Anthony Rendon has long been one of baseball’s more avuncular superstars. As easygoing in temperament as he is fluid in his athleticism, when Rendon takes the field for the Nationals, he looks like he’s playing, well, a game. He’s quick to dispel incorrect assumptions about the game that stem from platitudes, he doesn’t put on airs (or shoes) for the press, and if he doesn’t feel like talking, he doesn’t. He said quite a bit last week on 106.7’s The Fan, however, and those listening walked away with the distinct impression that Rendon would be testing free agency at the end of the season.
Of course, pending free agents rarely extend this close to the bell, and Rendon is not one to surrender his autonomy unnecessarily. That doesn’t mean, however, that his departure from Washington is a foregone conclusion. Rendon met with his agent Scott Boras last week in Phoenix, after which Boras met with Nats ownership to continue an ongoing dialogue about Rendon’s future with the team, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post.
Every team has agents or other front offices they are comfortable dealing with, and for the Nationals, funny as it sounds, a Scott Boras negotiation is a world in which they are at ease. Boras and Ted Lerner – the Nats’ principal owner – have built up a fair amount of trust over the years through pulling together nearly every type of superstar negotiation, from an early extension for Stephen Strasburg, to the free agent signing of Max Scherzer, to the departure of Bryce Harper last offseason.
While it may sound overly optimistic to point to Harper’s free agency departure as a touchstone of a positive working relationship, it very well may be. Lerner and Boras know the game between them at this point, and while the ultimate price for Rendon may exceed what the Lerner’s are willing to pay, there aren’t a lot of unknowns between the parties.
Still, both Boras and Rendon have made a point to isolate Rendon as the decision-maker in the relationship, and given Rendon’s independent streak they probably mean it. Rendon sounded almost bitter over not having had an extension hammered out at any point previous during his 6-year relationship with the Nationals, but he also made clear that there is a price at which he’d happily re-up with the Nats. That price is bound to be exorbitant, perhaps even exceeding Nolan Arenado’s extension, but the premium would be to forego the opportunity to explore the market. Given Lerner’s relationship with Boras, that would seem to be an unnecessary expense on Lerner’s part.
Given the way Rendon has played this season, he has no reason to settle for anything less than top dollar. The underrated superstar has put together an MVP-type year, .315/.400/.608 while tying a career-high with 25 home runs (it’s August). His 153 wRC+ places him sixth among all qualified batters in the MLB, first overall in the majors among infielders. He is a singular superstar – in play and personality – and Boras’ relationship with Lerner only factors if Rendon, 29, really wants to stay in Washington. Positionally, third base is – after catcher – perhaps the most siloed in baseball, eliminating a couple contenders for his services (including his hometown team in Houston). Regardless, he no doubt will have alternatives if he does’t get what he wants from Washington once the season is over.
Speculatively speaking, Rendon would be an appropriate spiritual successor to Adrian Beltre in Texas – his home state. The Braves or Phillies could make a play to steal Rendon from a rival, though both teams have long-term answers nearby in Austin Riley and Alec Bohm. Looking elsewhere in the National League, the Cubs, Giants, Padres, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Reds already have money committed to third base, while the Pirates, Mets and Marlins have cheap options on hand. The American League has more third base slots available, but few offer the competitive environment available to Rendon in Washington.
The Nationals worked hard to stay under the tax this year, but they haven’t been shy about going over in the past, and they actually have a fair amount of payroll space to work with next year with Ryan Zimmerman’s $18MM coming off the books. Giving the keys to what-has-been Zimmerman’s house over to Rendon makes a lot of sense from a narrative standpoint. Rendon already supplanted Zimmerman at third base. No matter the outcome, the contract negotiations should linger into the offseason, and all parties involved seem comfortable with that.
I definitely think he stays. He’ll be supplemented really well with Juan Soto and Robles really well.
How Bohm in LF, McClutch in CF? Rendon at 3rd? Phil’s need a bat. LF/CF is the only spot bc Odubel is a complete coward.
Wouldn’t be opposed to Bohm in LF but Haseley needs to be out there too, presumably in CF. Bohm isn’t the best fielder. Phils should spend money on pitching this offseason though.
To be honest, as good as Rendon is, your essentially upgrading over Haseley here, who could be a pretty good player himself. the money is better spent elsewhere.
The only guy out there is Cole, will take some “stupid money”. MadBum is great, when healthy but he probably stays in SF. Would love the all in approach on pitching but, I see them bringing Hamels back and maybe another vet that is just a 4th or 5th starter, but better than Velasquez or Eflin. Howard and Medina still need to hit AAA.
They could have enough to bring in an impact arm and a bat. Well see what Haseley has down the stretch, if he stays on the field. Bohm is on the everyday roster regardless tho in 2019.
No way Bumgarner stays in California unless the team outbids the field several times over. Giants had enough of him and want to move on. They only kept him because of that run they went on combined with Cueto looking a lock to come back in time for the potential postseason. Still probably should have traded him for a pitching prospect anyway.
“Giants had enough of him and want to move on” How have they had enough of him? How would you know what they want to do? lofl
Its common knowledge. Don’t blame be you aren’t informed. MadBum will 100% not be in a Giants uniform next year, and probably won’t be on the west coast either. He’s a…type of person…
Hamels and MadBum need to be on top of Phillies offseason list. Add Will Smith to that too.
Not only is it NOT common knowledge, what you are saying is completely false.
google.com/amp/s/www.sfchronicle.com/giants/amp/Gi…
But if what you say is true I challenge you to post a source at all. If it’s so common you should be able to simply google “Giants and Bumgarner” and you will find several articles.
@salarycapmyth- This Choad is saying that because he wants the kids to play, bumgarner is a southerner and old school, and clearly, no enlightened west coast mind would tolerate both.
Bohm 3B, Cutch-JBJ-Harper in the OF
Or even see what Boston would want for Betts and throw him in CF.
I thought what you posted about Bumgarner was ludicrous, but this right here exceeds even that.
lol imagine thinking trying to predict the future on ANY level is ludicrous. Literally this entire site is ludicrous! Why single me out? Jealousy? OR just a crybaby who doesnt want his fave players moved???
You’re wrong, this entire site isn’t ludicrous. Also, your Betts proposal definitely was ludicrous and would only happen in an alternate universe. Take your sass elsewhere, goober.
So did you just buy into your own press, written by you or did you fall in love with your own reflection?
I would rather go Haseley than JBJ. Trade for then overpay a defense only CF? Eh… I think you could find a AAAA player with that same skillset tbh.
This article was very well written. Great read and keep up the awesome work TC!
My sentiments exactly
Isolate Rendon lol because Boras knows he will sign for lesser than Boras wants him to!
definitive proof that the players arent the only petty ones when it comes to sports
Always speak or write at a 5th grade level. Otherwise, you will sound arrogant and many may not understand you.
First day of sales training. TC must have missed that day…..being avuncular and all.
Maybe more people should attend school.
SAT prep words
Why would being avuncular make him miss a day of sales training? And why should bloggers follow rules for salespeople?
No doubt we’ve seen a small spike in google searches of the word “avuncular” only for people to think “but Rendon isn’t my uncle.”
I looked it up!
LOL!
I love that a baseball article caused me to look a word up. Keep at it TC!
They should’ve traded him at the deadline and got a couple of pieces. Now they are in danger of losing him to free agency and being left with nothing.
You don’t trade your best player when you’re in playoff contention.
Oakland did with Cespedes and still made it.
You saw how far that got them in the playoffs…
Oakland completely collapsed after that. They were almost passed up by Seattle on the last day of the season.
“Pieces”? You mean players.
He meant pieces, which means players. Not a hard concept to understand.
Then why not say players then. Pieces are things not people.
The Phillies are gonna sign him
Joe Dirt is a perfect representation of Phillies nation. Oh yea how did the Harper signing go so far?
His OPS is currently 1.009.
Rendon definitely going to the Rangers on a 10/300 deal.
He won’t sign for $30M AAV or for 10 years. Nobody is signing him til age 40 at that rate and he won’t sign for less than the record AAV.
10 years would sign him til 39, not 40.
He will also 100% take a lower rate over more years.
8 years 240 mil at least
I’m thinking 6 years at
$210 million with a few
lower AAV options…..
Alec Bohm does not profile at 3B.
1B/LF type.
Escobar could slide over to 2nd for the Dbacks, he is about average defender in either spot. However they should focus on the bullpen.
Come on Tigers! After next year JZ and his $25M will be gone.
…and the $6M (added to Justin Verlander’s $8M) the Tigers pay to Prince Fielder every year.
Followers of Mike Ilich know that Scott Boras won’t take advantage of a 93 year old man like Ted Lerner.
Rendon has gone on record saying he isn’t driven purely by money and would sign for less just to get it done, but he’s also been highlighted as a guy who could set the market with a long term deal. I do agree his energy and vibe is unrivaled but his numbers are comparable to plenty of guys not making insane amounts.
I got the sense a couple years ago when he was negotiating what became the $12.3M 2nd year arbitration he would’ve signed for like 7 years/$161MM and been ecstatic.
Now I get the sense he’s hoping for 8 years/$285M or something. No way he deserves that for 8 years…
7 years/$250M from 2020-2026 with the Nats with a $20M signing bonus, $20M in 2020, $30M ‘21-‘23, and from ‘24-‘26 $35M, $40M, $45M.
I think Rendon is a terrific player, definitely a borderline superstar BUT I’m also not entirely convinced he’s worth the amount of $ he seems to be seeking. Sure he’s having a great season and has been pretty consistently good over the course of his career. But he’s also never really been truly amazing. He hits for some power – 20-25 or so HRs/year it seems and generally has a BA around .285-.290 (I know this season he’s bested both of those marks) but he’s also getting older – and while he’s definitely got a few more seasons before age really catches up to him… you’d assume it will during the course of his next deal. Which leads me to my main point… giving him a massive 6/7+ year extension at $25-30+ million/year just doesn’t seem like the best long term deal. Who knows maybe he will continue to produce at the levels he has the past 4/5 years but to me the risk is just too great that he declines in 2/3 years – then you’re left with an albatross of a contract for a decent 3B. To me it just seems like he’s so close to being just good not great… like right now you can say he’s great… but even a minor decline and you’re looking at a .270 hitter with 15-20 HRs and do you really want to be paying a guy $30+million for 4/5+ years to do that? Idk maybe I’m just being cynical thinking he’ll follow the same trajectory as Zimmerman – but it just feels like he has less room for age-related decline than many other players. Like for instance if Machado takes a step back he goes from 35 HRs to 25-28.Which is still by all means above average. Whereas Rendon risks going from 25 to 18-20 at which point… how valuable will he really be. If he doesn’t decline with age that’s great! but can you really count on that for the type of $ he’s surely going to be looking for?
Rendon is made of glass too.
I agree. And regardless of the scarcity of other big names next offseason, the market isn’t trending in a promising way for guys in his age range.
The market definitely isn’t in Rendon’s favor. I expect Rendon would have to agree to some deferred money to stay in Washington. That’s how they like to operate.