on Rendon for any contributions from Rendon in 2026 anyhow, however the restructure and deferral of his weighty $38M wage provides the group some additional spending energy this winter. Particulars surrounding the character of the deferrals and the way a lot — if something — they’ll pay Rendon in 2026 are unclear. Blum, nonetheless, means that the Angels may use the newfound monetary freedom to pursue a higher-profile free agent this winter. That doesn’t essentially need to be at third base, however with Alex Bregman and NPB star Kazuma Okamoto, there are a pair of notable choices on the place.
Lots of the prime names on the free-agent market stay unsigned so far. Along with Bregman and Okamoto, none of Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Cody Bellinger, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez or Tatsuya Imai have signed but. Imai’s 45-day posting window closes on Jan. 2. Okamoto’s posting window closes two days later.
Previous to the Rendon buyout/restructure, RosterResource projected the Angels’ payroll at about $172M, which is roughly $34M shy of their 2025 degree. Relying on how the brand new association has been structured, the Angels may very well be anyplace from $40M-$70M shy of final yr’s season-ending mark, which might give common supervisor Perry Minasian and his employees loads of room to additional increase the membership.
