FRIDAY: The signing is now official, per an announcement from the Angels.
WEDNESDAY: Yet another superstar free agent has come off the board in what has turned into the fastest-moving offseason in recent memory. The Angels reached a seven-year, $245MM agreement with free-agent third baseman Anthony Rendon on Wednesday, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. The deal includes a full no-trade clause, but there are no opt-outs, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The contract doesn’t include any deferrals, according to Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds that it’s “slightly” backloaded. The value checks in just above the seven-year, $235MM prediction MLBTR made for Rendon entering the offseason.
Rendon’s the third Scott Boras client to land a $200MM-plus contract this week. He, Gerrit Cole ($324MM) and Stephen Strasburg ($245MM) will combine for a jaw-dropping $814MM in guarantees. Rendon’s now leaving Strasburg and the Nationals, with whom he won a World Series in 2019. Despite the Nationals’ deep pockets, though, owner Mark Lerner expressed doubt last week about the team’s chances of re-signing both of its marquee free agents. Once Strasburg re-signed, the likelihood was that Rendon would leave.
Other teams, including the Dodgers and Rangers, aggressively pursued Rendon over the past few days. However, he has chosen to team with the game’s foremost player, Angels center fielder Mike Trout, to make up one of the premier tandems in baseball. At $35MM per season, the soon-to-be 30-year-old Rendon is now second only to Trout in average annual value for position players.
Rendon earned his enormous payday – one that outdoes the seven-year, $234MM extension Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado signed last winter – with a superb tenure in Washington. The 2011 sixth overall pick debuted two years later and proceeded to post four seasons with upward of 6.0 fWAR as a member of the Nationals. Somehow, though, he didn’t earn an All-Star nod until 2019. That will go down as his best and most memorable Nats campaign, as he slashed a remarkable .319/.412/.598 with a personal-high 34 home runs and a career-best 7.0 fWAR during the regular season. Rendon carried his excellence into the postseason, where he was an integral part of the team’s improbable run to a championship. On the game’s biggest stage, Rendon logged a 1.003 OPS with three homers. His Game 7 World Series HR against the Astros woke up the Nationals in the seventh inning, helping lead to a title-winning comeback.
As was the case when outfielder Bryce Harper left D.C. to accept the Phillies’ mega-offer last winter, Rendon’s departure no doubt stings for the Nationals. If it’s any consolation to the club, though, it will receive some compensation for his exit because it issued him a qualifying offer after the season. The Nats will collect a 2020 draft pick between Competitive Balance Round B and Round 3. They now figure to turn their attention toward replacing Rendon at third base, where they’ve been connected to Josh Donaldson – now the No. 1 free agent left in an ever-shrinking marketplace. They’ll have plenty of competition in that regard, though, with various reports linking the Rangers, Dodgers, Phillies, Twins and Braves to Donaldson.
The Angels, meanwhile, will surrender their second-highest pick next year and lose $500K of their international bonus pool for adding Rendon. But that’s a small price to pay for the Halos, a team desperately seeking a return to the playoffs after five straight failed seasons. Owner Arte Moreno and general manager Billy Eppler entered the offseason looking to make an enormous splash, evidenced previously by their interest in Cole, Strasburg, Donaldson and now-Phillie Zack Wheeler, and they pulled it off by reeling in Rendon.
With Rendon, Trout, shortstop Andrelton Simmons, second baseman David Fletcher, left fielder Justin Upton and designated hitter/right-hander Shohei Ohtani making up the majority of their lineup, the Angels have a strong core of hitters in place. However, there remain obvious need areas on the club, including in its rotation (which should benefit from Ohtani’s return from Tommy John surgery and the acquisition of Dylan Bundy) and at catcher.
The Angels still seem poised to patch both of those holes, as Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports (Twitter links) that they remain focused on finding “significant” starting help and adding a new backstop. Even with Rendon’s salary factored in, the Angels appear to have the money to pick up at least one more high-end contributor and stay under the $208MM luxury-tax line in 2020, with Jason Martinez of Roster Resource estimating their current CBT payroll at $177MM-plus.
Ridiculous. Good luck with that, LA.
A little bitter?
No opt out might hurt them later on with no trade clause
A no opt out does not hurt the Club at all. A player would only opt out if his value exceeded the balance on the contract.
In other words a player only opts out when you do not want him to do so.
You make it sound like its a bad deal because the Angels can’t get out of it. I mean the ink is not even dry and you think the Angels are thinking dam how can we get out of this deal we just agreed to minutes ago?
I mean you’re kind of right. I’d also argue that if he was good enough to opt out for more than this, it’d still be a win for the Angels because he played elite baseball for them…
We’ll see in the coming years
Opt out only benefits player. If he doesn’t opt out it means he didn’t play well enough and they’re stuck with him.
That is true as well Priggs but on the flip side if he gets hurt or plays poor the team is stuck so the only upside for the team would be as you said hey thanks for the good years but the downside for the team is much more. But you are right as far as your point. But the commentor I responded to thought the opt out helped the team due to the no trade clause and it does not as the opt out only has the Angels losing him if the Angels want to keep him. It does nothing as far as helping the Angels out of the deal if they wanted out due to poor performance or injury
Nope they’re thinking of how sweet it will be to have Trout and Rendon batting back to back for the next 7 years.
Of what? The Angels are more pathetic than the Marlins. They never learn anything and continue to allocate huge money contracts to hitters rather than address their true needs. What are the chances the Angels win more games with 2 of Ryu/Bum/Wheeler (had he not signed with Philly) than a single Rendon? My guess is they would. They might have spent less money in doing it, too. Their most “consistent” starter last season was Andrew Heaney and he made a whopping 18 starts with a 4.91 ERA in 95 innings. Maybe they need reliable pitchers who can eat innings? Just a thought. My guess is the Angels will acquire another Wade Miley/Matt Harvey caliber pitcher and call it a day. They think they can out hit everyone and scrape by with a bunch of mediocre pitchers. It’s truly sad.
They’re so embarrassing and laughable at this point that they need to just move the team or scrap the FO entirely.
Dude chill. They just created one of the best lockdown infields in the game, Added a solid bat to compliment Trout and Ohtani and it’s not like he is signed into his 40s.
I just saw another post saying that they are in for Ryu/Bumgarner/or Keuchel and exploring trades for Jon Gray. The team has time and payroll to add a couple of solid arms and a catcher.
Wade Miley? That’s awfully generous , I think Homer Bailey or Jhoulys Chacin are more their speed
It’s hard to chill when I see a team with tremendous potential squander it away with questionable decisions. Did they really NEED Rendon?
You sound like your image.
They were in on those pitchers before blowing their wad on anthony rendon. They won’t be signing any more players to 100mil + deals trust me. The luxury tax is no joke and they have too many high dollar contract as it is. This was their big offseason addition.
They are also looking to trade for Kluber/Carrasco/Price. They are far from finished. This had to happen now if it was gonna happen for them at all. Now pitching and a catcher. They will do what it takes to win in 2020.
Thanks Mr.Ward. I’m not even an Angels fan. That should tell you a lot about the team. National embarrassment.
Wrong Baller. The are still 25m to 35m under the tax line.
My guy, they aren’t inept. They got outbid. You’re acting like they don’t know they need pitching. They were reportedly in on all three of the pitchers, and all three went somewhere else. It happens. There are literally 29 other teams.
But they also had a need for a complimentary bat for Trout and haven’t had a reliable third baseman since Chone Figgins. So they got it. And they still have money to spend. Heck, they had money to spend BEFORE they cleared $13 million from the books yesterday. They WILL add another starter this year, and it won’t be a Harvey type. Either by trade or signing. And everyone seems to forget that Ohtani is a pitcher for some reason. The guy is coming back this year, and immediately makes the rotation better before they even add anyone else.
Simple Jack, it is not like they have not tried to address the pitching issue or will not. So they decided to address the other issue they have had for years ( and do not have in the ML. pipeline , 3b). They have 30 million more to spend this year and in a couple more years $33 million coming off with Pujols.
They will sign one of the top three SP left as they now have become even more attractive to pitchers, solid defense and strong offensive lineup .
Thank you jesus that you are not an Angels fan.
The baseball IQ in this comment section is remarkably low.
You win baseball by scoring more runs than your opponent. The notion that you need top flight pitching is flat out wrong. Great hitting and decent pitching can work just as well as decent hitting and great pitching.
It’s an embarrassment to the educational system in America that so many baseball fans lack basic mathematical understanding.
Eeeesh, how doyou type through your foggy monacle, Col. Condescension?
You win baseball games by scoring more runs than your opponent.
You win baseball games by preventing your opponent from scoring more runs than you. Rendon is only part of the equation. Great hitting and decent pitching can win ballgames. If only the Angels had the latter.
Angels are the Mets of the West. They play 2nd fiddle to to the other team in the city. And make all the wrong decisions.
Agreed. A billion in position player salaries and no playoffs to show for it. They org has had a lot of bad luck with pitching over the years, but it seems like they are doubling down. $245 could have replaced the entire rotation…
245 million could replace the entire team. Luckily the contract is not structured
245m
0
0
0
0
0
0
No body puts baby in the corner like you do stand back.
This is the Angels offseason to make an impact. Offense is going to be killer but I think also everyone is overlooking Ohtani back in the rotation with Bundy and they can get 1-2 more guys. Not an angels fan just someone who wants to see the Astros destroyed.
Except one has a great starting rotation and one doesn’t.
As an avid Nats fan who has watched at least 75% of Rendon’s games since he came up in 2013, let me tell Angels fans what you just got. With Rendon, you get a guy who put the ‘ch’ in chill. It takes some getting used to, like when he steps out of the box in what anyone else would think is a critical situation to offer a long yawn, but he’s always focused and working hard, just doesn’t look it. He won’t ever make trouble and he truly doesn’t want attention of any kind, good or bad. He is the perfect partner for Trout because he is 100% happy to let someone else soak up all the fan and media attention. He’s a B+ fielder who makes tough plays and is never rattled if something goes wrong. He’s a monster at the plate in ways that go way beyond the numbers. First, like Trout and unlike Bryant, Arenado or Donaldson, he will draw as many BBs as SOs. In other words, he kills pitchers by making them work and then takes advantage when they have to throw strikes. A huge piece of the Nats magic this year was the pairing of the remarkably patient Rendon with an unbelievably patient Soto. Pitchers dreaded dealing with them and I expect Rendon-Trout will be the same or worse. Rendon can hit for power, but he is a doubles man at heart. Assuming the league goes back to a non-juiced ball, he’ll hit 20-something bombs each year, but 40+ 2Bs. He is clutch at the plate, the most clutch any Nats fan has seen, and that’s a big reason why there are lots of tears in DC tonight. In summary, Tony is the real deal and a low-key, “no comment” guy in an era of “look at me” stars. Angels fans will love him, but…..it wouldn’t be a fair evaluation if I didn’t mention potential negatives. The only big one is that Rendon is not consistently healthy, and that is likely to get worse as he ages. Also, he’s not a gym rat or physical specimen who works hard to stay in peak condition like Howie Kendrick or Mike Trout, he’s kind of soft and his brilliance comes from his feel for the game and ridiculous quick-twitch wrists which allow him to wait on any pitch. I think he’ll have those wrists until his late 30s (like Miggy Cabrera), but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s playing 1B in a couple years. That’s really it though on the negative side.
On the whole, Rendon is the real deal and Nats fans are sad to lose him but happy for him all the same. It will be fun for all of us to watch him play/bat beside Trout.
Rendon, Simmons, Fletcher. That is the best infield in baseball.
What got it into everyone’s heads that Bundy would be the difference maker? An arm that was already losing velocity on a team where only Cahill could get up around the 100 inning mark? I
whose head is that in? Bundy doesn’t even think Bundy is THE difference maker.
Your post sounds like a page from the Yankees playbook. If you’re right then point to a team that’s had success with that. Name the last World Series—heck, even division winner—winner that didn’t have two or three 1/1A pitchers. Especially in this juiced ball era.
Flat out no way your equation wins anything. It’s the plan for a .500 season.
Spot on, Halos fans acting like the new Yankees saying “we’ll get X and Y and be back on top” when they’ve had no playoff wins in all of Trout’s tenure because they continue to ignore pitching. Until they address it, the A’s staff is too stubborn and the Astros are… the Astros. And the Angels will keep reaping the same results. Getting 4 1/3 per start is not going to make their case for the AL West believable.
You might want to take a look at their infield offensive production last year. He’s needed.
I’m sorry second fiddle to the Dodgers? Who aren’t even in the same city? Angels have drawn more fans since at least 2013, and last time I checked the Angels won a World Series this century, the Dodgers back in 88. Angels also have the top 2 active War leaders in MLB and NL West is weaker than the AL west, pad those wins Dodgers! And now the Angels bought the stadium and surrounding area from Anaheim which will add value of the team with the Dodgers who own theirs. Do some research next time
Nice
Until the playoffs when great offenses are repeatedly stymied when mid-season pitching fodder is no longer used. But you knew that….
You mean like Pujols… who was the reason the Angels got a 3 Billion dollar TV deal.
They tried to get Cole, it didn’t work out, so they added a star to go with the best outfield in baseball. Now they have the best 2,3,4 hitters in baseball.
Over the last six years Rendon is the sixth best player in baseball. He’s the best position player free agent in years. He’s not as good as Betts, but just wait until what he gets paid next year.
The top six
Trout, Betts, Donnaldson, Alutve, Yellich,
Arenado’s better than Donaldson
betts out of boston is just a good player.
Ontari.
Who is this? 265/323/476. It’s the road version of Arenado.
Yup. Arenado is the best fielding 3B in the MLB and consistently below average at the plate in every park except Coors Canaveral (his tOPS+ is 79 on the road in 509 games!). Re-signing with the Rockies, despite their problems, was the smartest route to Cooperstown for Arenado because not many folks are aware of how average he is at anything close to sea level. Of course his teammate Charlie Blackmon is even worse: if you went only by Blackmon’s stats from road games (.261 AVG, .743 OPS and 71 tOPS+ in 546 games) you’d reasonably wonder how he’s stayed in the MLB for so long, let alone won 2 silver slugger awards and been a 4-time all star.
You seem to be using tOPS+ as if it’s OPS+. They’re not the same thing. tOPS+ doesn’t illustrate whether his performance is above or below average (park-adjusted).. It measures a split’s OPS relative to the player’s total OPS. A 100 tOPS+ doesn’t mean average, it means his OPS for that split is equal to his total OPS.
His OPS in the following stadiums:
Yankee Stadium
Miller Park
Kaufman Stadium
Rangers Ballpark
Minute Maid Park
is above is his Coors OPS
His OPS in the following stadiums:
Nationals Park
Busch Stadium
Turner Field
Dodger Stadium
Petco Park
Great America
Chase Field
AT&T Park
ranges from .819-.962
He hits beastly at home but the idea that he’s Clark Kent everywhere else or that a below average player can become a hall of famer simply by being a career-long Rockie are inaccurate, hyperbolic…inaccubolic.
” if you went only by Blackmon’s stats from road games (.261 AVG, .743 OPS and 71 tOPS+ in 546 games) you’d reasonably wonder how he’s stayed in the MLB for so long, let alone won 2 silver slugger awards and been a 4-time all star.”
Which would cause people to reasonably wonder “why do those awards confuse you…wait what? You’re only going by his road games? Why? To like, intentionally confuse yourself or something?”
So you decided to act like your image again smh… sitting on the ground, screaming and kicking your feet like a little baby.
The Angels needed a bat to compliment Trout. Period.
And they decided to go with the second best investments on the market.
One of the best 3rd basemen in the game.
I’d rather have that contract than Coles. Oh, and guess what? They’re still looking for multiple top tier pitchers to compliment their already impressive offense! Grow up! Be greatful your not an M’s fan geesh
Agreed. Hopefully the Angels get good pitching onto the team. They don’t need to be aces. Just really good pitching.
Thanks, #OntariGro, you are right, I didn’t use tOPS+ right. As you pointed out, it indicates only that these players were much better at home than on the road, but it doesn’t show, in itself, that they were necessarily bad relative to other players, just to their own splits at home.
Nevertheless, you can pull out the thesaurus and go wild, but it doesn’t change the fact that great players have similar home/away stats (Trout’s OPS is exactly 1.000 for both!) and Arenado and Blackmon are different players at home vs away and the differences are statistically significant. I’m not blaming them, they’ve clearly learned how to adjust to pitches in less gravity and not everyone does that well, but Blackmon’s .261/.313/.743 on the road or Arenado’s .265/.323/.799 are large samples of mediocre baseball that should give any team pause in projecting those players on their roster. My point is Arenado is not going anywhere because his contract only makes sense in Colorado and it’s likely his only path to fame and Cooperstown.
That is an excellent summary. and an excellent description of Rendon.. My only differences are I think Rendon is an A fielder and I think he can stay at 3b for the next seven years.. [On this latter difference, maybe my crystal ball is not as good as your’s.]
I would also add that while Donaldson is not going to walk about the same as he strikes out, he is no body’s fool at the plate. His 100 walks per year. He would pair very well with Soto.
Indeed, if the Nats fail to land Donaldson and with their current group, it looks like Soto will be walking about 150 times a year unless he decides he is going become Harper-like and start bailing and wailing on outside (and way outside) pitches.
Nellie
To me how can anyone be jealous of the Angels? Who are your starting pitchers? You can’t hit your way to the World Series. Very few teams have accomplished that feat. If you think Ohtani and a couple of nobody’s are going to get you there it will never happen. But the free agent pool is still open for business so maybe you can get a Rick Porcello or a tier 2 pitcher to help. Maybe Maddon can develop the farm system. Oh and thank you for Will.
Teams mhave to develop their own players, even at the ML level….and that starts with pitchers.
The Angels now have one of the best pitching coaches in MLB.
By the end of 2020 at least 5 pitchers on that roster will be noticeably better. Rendon’s glove at 3B will help them as well.
And they will make a bullpen out of what today looks like nothing.
They’ll improve just in time for Bundy and Heaney to leave in free agency. Angels need to pray it’s Ohtani and Canning that take the Indians sized leap.
Trout and Rendon!!! Angels will win a World Series before the Chavez Latrine Doyers.
Coming from the lowest pointe in California.
Check your pipes BRO
Death valley is both the lowest point in the state as well as I believe the country as a whole. I think theres one part thats like -120′ below sea level.
Ok I’m a die hard Angels fan and thrilled with the direction the team is going but come on! Even a homer like me can’t say the Angels at this point have a better chance than the Dodgers at winning a World Series first, I hate to admit it but the Dodgers are a legit championship contending team right now. Let’s just keep the bar low and make the playoffs first!
Bitter for what? His kids won’t be able to spend a Saturday night with him on the couch until he’s 37, and that’s no fun. But at least couch will be made of a nicer material with $245M, maybe leather — a sectional, perhaps?
Good point!
At $245m he can’t possibly afford to house his family in SoCal during the season. Of course, with housing prices increasing someone could make the argument that investing in another home for years can result in yet another financial windfall.
The good news – his family will now will be living in SoCal part of the year, where people actually get out, exercise, and look good. It’ll be a shock to his kids that were in DC for 6 years.
Yah. It’s not like he has an entire offseason where he can bust his butt all morning/day and be home at a reasonable time…
@Vandals… ??? DC always ranks high as one of the fittest cities.
Typical Angels. Need pitching, sign a bat. Rendon was the best everyday player available this free agency. Tony Two Bags had 80+ extra base hits and hit well over 300 last year, so you cannot dislike having him on your team. Upton was hurt in pre-season and had a terrible year, but I expect him to be much better next year. The problem is the heart of the lineup, Trout, Upton, Rendon, Simmons, Pujols, and up and comer Jo Adell are all right handed. Only part time DH Ohtoani, La Stella, and Goodwin bat from the left side. I am guessing the keep La Stella, since he is LH and offer Fletcher as trade bait for some mediocre starter pitcher. Fletcher is younger and has more trade value than La Stella.. We still have a glaring hole a catcher and starting pitcher that needs to be addressed and since we just use $35M/yr on Rendon, we do not have a lot to offer to fill these voids. I hope they do something, but it seems to be pitching seems to be a constant problem. I dont understand how we go home emply handed every free agency when it comes to pitching. I love the move of adding Joe Maddon, but even he needs starting pitching to work his magic.
“we do not have a lot to offer to fill these voids”
The Angels, with Rendon, still have 30m to 35m before they hit the tax line. That is plenty to grab up 2 decent starters and Maldonado to catch them.
I realize they have around $33M for the hit the tax line, but if you follow the Angels, you know they are not a team that operates near the tax line. They are typically around $165M. They are around $175M at the moment, which is higher than usual. They did just reach 50 year pact with the city of Anaheim, which may increase the budget. Also, Pujols will be coming off the books in a couple of years which frees up $25-30M/yr. From what I am reading they are looking at adding some front line pitching so maybe they will increase the budget and operate near the tax threshold. Adding a .400+OBP / 1.000+OPS guy like Rendon to hit behind another 400+OBP / 1.000+ OPS in Trout is a good thing, especially if they can land another arm. I know they want to win now while Trout is still in his prime. They have Maddon for 3 years so I believe they want to make something to happen in this 3 year window.
You’re right, Moreno has kept his payroll at $165m-ish for years. Pitching has been a problem for several seasons now so it’s been frustrating. However, he made a point at a press conference to announce that payroll will be going up this winter. So I have to believe it will be a significant increase. I predict, based on nothing at all, that the Angels will be around the $200m mark by opening day.
Way over paid for this guy just insane
I don’t think he is but over priced or not its nice to have a real third baseman on the Angels again. It’s been 20 years since we had Troy Glaus and 35 since we had Doug DeCinses.
Angels trying to overcompensate for losing out on Cole. Rendon is a nice player, but this deal is absurd.
Aredondo should be crying right now his a way better player could have gotten 300 million in this years free agent class. Its not even a competition any more why would any player not hire Boras he gets huge deals for average players. And if you dont think so look at their carrer numbers not just last year where most guys hit home runs.
This is a better signing than anything the Braves did lol.
Rendon out of the NL East – sure!
245 mill is a bargain. Thought he’d get at least 300 mill
Outside of this year he’s been a 2-3 WAR player. He’s the epitome of a career year in a contract year player.
I’d agree with you, however his clutch performance in the playoffs helped out quite a bit.
@ffjsisk
Dude you can google this stuff. Rendon 2019 was his 3rd consecutive season with a WAR of at least 6.2.
Now, now. He’s a 5 win player entering his decline phase. Projects to be worth about 21 wins over 7 years. He’s good enough that he has a solid chance to be worth starting the last year of the deal, which is not nothing. But it’s nutty, overall.
You want an ancient Trout and Rendon in year 7 of this deal, eating up something like 75m? That tv money must be something.
He has 2 years with 6+, 1 year of 5, and 1 year of 4. Nice try though
Huh?!
2019 – 7 WAR
2018 – 6.2
2017 – 6.7
2016 – 4.3
You’re trolling. He averaged 5.8 per 162
Last 3 years his war has hovered between 5-6 Annually and topping out at 6.8 last year. His first 3 years he was considered glove first and averaged 2-3 war in those seasons. Hitting behind trout and ohtani i don’t see any regression. This is a great deal for angels!
I don’t think your numbers are right. Per baseball reference, he has 3 years below a 4 WAR with one of them being a 3.9, one was his rookie year and the other was an injury shortened season. This wasn’t even his best year by WAR. That would have been his sophomore season when he had a 6.6 versus this past seasons 6.3.
Let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story.
He’s been a solid, star player for the Nationals for years. Maybe if he pumped his fist or did/said controversial things, you’d know that.
Was a far better all-around player then Harper was for the Nats.
27.3 career WAR, he just set career highs in every statistical category this year. He’s not gonna repeat it, he never has.
He’s a WS Champion.
He never has what? Repeated setting new highs in every statistical category on a yearly basis? In what world would that be a team/fan/anyone’s expectation?
Hey jackstrawb: Re “That TV money must be something.” Yup, with the Doyers. $300M a year for 25 years and the TV blacking out of 70% of their fans. Go bark on the loser Doyer board.
The correct number is $245,000,000.
Nice try on the nice try.
A 2-3 WAR player outside of this year. Uh, no. 2014 WAR 6.6. 2015 WAR 0.4 (played less than 80 games). 2016 WAR 3.9. 2017 WAR 5.9. 2018 WAR 4.2. 2019 WAR 6.3. That is NOT a 2-3 WAR player.
He didn’t even set a career high for WAR last year. You are thick.
yeah, i’ll just pull out of my a**, “a 2-3 war player outside of this year.” SMH
He doesn’t seem like he’ll age like Albert. Beltre was raking until 38-39. Even if his war goes 6,5,4,3,2, the first 5 years, He’s better than any 3B they’ve had since Glaus. Better than risking it all on Cole who’s a ligament away from TJ surgery and plays 1 of 5 games. $ is out of control, but seems like it’s not stopping owners to pay for top talent that doesn’t come every year.
3.8 WAR OVER 7 SEASONS WITH 5+ EACH OF THE LAST 3 YEARS! ALSO AN MVP CALIBER PLAYER LAST SEASON, WHILE NATIONALS PARK IS BETTER HITTERS PARK FOR AVERAGE, ANGEL STADIUM IS A BETTER OBP AND SLUGGING % PARK SO I’M SORRY FOR ALL YOU ANGEL HATERS BUT PLZ DO YOUR RESEARCH.
At least Pujols will be off the books by then. The Angels really are the masters of terrible deals. Do they EVER get it right in free agency?
agreed but Rendon hopefully won’t age like Pujols and when Pujols is done Rendon can switch to 1st base if necessary. Pujols is signed through age 41 season, while Rendon is only signed through age 37 season
Yes. Google Vlad Guerrero. Know what you are talking about then speak.
Vlad Guerrero played a looooong time ago. You are proving my point for me. Let’s talk about Pujols, Justin Upton, Gary Matthews Jr, CJ Wilson, Cozart, Josh Hamilton etc…
The Angels have no idea what they are doing and you should have very little confidence in them doing the right thing.
You had a point? It is not like the Angels have a crystal ball. Pujols was the best hitter in the game when they signed him. The length of the contract was long and everyone thought the back half of the contract would be the bad for the Angels, but the first half. No one could predict that Pujols would turn into a pumpkin as soon as the ink dried on the contract I believe having Pujols in the dugout helped tremendously on Mike Trout’s growth.. Josh Hamilton was also a highly sought after free agent when he was signed. Again, he wasn’t the same in the Angels uniform. We know he had his “demons” and was a bit of a head case. Anaheim wasn’t a fit for him. CJ Wilson had (2) 13-10 seasons, and a 17-7 season before the injuries. He was pretty decent , not a complete bust.. A lot of pitchers would take a 17-7 record for one season. Justin Upton had hit 257 and hit 30 HRs in the one full year he played since free agency. This is about what you can expect from J-up. Last year he was hurt. The verdict is still out if the contract is bad.. Cozart was injured his entire time as an Angel, his contract was viewed as favorable at the time it is was signed by anyone who knows anything about baseball. The one deal that you can say was bad from the get go is Gary Matthews. Everyone thought that was a bad deal. I believe it was 5 years at $50M total.. Yes you can have one gold star for being correct for once in your life. You can look back now and call them bad, Miss 2nd Guess Nancy, but no way you can at the time of signing. Show me one team that hasn’t made a mistake in free agency. Harper, Machado, and Trout were all signed to big contracts last year. Out of those 3 contracts, I think Trouts looks like the best. I guess the clueless, no confident Angels got one right huh?
Don’t take it personally. Just about every deal the Angels sign in FA has worked out poorly. You can tie yourself in knots telling me how great they were at the time(even though most weren’t), but the bottom line is that they flopped. I’m sure it isn’t much consolation for you that they gave a zillion dollars to Pujols to be a good mentor to Trout, right? I didn’t even get into their lesser signing of guys like Justin Bour, Matt Harvey, Valbuena & Lucroy. Yuck. I’m amazed you are still defending their actions, but there is still time for you to come around. Rendon will be another bad signing soon enough. The Angels just can’t get it right.
Obviously the Angels paid Pujols to be the same Pujols as he was in St :Louis. He hasn’t been. It is not like the Cardinals and Yankees were not offering similar money to him. Only the Angels were willing to go 10 years. They knew that he wasn’t going to be the same in 10 years, but wanted to make a splash since they had a new TV contract. As an Angel fan, I was ecstatic to get Pujols the day he signed All Angel fans were. I can look back now and say what a terrible deal it has been. I am not going to blame the Angels for signing Pujols. It could have been a great move. The fact that Pujols hasnt been the same is not the fault of the Angel’s front office. I do not fault the Angels for any of the moves that you mentioned initially, except for Matthews. Most every guy was sought after, not only by the Angels. You can make the point that several players have left the Angels via free agency, like Chone Figgins and Joe Saunders, that were good for the Angels and not very good for their new teams. It is baseball that is how it goes.
The Bour, Harvey, Lucroy, Cahill, were all one year deals. The reason they are one year deals is because the team doesn’t have confidence beyond that. They’re not committed long term. The reason a lot of these were made were due to budget restrictions and they were trying to catch a lightning in a jar.. Hardly a concern.
Another Angel free agent pick up that was great is Torii Hunter.
Will Rendon be a success? Only time will tell. On paper it looks great to have two 400+OBP / 1.000OPS guys back to back in a lineup. You will say it will fail before it even begins because you are a hater. It says more about you and your negative personality than it does about the Angels front office.
Again, I will ask, what is the team that never made a mistake in free agency?
I’m not even a hater. I really don’t care about the Angels one way, or the other.
But the fact that you have to go all the way back to Torii Hunter and Vlad Guerrero to get examples of good FA signings by the team speaks volumes.
I think you’ll get a 3-4 good years out of Rendon. He’s a nice player. I never considered him a $30m franchise kind of guy(and he really isn’t). It seems like an overreaction to missing out on Cole. They are also buying high on Rendon after his career year and a monster postseason. I’m not rooting against you. I’m just telling you that history isn’t on your side.
I believe Cole is a better fit than Rendon for the Angels. However, I would not give a 29 year old a 9 year contract at 36 million per, especially since Cole put a lot of miles on his arm over the past couple years, a lot of innings, deep runs through the playoffs, and a lot of strikeouts. . There is no guarantee that Rndon will be a good sign for the Angels, but there is no guarantee that Cole would have been any better. Rendon is the best position player in FA in the past 4-5 years. Rendon is the 4th in WAR over the past 4 years. The only 3 ahead of him are Trout, Yelich, and Betts. I don’t know if you watch a lot of Rendon or watched the playoffs, but he had a pretty good run throughout the playoffs. He works counts, has a high OBP, plays good defense, and is a doubles machine. He did have 34 HRs last year through I am sure if that was anomalous. I am not sure if we will see that type of power in Anaheim. He lead the NL in doubles and RBIs. I don’t know what you look for in a franchise guy, but he was the best position player on a team that just won the WS and they would not have won it without him.. The Angels still have the worst rotation in baseball, they still need some pitching to make it work, but I am willing to see if that changes before opening day. Angels have had bad signings but who hasn’t? The Angels were also all in on Barry Zito, Jason Heyward, Mark Texiera, and Carl Crawford too. I mean Texiera had a couple of good years before he turned to crap, but the other guys not so much. Thank the stars that someone else was dumber and outbid the Angels on those guys. Point is there are a ton of FA that never worked out, even worse than Pujols, remember Jacoby Ellsbury.. At least the Angels didnt try to go after him. . Pujols and the other guys at least had a track record of being good when the Angels signed them. Ellsbury only had one good year and the rest were mediocre years at best before he went to FA. Arte Moreno has showed a willingness to spend money in FA. The FA that the Angels signed were some of the top available at the time. Unfortunately, some of them have under performed as an Angels.. Yes, I would rather have Cole than Rendon if all things were equal, but I would take Rendon for 7 years rather than Cole at 9 years. . Since the Angels lost the Cole sweepstakes, I would rather have Rendon than nothing. . .
Are you out of your god damn mind? 300?
Have you ever seen him play? Hes a top 3 third basemen at the deepest position in baseball (Breg, Nolan, him) and a lot of baseball people (Dave Roberts to name one) say he’s actually a better player than Arenado.
Potty mouth.
Whoa! If noted horrendous big game manager Dave Roberts says that, it’s good enough for me!
All contracts these days are not bargains when teams have to pay that kind of money. Contracts are overblown by 40 %. And only about 20% of the teams in the majors can afford to pay those kinds of deals. Sad
Way too much for this guy rather have Stras anyday for the same coin, SP is what wins ball games
You seem mad lol HATER
Not mad. I like watching him play, so I’ll miss any media coverage of him in LAA.
Wow.
Which LA? The frauds or the ones who dodgered a bullet for not taking on that ridiculous contract?
Not ridiculous price. Ridiculous in that they were really good at 3B last year. Fletcher and La Stella will be a great platoon at 2B and backup for Pujols.
lfletcher will be gold glove 2b and he can hit, too! la stella will be a backup at all bags.
Vizionaire 100% AGREED
Angels 3B hit a collective .243 .306.345 in 2019.
Agree. It’s super ridiculous. Not a regular wage making $12 an hour – or $15 in CA.
So if the intent was to make your team good enough to get Trout to postseason how does this help? The argument isn’t if Rendon is a great player, he is. But when your pitching is 25 th in MLB one bat isn’t the answer. Especially at $245 mil. Who’s going to pitch this team to the postseason? Ohtani coming back will help but that’s one arm and the bullpen needs help also. The only way this makes sense is if Moreno keeps spending and gets pitching help.. Otherwise this isn’t the help Trout needed.
Good Luck. Gambled on his abilities and it paid off
Good for them.
For Boras and Rendon, sure; Angels not so much.
Too bad your opinion doesn’t matter.
Get em Vin
How is his slider?
Not as good as our DH’s
Can’t remember…its been over one year since anyone has seen it…
Holy ***** Mike Trout finally gets a good teammate!
Just not one that can pitch
Their pitching isn’t terrible. If ohtani returns to form, canning had a decent rookie campaign, and Bundy might do well having better defense behind him. They could use one starter, but it’s not like they’re completely devoid of any pitching.
That’s nothing but a bunch of hopes and mights. That never goes well. The angels have no proven starters.
When you defend your pitching staff with if returns to form, decent rookie, and might do well, it’s not a very good pitching staff.
Again……
They now have one of the best pitching coaches in MLB.
there are still a lot of arms in the market
Are you saying Pujols, Hamilton, Haren, CJ Wilson, and Houston Street were bad teammates?!
Yea all those guys were horrible as an Angel
You must be new here.
“You must be new here” lmao
What is Pujols?
Pujols is the title you give to a player that is every team’s MVP except on the team he actually plays for.
So much action at the meetings this year wow! They definitely need to go get some pitching now.
Angels were suppose to be looking for pitching right?
they have still time, you know?
Yea and they were looking for pitching and lost on on Cole and signing Rendon is not stopping the from looking for pitching either
Erie – AND? Time to complain?
No just wondering, I don’t follow the Angels and thought they would invest more in pitching rather than hitting
First
What are you doing??? This isn’t YouTube comments
And it’s pretty clear he wasn’t first anyways
LMFAO
@bxcrunner
Boy you just made a fool of yourself. You are like 20th bozo. Maybe mommy can teach you to count
Haha. Can I check in at 136th? Do I get a T-shirt or something?
Nice compliment to Trout but we desperately need pitching
Not many people guessed this one in the contest…
awsome news
This is going to blow up in their face in 1.5 years. Hilarious.
Not any more than either of the big money pitchers
Well so could any deal. Cole could be handicapped tomorrow due to an accident and they’d still be paying him for 9 years
that would give them insurance payouts. hope he just sucks.
Funny. Verlander just won a Cy Young at 36. Cole could very well be the same type of pitcher in 7-8 years.
Cole could also be CC Sabathia breaking down before 36 and being a good, not great pitcher after. Just because Verlander did it at 36 does nt mean it is the NORM for pitchers at 36. It is a major outlier for pitchers that age.
Verlander is .01% rare hall of fame pitcher. Cole isnt close to him in terms of production or overall ability. The chances he turns into verlander is slim at best. Yankees massively overpaid like they did with stanton, id be impressed to see them win 1 title in his 9 years. That rotation is awful with paxton being the best pitcher with a 3.8 era
Hey L/A, I’d be impressed to see your Doyers win 1 title in the next 50 years. It took them 83 years for their first one and it’s now been since 1889 since their last.
Through their respective age 28 seasons, Cole has a better ERA, ERA+, FIP, WHIP. H/9, BB/9, K/9, K/BB, 121 more Ks in 120 less innings. He also so far has the edge in the post-season rate stats-wise. Baseball’s a crazy game. Who knows what Cole’s future holds but in terms of production and overall ability, so far he appears to be uncomfortable-slow-dance-close.
How did the Yankees overpay for Stanton considering that they didn’t hand him that ridiculous contract extension?
Based on your jealousy?
ba2 is new Nostradamus – So cool.
@ba2929 Dude, the Cole discussion is on a different page.
Yes!!!!
Trout has his wingman
Well no playoffs for Angels but u can watch Trout and Rendon hit in the same line up. They need pitching.
Can he pitch?
Original.
No Papi. He plays third base.
Trade for Kluber or Price…somebody, for the love of God!
Good for LA and Trout. At least they did something big this year. They can still get Ryo or MadBum.
Boras is getting paid this winter. Over $800 mil between Cole, Rendon and Stras.
And it’s only Wednesday!!
Wonder what his cut is?
I feel like the Dodgers were never involved with Cole and Rendon, only a pond in a Boaras chess match
pawn.
I agree
Dodgers = Mongo—-“Mongo only pawn….in game of life”
Big fish in a small pond, Dodgers offered 8/300 which is a pretty solid offer
They offered cole 300 mil
Cole was offered 300 mil
How do we know for sure?
I’ve asked many times for any evidence at all this is true. Nobody has come up with it. So probably it isn’t true.
Wow
Yep knew it and so did everyone else
That’s literally the same amount/years for Strasburg?
Yes captain obvious it is. What is your point
What’s your problem son? It’s an oddity you don’t see too much. You don’t need to reply like that
Better contract than coles
you cannot compare the two. completely different areas of need at different positions
Easily worse. Cole is actually a star.
Rendon’s not? That’s a laugh.
If there was an question on the east coast, there’s not going to be in the media Bermuda triangle that is the Angels. Rendon was the NL version of Trout in that he never courted publicity, so their PR department just got a challenge.
Angels might actually be worth watching this year…. slowest heart beat and most clutch player in baseball, Anthony Rendon.
I’ll take the Amtrak from SD
All of this and no mention this might be the most loaded team Maddon has ever led.
Probably because it isn’t.
Good luck with that Cali tax rate LMAO
Cole will be getting slammed by the good ol state of New York.
How will he survive?
Oh yeah. Let’s start the Gofundme page for him now. No way can he make it after taxes. SMH
when you make that kind of money would a couple of millions really matter? especially when you live in one of the best places in the world?
California is a 3rd world state.
Also, all taxation is theft.
Yeah since roads and bridges just appear when you wish hard enough, am I right?
I pay hefty taxes and they barely ever fix the roads and bridges. Taxation is theft.
California actually has low property taxes — less than half what New Yorkers or Texans pay — and only a third of what they pay in Illinois. For that reason alone California is a more tax friendly state than Illinois and probably New York too — as long as you buy a big house / invest in California real estate.
Rendon will probably still remain officially a resident of Texas, as he is now, which has no state income tax. His work in other states may be prorated according to how many days he plays in them but that was going to happen anyway.
once he goes to ritzy part of newport beach he’ll change his mind.
WOW! Can he pitch?
yes sirrrrr.. wait do we have a pitcher yet??
In talks with Madbum/Ryu/Keuchel and exploring trades. Buckle up.
Wowsers. Never hit 30 till this year…this is Pujols/Hamilton 3.0
i dont think they signed him for the power alone
Averaged 6 war last 3 years. Still in his prime with consistency being his calling card. Your hate is showing.
Yet he still had some seasons that he hit very well in before, despite the fact that his best before was clearly not as good statistically as this year.
Bring on Keuchel and Ryu next
Welcome to the end of your career Anthony. The angels are where huge contracts go to die.
Good for the Angels. Seems a good fit for where they are and want to go.
Massive over pay
Please, dude is a top 5 hitter in the game.
Maybe don’t instead of low talking, elect not to talk at all.
Well, like anyone else, including his original franchise, overpaying was the only way someone could sign Rendon.
Good luck with that Cali tax rate LMAO! Half gone off the bat
LMAO it’s still likely more than the combined lifetime incomes of everyone commenting on this, so, yeah… he will be ok.
cheapskate!
It’s worth it to love in SoCal, why do you think housing is so high
Huh, people with Rendon money don’t get their taxes done at H&R Block & Jackson Hewitt’ like most Americans LOL
So it’s highly unlikely half his salary will be going to taxes.
I.E…The really, really rich have really good tax people and CPA’s and investment advisors on their payrolls. LOL
Go look at Andrew McCutchen’s paystub he posted a few years ago. No amount of creative accounting will stop California from stealing half his money.
13.3% is suddenly half the paycheck? how did you graduate preschool, genius?
Based on the totality of both states’ tax burdens, Illinois has the same socialist tax burden as California.
Now they need Bumgarner n Keuchel
35 million dollar a year contracts getting handed out like candy, crazy year
Angels aren’t done. They only have commitments to 4 players beyond 2020
Angels need to go all in now and sign MadBum.
Yes, his 5+ road ERA the past two seasons will play well in LA.
when you have a team that can score bunch…..
It’s not a bad deal. They should still have enough $$$ to sign a Kuechel, Ryu or Madbum type. Trade for another starter and they should improve
I’m surprised he went there, but good for him. He is going to pay a ton of taxes though. I’m glad he is out of the NL East hA
It’s a fair price to pay a higher quality of life.
He is not paying nearly as much in taxes as you think as state income taxes are paid in proportion to the games played in various states
What a pickup for the angles!
That’s acute comment.
better trade for some good pitching or you’ll waste both the prime of Trout and Rendon now
So many teams would die to have the Angels wallet, yet they have nothing to show for it.
Should they keep Adell or trade him for pitching?
never!
Pitching.
But can he pitch?
No yamsi he cannot pitch. In fact they did not even sign him to pitch. They actually signed an elite free agent who filled a need other than pitching and without keeping them from signing any other pitcher but some people think they should only do one thing at a time and that is just foolish.
A bad front office would allow an elite free agent to go elsewhere just because they are supposed to only be looking for pitching?
Well that is how you would do it anyway
So how much cash does LAA have left now?
$20-30 mil. but then arte can go crazy!
Don’t worry about Arte’s money. Go get your payday loan.
3/4 of a billion dollars just whizzed by in 24 hours.
And all of it to Boras clients. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: Boras has to be swimming in money. Three of his clients just netted ~$800 million. Crazy.
10%. but he spends a lot on lots of employees and workout area for players to get better.
$814 million to be exact. Unreal
Over $500 million dollars committed to two players. That’s absurd. Yankees in the same boat.
The Halos have the prospects to trade for Kluber
WOAH you have a great point. All though, I do think that they need one more bat, and if they did trade for Kluber, they still have the bullpen to wrroy about.
Over $600 million actually.
Massive overpay. If they give Rendon 35 million annually over 7 years, why did they not give Cole 40 million over 9 years to beat the Yanks offer? Makes no sense. Although I do get the sense that one of Bumgardner or Ryu will end up with them…
because they don’t have money for both? and the Yankees were never going to be outbid
Because Rendon plays everyday and that is 5 mil more a year which would be 45 extra mil. Plus if they get one of those guys and trade for another decent pitcher then I think I would rather have this situation than only getting Cole
If they would have given that contract to Cole they would have had not too much of money to work with
boras would have taken angels offer to yanks and so on.
Why would they pay Cole $360 million to beat an offer that was $325 million? $326 million would beat it. Why toss in the other $34 million for nothing?
I would never pay that much to anyone who apparently doesn’t even like to play the game. Now that he’s gotten paid, he could lose whatever little interest he has in the sport…and playing in Anaheim kinda does that to a guy, you know?
He doesn’t enjoy the game?
Evidently the game bores him to tears. He just happens to be good at it, like somebody who is a damn fine accountant.
Now, that doesn’t mean he won’t play well–Jeff Kent was another example of a guy who really didn’t like playing the game, and he was pretty good for a long time–but Barry Bonds hated him for it, and Kent eventually got so bored he walked away. from the game.
As long as Rendon keeps performing no one will care, but if his effort ever wanes, look out.
He said he doesn’t like the experience of watching a baseball game. Who cares? I imagine there are many accountants who love their job but don’t want to watch someone, uh, account.
Angels have a big chunk of money invested in a handful of guys. Eppler needs to get a good starter or two, or that top-heavy lineup won’t be getting the needed support for a Wild Card.
That being said, congrats to Rendon and I do hope he enjoys the Angels red. I hear the stadium is very nice
angels are built well with a few hitters that will get on bases and the expensive guys will drive them in.
Angels Logic: “We can sign Donaldson and Bumgarner to help our team and still have money to upgrade the pitching more… Oooooor we can pay Rendon and not be able to afford anyone else… RENDON IT IS!”
They still have the money to sign Madbum and still trade for another good pitcher. Know what ur talking about bud
Every team has money, you can spend as much as you want, there’s no cap we all know this, but the Angels have lately been a team that hasn’t used their financial flexibility wisely or to their advantage, we will see how hard they go after a FA pitcher now
Should be prioritizing pitching but whatever.
Hopefully we’ll be scoring 10 runs p/game.
So guessing moving Fletcher to 2nd Base and that should create a pretty solid infield for them to sign a couple ground ball pitchers. So do they move Lastella to RF for now?
he can back up all infield positions.
Unless one of them is used for trade to get a pitcher.
Angels need Bumgarner, trade for Happ and add a closer. Get it done Mr. Moreno. Do or do not there is no try.
Check out Bum’s road splits the past two seasons.
Bumgarner wants $100 mil and is aging/declining. Happ sucks. I don’t know which closer you’d be happy with, but based on your judgment, I’ll assume he sucks as well. Arte should pull a Constanza and hire you so he can do the opposite.
Unfortunately for Trout’s MVP run, Rendon hitting behind him, Rendon is going to put up some video game numbers. Trout being on base 45% of the time, Rendon should have 150 RBIs or vice versa.
Yeah that lineup is going to be fire in the middle. Adell will be added too
Angels need two starters and at least one or two bullpen arms. In my opinion. But I get them going after Rendon. Gotta get another star player and big bat to go with Trout. Over all…I’m heated the Dodgers did nothing after hyping us up lol but good for you Angels and Yankees and tour fans. Congrats. Must be nice having a team willing to spend and not on washed up players either. Man this is rough lol
Appreciate the honest take.
Assuming your a Dodgers fan. You don’t have much to worry about. You could be a fan of a team like the Rays or A’s where they can’t hand out big contracts hardly at all. (Not saying the A’s or Rays are bad, they get the best out of their money, and I like what they do.)
bold idea to get pitching – trade Andrelton
he is the anchor.
Damn
This is good news for Donaldson, Jung, Wednzel, Rangers and it’s fans. Thank you! Sign Donaldson* Pillar, Chirinos and one of the top 3 starters remaining.
*Although if Donaldson wants more than 70MM-85MM on a 3 to 4 year contract then go after Bryant or Arenado.
Lol all the people in the comments on the article the other day saying the idea of heyman reporting the angels are interested in rendon was incorrect sure look stupid now
Done with the Dodgers. Dude goes for market rate and we sit around with our ***** in our hands.
I woulda bet money he was going to the Dodgers. Maybe Donaldson or trade for KB?
Dodgers just have no desire to win
They won 7 (seven) years in a row. Where’d you get your schooling Cleb? What a ding ball thing to print.
You know what he means. Everybody does. No need to play dumb.
I don’t think Rendon was ever going to LA
The best story from this signing is Arte and Scott making a deal!!!
they were dining out a few times this offseason.
Washington should have just signed Rendon then, instead of injury-prone Strasburg.
I agree. Good call.
Agreed. This is the exact same contract that Strasburg signed. Rendon is 2 years younger and not quite the injury history. I think Rendon is a slight overpay and Strasburg is a huge overpay..
When Albert is off the books in 2028 they’ll be able to go out and get some pitching
This still will not give the Angels a playoff team, they still need A LOT of pitching, 2 players can’t carry a team.
Exactly, because their starting rotation and their bullpen are still not very good.
Angels felt pressure to make a big splash this offseason with all the “get mike trout help” talk, again. They didn’t get cole and maybe felt like they had to do this? They need pitching and I assume they still get some solid arms but idk if this was necessary.
we still have long offseason.
Dang it Andrew Friedman…
The Angels can have Madison. Who names their son Madison. He may have one good year left in his tank. The Angels need pitchers. That was a very bad idea.
So many arrows you shoot. How brave our scout. You make fun of anothers name?
number1dodger?
We can’t just do nothing out here in Chavez Ravine. We’re not gonna win a title by taking a nap in the off-season, we need to change something, this team can’t win 11 games in October. Something needs to change. Now.
@dodgersfan223574
Is that the GMs fault or is on the players?
In 36 post-season games since 2017 Beringer has a .560 OPS
In 31 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Seager has a .605 OPS
Kershaw had 2 back to back postseasons with a ERA over 7.
The GM can;t it in the clutch nor pitch.
First of all, the Dodgers don’t have a GM. Haven’t had one for over a year.
Second, Friedman admitted that his team was unprepared for the way they were pitched in the postseason and he doesn’t know the answer. So yes, it’s on management too. Mr. Friedman should get no free passes from the fans. He already got one from ownership and that’s one too many.
dodgerscrybayfan22 So demanding. You sound adorable when you screech like that. Mommys little snuggler?
Great maybe the Dodgers can sign Kole Calhoun now. They don’t have that many LH bats ♂️
The real winner this offseason – Boras. He’s raking it in.
They need Adell in the lineup once he gains his extra year of control, by not getting called up by the certain date
as soon as he is ready he should be in the lineup.
If they don’t sign one of these second tier free agent starters I’ll still set their over under at 83
Glad he wont be killing the Mets anymore lol Nats took an L today
Trout might have gotten over $500 million if he had waited until this off season to restructure/extend his contract.
snoo? So?
Just an observation and opinion.. I’m sure Trout’s completely satisfied with the money he got.
Outside a juiced ball contract year he was an above average player. Horrible overpay.
Not sure what stats you are looking at, but that’s clearly not the truth.
@thetruth
Fourth highest WAR total behind only Trout, Mookie and Yelcih the last 3 sesons. Father time.
Donaldson to Texas or L.A.?
Nationals maybe, but hopefully Philly.
Texas, because they can DH him if they have to offer an extra year.
Good point. He would rake in Texas and the DH would keep him fresh.
I don’t see how anyone can say this off season is slow.
How are Angels fans upset about this?! You just got one of the best players in the game!
After a few questionable years with players holding out (Kuechel, etc..) Scott Boras is back with a vengeance! Over $800M in signed contracts from (3) clients!!!
Time to work out a deal with the Red Sox for Price. The Sox will gladly eat some money and not ask for much back in return. A lot of people beat up on Price but he’s been quite good the last two seasons and I feel that he would excel in Anaheim. (The Boston media is too much for him to handle). While he doesn’t throw 95+ anymore, he is an excellent pitcher who can hit his spots and he’s proven that he can win big games now too. Given that Bumgarner will cost the Angels their 2nd round draft pick to sign, it might be better to trade a couple of fringe prospects to Boston for Price than to forfeit a potential lottery ticket. Would love to see the Angels and A’s battle it out for the AL West this year. With a few more moves by Anaheim (or possibly even Texas) the AL West could very well send 3 teams to the AL playoffs this season! They will just need to beat out the Rays.
Good move they needed another bat if they truly wanted to do anything. Now they need to sign ryu, and porcello ( they need an innings eater) trade for price or kluber someone. And then sign Justin smoak
Now they need to sign Ryu and trade for Price
NOW, go sign Donaldson to play 3rd, move Rendon to 2nd, trade Fletcher and La Stella for pitching???
If the anonymous Reddit user is to be believed (and he’s been 100% correct so far) then the Angels are now going to trade for David Price. Add in a deal for Keuchel and they just MIGHT have a Wild Card spot
It’s too bad all the best pitchers out there are lefties. Oakland raked lefties last year.
Friedman is terrible. Now we’re going to sign Donaldson who adds nothing to the team that we already don’t have and will probably end up getting hurt.
Signing Rendon greatly improves Angels everyday lineup with hopefully comeback of injury from Upton and Simmons. However, Pitching is currently a house of cards and needs big help.
The Angels are closer but they still need to get some sort of a Bumgarner/Ryu/Price combo platter to seriously compete.
Okay. Now that leaves Donaldson. The Braves just have to outbid the Dodgers, Nationals and the Phillies who all have much deeper pockets. Boy do I feel confident. =/
And RANGERS! Who by the way, can offer an extra year since they can DH him.
I’d much rather give 7/245 to a position player than a pitcher. Rendon doesn’t turn 30 until June Strasburg is 32 in July so he’s almost two years older than Rendon. I’ll bet 7 years on Rendon over 7 for Strasburg. Although, Washington needed to keep Strasburg. The ange’s need pitching more than they need Rendon but it’s a good deal. It will be a great deal if the get some pitching, too, We’ll see.
And the Dodgers do nothing again this year, oh we tried BS.
The Dodgers are STACKED! The move they should’ve made was to get a new manager. Robert’s is not the one.
Friedman gave Roberts a nice big contract extension. Try to figure it out, it really isn’t that complicated.
I think Jon Daniels was really dumb in not wanting to make this a 7 year deal, Rangers didn’t want more than 5, while fine for Donaldson, Rendon is ONE of the best third basemen in the game, he deserves the 7 years and he got. Well done angels, but JD choked this one… Hopes he doesn’t screw himself out of Donaldson and a Ryu or a mad bum… either way solid deal for both sides
They need another righty SP to go along with Ohtani,Heaney,Buddy and Canning. They should trade for Kluber. If Fletcher moves to 2b they can trade LaStella and a couple minor leaguers to Cleveland ?
Sure! We’ll give you Plutko for LaStella and a couple of minor leaguers. Brace yourselves for disappointment if you think you’re getting Kluber on the cheap. I find it absolutely hilarious. Congrats on the Rendon signing though. He’s one helluva player.
Does anybody read these comments before commenting? All you geniuses that are repeating “but can he pitch” line and all the “good luck with the taxes” comments.
I’m also seeing repeat comments containing, “would of” and “angles”.
Lot of jealousy out there. Good job Eppler!
For sure Freggy.
So Joe Maddon misses out on his ‘Jon Lester’ in Gerrit Cole but does get his ‘Kris Bryant’ with Anthony Rendon. That’s one heck of a one-two punch along with Mike Trout the Angels batting order. The micromanaging ‘Genius’ will still figure out a way to get the least amount of production possible from this future HOF duo.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Joe Maddon is trash and so are the Angels.
yeah, that’s how cubs won the world series in million years!
I give Joe Maddon 0 credit for that. They won despite Joe Maddon. That title happened because Epstein knows how to build a championship roster and polish it off with a shutdown closer at the trade deadline. It cost the cubs Gleyber Torres but they would make that deal all day everyday. In conclusion in Theo we trust, Maddon is garbage.
how come cubs can’t win now? it’s still eps running the show..
No one’s won more games the last 5 years, including 4 straight playoffs, 3 straight NLCS and a ring in the bank with their young championship core still intact. There’s a lot of teams that would LOVE to have the Cubs “problems” haha
@Moneyballer I do agree. They don’t even get by SF without Chapman, much less the Dodgers and CLE. That’s the difference between the Dodgers and Cubs, they don’t get married to their prospects. The goal is to win, at the time Torres was blocked anyway. I hope he continues to be great in NY, I have no issue with that trade. The Cubs won with a lot of their homegrown “prospects” KB, Schwarber, Baez, Hendricks, Contreras, etc… but you have to be willing to use prospects as currency when you feel it’s time to win and go for it.
If the Dodgers feel they are one or two proven pieces away from getting over the hump, they gotta be willing to move a legit prospect or two. Perhaps Lux and May for Kluber and Lindor comes to mind.
Who was Torres blocked by? Big Baby Ben Zobrist? Heard Big Baby Ben made the All MLB Crybaby team. And Big Baby Bryant made it too.
Trout will spend a third of their games at SS and Rendon might be a part time catcher.
and you may come out of mama’s basement once a year!
Only if he’s wearing a helmet
Should used that money to sign three decent pitchers , but they’ll probably just end up trading Thais for Urena , Thais will become a decent 3rd baseman and Urena will blow his arm out and finish the season with 5 era . That’s just how the angels roll
Bunch of morons running the Angels. All Rendon will do is make up the production for the decline of Pujols. Missing the playoffs again.
Pujols hit 20+ HR and hit in the mid 200’s and 100rbi
Plus Simmons, Upton, Ohtani lol dude, you’re deluded
So you’re expecting Pujols to put -5ish WAR a year for the remaining life of his contract? As a part-time 1b/dh?
Dude, why are we even talking about Pujols? He’s hitting 6 or 7th in the lineup lol
Because he’s a shadow of the hitter that he was when he signed his massive deal. Again, rendon is replacing the lost production of Pujols. The impact will be minimal from a deal so large. Mistake.
@Moneyballer
You;re not living up to your name. In 2019 Rendon had more WAR than Pujols has had in the last 5 seasons total.
It’s almost as if as players decline/retire, teams develop/sign/trade for younger players to replace them.
$245 for a top ten hitter who plays a gold glove 3B, protects Trout and plays everyday. Solid deal. Now let’s see what they do with SP
They will do absolutely nothing.
Cool story, bro
they will sit on the mariners and let one big one out!
That wasn’t even a sentence
mrwart14 you sound like a frustrated school marm. Hair in a bun? Smell like little moth balls? Maybe correct yourself.
About time they gave Trout some protection in the lineup. This is Arte Moreno’s best move in quite some time.
It is commendable that they locked up their boy Trout and they are trying to build around him… But get some pitching.
Yeah, they DEFINITELY need to address their pitching our Trout still won’t sniff the playoffs.
So the astros cheated huh?
They should trade Adell for pitching
They won’t Adell is part of the future
How about Adell to Cubs for Quintana and Contreras?
Angels say no quickly.
They shouldn’t ,
You’re right. They should laugh a bunch first.
Rendon takes pressure off in regard to “offensive” catcher……But two starting pitchers a must……Six man rotation works for me.
School is out for a week to celebrate this new Angel! (or the little ones may grouse and pull their bloody cuticles and hope not one sees what they do with boogers.)
For all of the people commenting on taxes, blah, blah, blah
Huh, people with Rendon type money don’t get their taxes done at H&R Block & Jackson Hewitt’ like most Americans LOL
So it’s highly unlikely half his salary will be going to taxes.
I.E…The really, really rich (even in California) have really, really, really good tax people and CPA’s and investment advisors on their payrolls to avoid what the majority of working schmucks can’t avoid
“He, Gerrit Cole ($324MM) and Stephen Strasburg ($245MM) will combine for a jaw-dropping $814MM in guarantees.”
Dear MLBTR Team:
Stop subconsciously beating yourself up…your predictions were close. The term “jaw dropping” no longer exists in the baseball transaction world because of…
…YOU!!!!!!
THANK YOU
(FROM TORONTO, DIE HARD JAYS FAN)
To many Angels fans dissapointed with this move because the team needs pitching. The Angels just massively upgraded 3B. His floor looks like its around a 900 OPS. His defense is premium.
This move is more impactful then any single pitcher still on the market. Rendon is worth more wins than Bumgarner and Bumgarner is still out there if they think he’s worth the demand. So is Ryu. The offseason hasn’t concluded.
Maddon now has 2 of the top 7 position players to utilize, filling out the lineup with another bat is crucial.Joe is the only Manager that could pull the nose of that plane up & remove the bad MoJo there. Pencil the Angels in to 2020 playoffs. 35 mil/yr Niccccce. Ouch
They must get pitching. Must. But this is a huge signing no doubt.
Yes, because even they score over 800 or 900 runs, which they should have no trouble doing so they are not going to be a playoff team with that pitching staff.
Maddon found his new lead off hitter
ATL definitely in too deep in Rendone waters for sure. I had that Braves fan feeling of NOPE not happening here.
Come on AA get something going and bring back JD.
JD is 34. He’s going to get 4 and 110-120M. Not gonna be a NL team.
Unless it’s Washington or Philly they got the money
I love it when the Angels overpay players. Keep going, Arte Moreno! Go for the billion dollar annual payroll!
These tax comments are hilarious. So he’ll take home roughly a 170 million. Hahaha, to play baseball in SoCal. Most in this comment section can’t even comprehend how much loot that is. I doubt he’s worried about paying the sunshine tax, I certainly don’t mind paying it to live out here and I don’t make anywhere near that kinda money. Sounds like sour grapes from homers that are jealous he didn’t sign with their team.
And all these super rich players can get back much that is lost to taxes with the safest of investments.
The people on this site are amazing The Yankees sign one of the best pitchers in baseball.The response terrible signing. The Angels sign one of the best offensive players in baseball.Terrible signing. Heres my question to all you people who say how bad a signing this is, What kind of numbers is Trout going to put up with Rendon hitting behind him. Now explain to me again why this is a terrible signing
And they think Yankees fans are bad.
Has to be the worst run team in baseball
Nice consolation prize to Cole. That team is going to score a lot of runs- and give up a lot. I think having the best defensive SS in the game and a great defensive CF certainly helps them
90 million or so tied into just 3 players against the payroll. It’s like what now we treat the rest of the team like we are Tampa Bay? Given what Trout is paid I think Donaldson was a better fit for the Angels. They’d save 10mil a year and with that money they could get a good reliever too or a #3 starter maybe. Just saying this contract with Trout’s and Pujols they have to go to luxury tax territory just to field a competitive team. If Arte doesn’t mind shelling out extra money for the tax the next couple seasons then it’s not a bad pickup Pujols will be off the books in a couple seasons.
Great point… and Donaldson would hit behind Trout, protecting him. Also, Josh would be a much shorter contract so they can reassess during the next 3-4 years until the next set of high-level SPs become available in FA under the new CBA rules.
Rendon will also hit behind Trout. His presence also doesn’t prevent any assessments re- or otherwise of Free Agent pitching in ’22 or ’23. It does likely prevent having to assess Free Agent third basemen in ’22 or ’23, at which point Rendon will be around Donaldson’s current age.
But, the length of this contract could be prohibitive for the Angels as FAs are only going to get more expensive. Yes the provide similar benefits for the Angels but one frees up a bunch of money in 3 years to get pitching, the other does not. And Simmons isa FA next year with some high quality SS becoming available within the next two offseasons. So, Donaldson is a better get, imo for what they should be looking at to compete over the next 5 years.
If FA contracts continue upward over the next 3-4 seasons, which is not guaranteed to happen, then the value of Rendon’s contract would be less prohibitive relative to the market, not to mention that it is currently 1 of a grand total of 2 guaranteed contracts on the books post-2022.
If you believe the Angels will still be in dire need of FA pitching in 3-4 seasons then it doesn’t really matter who their third baseman is over that stretch: either one will be spending 3-4 Octobers at home . If the organization then blames Rendon’s contract for an unwillingness to spend money, trade for players, or apparently develop ANY homegrown pitching, especially if his production up to that point matches his deal (I’d bet on Rendon”s 30-33 seasons over Donaldson’s 34-37), then they truly are either inept or uninterested in winning.
As a Braves fan that goes to a lot of Angels games, I’m very happy with this signing.
It takes Rendon out of the NL and I can finally watch him play without having a knot in my stomach…
What’s the one thing the Angels need every single year, because injuries always thin it out? It isn’t third basemen. Unless there’s an upcoming trade for a high-end starter- none of which seem to be available- I don’t see this as moving the needle.
The Angels Opening Day/Every Day 3b has been hurt the last two seasons. Yunel Escobar was the last to play 100+ games at third in 2016.
Point taken. Even if you don’t like WAR, wins above Zack Cozart seems relevant here.
You should absolutely pitch WAZC to FanGraphs.
they still have no pitching
I’ve been saying Rendon was going to Anaheim before the postseason even started. They’ve had a huge hole at 3rd since troy glaus and scott speizio
Well that was a good call. Most people thought he was going to Texas.
Angels made right move. Cole is going to play in about 34 games and how many games that he wins Yankees were going to win regardless. Rendon has the ability to effect 162 games. The wins per dollar is a lot higher with Rendon and the angels still have room for at least one of the big three pitchers left. May not be enough to catch Oakland or houston(depending on what they do or happens to them from the commish) but they will be more fun to watch
Foolish spending hasn’t gotten the angels anywhere recently… can’t imagine that this takes them any further. I mean truth is, you have to at least have decent pitching… which they do not. Good for Rendon though. Getting paid
They added the best remaining FA. how does entire have issue with that?
around a billion spent on 5 guys. or 50000 teachers jobs or 10000 homes for the homeless or 100000 healthcare plans for kids. would it be so so horrible if raised taxes? warning to players and owners. dont stole or it will kill the game. when the cashier at the pro shop can’t afford a home I think they should shut the he’ll up
Yes, keep blaming baseball players for the economic imbalances plaguing our entire society, since, we all know they are the ones in power.
Wish it was the Phillies, but wish him success there. He earned it.
Angels fans (and other fans) – what do you project to be the typical batting order with Rendon? Fletcher, Trout, Rendon, Ohtani, Pujols as the first 5?
I believe Fletcher may be traded, so La Stella, Trout, Rendon, Ohtani, Uoton, Pujols, Goodwin, Simmons,, Stassi (or another catcher)
Winners: Rendon, Boras, anyone that didn’t just pay 245M for a middle of the road 3B.
Loser: anyone that did pay 245M for a middle of the road 3B
So everyone’s a winner, then? Because so far this offseason no one has paid $245 million dollars for a middle of the road third baseman.
Loser: you for spouting factual nonsense about how good Rendon is. Please, name more than 1 better 3B than him. Actually, name 10 better than him, that’s what it would take for him to be “middle of the pack.”
Middle of the road third baseman. Do you know know baseball? or are delusional.
You do realize he was first team on the all baseball team. This middle of the road 3rd basemen in #2 in WAR the last two years at his position and isn’t 30 years old yet.
Dvader I would be interested in your analysis of how Rendon is middle of the road TJ third baseman
35 million per year to Rendon— that is crazy Really solid player, but not worth that amount.
Look at his numbers again, then ask yourself if those numbers can reasonably be construed as merely “really solid” as opposed to “elite.”
He’s elite. He’s sixth in baseball in WAR the last six years and he’s under 30.
Thirty five million is a lot. Too much. But he’s the best position player to hit the market in years. It will be interesting how much more Betts will get… who is the second best player of the last six years.
How much do you think Betts will get? It’s the going rate.
Actually he may be. He is fourth behind, Trout, Yelich, and Betts in WAR over the past 4 years. He has a high on base percentage and will work counts. He is a doubles machine. He will hit behind Trout. If Trout is on base when he hits a double that is a run.
Problem is that the Angels need pitching. The lineup looks solid, I hope they dont enter the start of the season with what they have now for starting pitching. I would rather have pitchers rather than Rendon, but I’d rather have Rendon than nothing at all.
Good player feel the angels overpaid and they did it just to pacify Mike Trout. This is the guy who got his ring and has decided now I just want to get paid and the angels are clearly still at best the third best team in the American League west. The angels now have three massive contracts they will not be able to get out from under five years from now when this deal comes off like a nightmare they will be unable to move him. He is without question and MVP candidate but he just does not move the needle for the Angels. If you are an angel fan ask yourself this question “does this make the angels better than Houston? Oakland? Even our cross city rival Dodgers?“ If you can honestly answer yes then you are delusional. Yankees fan here so I had no horse in the sweepstakes so I can save this objectively unless they trade for two top-of-the-line starters this is a 500 team at best.
Requiring that a single FA signing make a team instantly better than the teams you named to be considered a good one is bananas. (incidentally, the Angels only have two contracts on the books in 5 years). The assumption that it’s the only move the team plans on making is also strange.
For those thinking Rendon was overpaid, remember that Arenado’s contract set the market and Rendon is the superior all-around player.
While the Arenado defenders are getting set here, Bregman’s better too. And Machado. Maybe even Suarez. Devers is a better hitter also. All said, Rendon is justified being paid higher than a guy who’s not a Top 5 third baseman in baseball.
Anyway, although the Angels might suffer on the mound they will have quite the lineup.
Mr. Guest.
You really are one of the better posters here.
There are some strong third baseman, no doubt, but WAR last year. Bregman 1, Rendon 2. Two years Bregman 1. Rendon 2. Last three years. Rendon 1, Bregman 2.
The last three years Rendon has a better ave, OBP and slugging than Bregman.
Bregman’s better because he’s younger. But I don’t see how you can make a case for someone else being better than Rendon.
It’s baseball, things change. But Rendon is elite.
Mac – I want to stress that I was making a point that Rendon is better than Arenado. I’d have to sit down and think about the best 3B debate. So many factors, and I don’t weight WAR as high as others do. There are flaws in that number with variables that do not account certain human elements.
Congrats on your Angels locking in Rendon. Depending on how things play out this offseason I might have to take back that whole 3rd or 4th place comment from weeks ago 🙂
…what…are you…basing that on?
I….am…..basing…..it…..on everything outside of Colorado.
Ah, so you arbitrarily ignore one player’s career Home production, then compare what remains to the careers of a group of players in their entirety. Interesting system.
Incidentally Arenado’s better on the road than Suarez and Machado [who is the only one close to Arenado defensively], and Devers has had ONE great season offensively, though him hitting left-handed at Fenway for 81 games doesn’t get the same “Colorado is magic” type dismissal.
Comparing Fenway to Coors is ignorant in-itself.
Factually incorrect with Suarez and Machado. Both, along with Longoria, had a higher OPS than Arenado on the road. So did Moncada, Sano, Bryant and Justin Turner. Arenado typically lands outside the Top 10 in OPS. Some years not, most years yes. At home, Arenado falls 1st or 2nd.
Double check the numbers before you take a puff.
How is comparing two stadiums ignorant? We’re literally comparing 3rd basemen. If I said they were the same, that would be ignorant. I’m saying they, along with several other stadiums favor hitters to varying degrees. Rather than factoring those advantages across the board, you’ve decided Arenado’s, and only Arenado’s home numbers just don’t count when evaluating him. It doesn’t make any sense.
RE: Machado and Suarez I was using career splits. Since you’ve cherry-picked OPS: .
Arenado Road OPS: .799
Machado Road OPS: .778
Suarez Road OPS: .779
Not that it matters, as your Best all-around 3B rankings relegate only Arenado to his offensive performance on the road (or just his OPS?) It was just a quick aside..
2018 OPS:
Arenado – .772
That was behind Maikel Franco, Andujar, Camargo, Machado (primarily SS that year), Bryant, Gyorko, E. Escobar, Wendel, Suarez, Bregman, J. Ramirez, Turner, Rendon, Chapman, M. Carpenter, Bregman.
Fingers are tired from all those names….
2017 – Arenado: .886
Still behind Sano, Cozart, Turner (again), Frazier, Donaldson, Bryant (again), J. Ramirez (again)
2016 – Arenado: .832
Still behind Matt Carpenter (again), Solarte, Beltre, K. Seager, Machado (again), Longoria, Turner (3rd time), Donaldson (again), Valencia, Bryant (3rd time)….in less than 200 at bats, Bregman also higher.
And 2019: Arenado .866
Still behind Bregman, Sano, Rendon, Turner (4th time), Devers, Moncada, Bryant (4th time) Urshela, Suarez, H. Dozier, Machado, Longoria
Are we done yet?
All that typing and you somehow still forgot to type “Road” next to all those OPSs
“Are we done yet?”
I mean, you’ve done a pretty good job proving that as long as you ignore half of the games he’s played, his defense, seem to define “best all-around 3b” exclusively by OPS (even though “in less than 200 at bats, Bregman also higher.” leads me to believe you don’t know how rate stats work), then misrepresent his OPS by using only his road numbers without labeling, then Arenado is definitely an inferior 3rd baseman.
So yeah if that was your plan, mission accomplished.
Well, I’ve been watching MLB Network and the people on there who actually know baseball. Every one of them has been praising the Angels for signing Rendon. I trust their analysis more than the brain trust that is on here bashing the Angels for this signing. No one knows they need pitching more than the Angels. They have plenty of money left to get a couple of good starters and a catcher. Let’s see how it plays out. The winter is young.
The Angels just went from 70 to 74 wins.
Look out baseball, Trout may be playing important games till late June. Not sure how he deals with all the pressure.
This can’t be good for the “average” fan trying to see a game for less then a week’s salary, to me, this has become a ” rich man’s” game.
If it was gonna cost $245m and 7 years for either Rendon or Strasburg, the Nats should have given it to Rendon. Their pitching is much deeper than their offense.
Working and living a few blocks away from the big A; can’t wait to see Trout and Tony in same lineup!
Best move they could have made; no way pay Cole 324M.
Can sign MadBum or Ryu; etc.
Hang out till trade deadline and further upgrade pitching then
Honk Honk