6:17PM: The Angels have officially placed Rendon on the 10-day IL, and called up infielder Jack Mayfield from Triple-A. Rendon will probably be held back from a 60-day IL placement until the Halos have need for an extra 40-man roster spot.
Angels team trainer Mike Frostad also gave reporters (including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger) some details on Rendon’s status, saying that Rendon will need 4-6 months to recover. Rendon has a subluxed tendon, and tried to play through the discomfort, though it was known that surgery would eventually be needed to fix the problem.
4:10PM: Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon will undergo surgery on his right wrist next week, the team announced. The procedure will sideline Rendon for the remainder of the 2022 season.
Rendon spent two weeks on the injured list due to soreness in that same wrist earlier this season, and he has missed the last couple of games after re-aggravating the problem. Angels manager Phil Nevin intimated that Rendon was a pinch-hitting possibility as recently as yesterday, so today’s news comes as an unwelcome surprise, and an indication that further testing revealed a more severe problem with Rendon’s wrist.
This will mark the second straight season cut short by surgery for Rendon, as he underwent a hip procedure last August that prematurely ended his 2021 season. That year had already been shortened by multiple trips to the IL for groin, knee, and hamstring injuries, with Rendon’s hip ultimately bearing the brunt as he tried to compensate for those other lower-body problems.
Rendon will finish the season with a .228/.324/.383 slash line and five home runs over 188 plate appearances. While this still works out to above-average offensive production (106 wRC+), it is far below the standard Rendon yet during his heyday with the Nationals, or even in his first Angels season in 2020. Since the start of the 2021 campaign, Rendon has hit only .235/.327/.383 in 437 PA, and played in only 103 games.
The Angels signed Rendon to a seven-year, $245MM free agent deal in December 2019, and apart from Rendon’s strong performance in the shortened 2020 campaign, this deal is already showing signs of joining the Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and Justin Upton contracts in the Angels’ recent history of expensive misfires. Rendon still has four more years to make good on the deal, of course, but he turned 32 earlier this month and now has two lost seasons under his belt.
Rendon’s injury continues a nightmarish stretch for the Angels. In possession of a 27-17 record and a playoff berth on May 24, the Halos have since lost 18 of 21 games, including a 14-game losing streak. Manager Joe Maddon was already fired, and the Angels now face an uphill climb just to break their string of losing seasons, let alone get back into the wild card hunt. While it is still mid-June and plenty of the season remains, losing Rendon creates yet another hole in an already shaky roster.
Matt Duffy and Tyler Wade figure to handle third base duties in Rendon’s absence, which further weakens second base since that duo and Luis Rengifo were juggling time at the keystone. David Fletcher was placed on the 60-day IL in the aftermath of adductor surgery, and in a best-case scenario would return around the All-Star break. Jack Mayfield, Jose Rojas and Kean Wong are also in the organization, but are imperfect solutions to an already-shaky infield picture. Should the Halos get back into the playoff picture, any of shortstop, second, or third base could be target areas for the trade deadline, depending on who was available and how Anaheim shuffled its other personnel around the diamond.
This has been plaguing him for a long time. Why didn’t they do this surgery a long time ago.
And the nightmare continues..
I’d heard Rondon was a-wristed by the cops for having a bad hand in Vegas???
Sorry folks, LAA has to find some kind of humor in all this. It’s like, not again, please not again!
*Rendon, duh…
For a second there I thought an old Vegas trip was coming back to haunt me.. (!!!)
The nightmare continues when Ohtani goes to the Dodgers and Trout asks gor a trade. The curse of the Unicorn will cone and not win another chamionship in another 100 years
Non playoff teams should never sign free agents to more than one year ever. That’s the rule stick to that rule and you don’t get stuck with bad contracts.
@ iverbure
I don’t even want to think how many exceptions to this rule there have been. But solid rule. If you don’t sign the free agent multi year there’s almost a 100% chance it won’t go bad.
Oh… well ok then.
I wonder what the percentage of mega deals $200 mil+) turn out to be good signings. I’ll bet less than half.
The winner’s curse wins again.
I would bet next to none.
I actually think it’s closer to 50 50.
At LEAST 3 out of 4 of these types of MEGA deals turn into complete DISASTERS……think Pablo Sandoval, Prince Fielder, Albert Puhjols, Josh Hamilton, Miggy, Barry Zito, Mike Hampton, etc……
Then you remember Scherzer and Kershaw and all the other elite super stars who just… kept being superstars
75% is a hilariously hyperbolic statement
Is it hyperbolic? No one has come up with any concrete data one way or the other. I’d guess 75% bad is accurate. Of course you can cherry pick a few good contracts but I still say the majority, by far, turn out bad.
Why? You mention 2- One of which is on IL for weeks every season. Those mega deals go south a lot more than they go north.
Kept being superstars list: Scherzer, Kershaw, Manny Machado thus far, maybe Mookie Betts, A-rod thanks to roids, Big Papi thanks to roids, Jeter
The list of busts is substantially longer.
“Then you remember Scherzer and Kershaw”,,,I notice you only named TWO mega deals that actually worked out. Freudian slip, right?
“and all the other”…such as?
Votto is a win, agree?
I’d say Harper has been living up to his contract.
Cool…let me know what you think in 2031, when it’s actually over. I’d hope these guys look at least decent in the front end of these contracts, that’s not supposed to be the issue.
You can’t pick out the first few years of these 8-10 year contracts and pretend that counts as some sort of evidence to support long term contracts working out.
For ones that worked: Off the top of my head: Greinke, Scherzer, Kershaw, Votto, and A-Rod (Texas).
Likewise, one cannot select the last few years, during which the contract was obviously “bad” or whatever.
So, the most important aspect of these discussions is to determine what anyone’s baseline is for “good” or “bad” performance is on a $200+M deal. Is it a specific OPS+? Is it by WAR? Is it by fandom? By leadership & other intangibles that contribute to cohesiveness among the team members during declining years?
The premise of the terminology, “good” or “bad,” will depend on the metric(s) used to evaluate the performance of the star player.
So, in effect, everybody in this thread could be right & also wrong based on what each person is using as his evaluation tool.
The angels need to develop another third baseman Arte Moreno Nice going another handpicked loser Anthony Rendón you’ll never be an impact player again He’ll be released in a couple years when will Moreno learn I’m a big angel fan but I wish Arte would sell the team
Add Verlander to that still very short list.
I think you CAN and should judge a contract based on the last few years. If you don’t get what you paid for on ANY year of a contract that’s a hit to that contracts value. If you leased a car for three years and it didn’t run for the last year would you say, hey, it’s a good lease, don’t judge it on the last year? No, you’d consider that lease to be a failed contract on your part. You didn’t get good value. If you pay a player to be good for ten years and they’re only good for seven, that’s a fail. If you’re paying a player when he’s terrible thinking it’s ok cuz you already got the value when he was good, that’s just dumb.
@Cosmo
I completely get what you’re saying. But that’s not how the baseball financial world works, and it’s not how agents negotiate.
Each WAR number is attached to a $ figure. A player can outplay their value in the early seasons…sell a ton of merchandise, tickets, boost ratings…and HOPEFULLY win a championship, and reasonably outplay the VALUE of their contract.
That’s just real world baseball when you’re one of the Top 700 or so professionals in your field, and up to 30 teams compete for your services on the open market. It’s entertainment based revenue. How much did the valuation of the Angels franchise increase over the life of Pujols contract? It’s measured in billions I’m sure.
Makes NO sense when we’re watching a player suck it up for years…especially late in a deal. As fans we’re not seeing the benefit late. We have a seasonal investment.
Where did I suggest that you only look at the final years of one of these deals?
Generally, I’ll just use WAR because it’s at least a decent summary of overall performance and then look at it based on the $8m/yr (I know this number has its flaws) to see if the production provided is reasonably close to the cost paid.
The extra years on a contract, when you assume they’ll be bad, basically function like a payment plan. You don’t want to pay them60m or whatever in the few years they’ll be very good, so you spread those payments out over years on the back end of the contract.
Votto is one that’s debatable. By fWAR it looks like he has produced 26.3 war, if you were to value that at 8m, he’s been worth 210.4m, contract is 225…generally speaking if a 10 year contract works out to be about that close to breaking even, personally I’d probably consider it fine, but I can understand how some may not.
Harper contract is amazing. By the end of the deal the 23 mill aav will be a drop in the bucket. Won’t hurt the team much at all even if he is awful.
Nats were foolish not to match that
@Dock
You’re 100% right that that is not how it works. But it SHOULD work that way. The current system is propped up by the proverbial one dumb owner. It’s the way it works but it’s dumb. It makes no sense and basically convinces folks to ink bad contracts. If I were an owner I’d have none of it, if I have to run my team like the Rays, so be it but I think there’s plenty of room between the two styles.
@flaming
It’s not a payment plan it’s a rip off. It’s a scam. You pay a player 25 million a years and he’s worthless the last few years but it’s ok because in the beginning he was really worth 40 million per? Nonsense. A justification for a bad deal, the cheap tricks of agents. Bad deals are bad deals, what you are putting forth are after the fact excuses trying to justify what we all knuw are bad contracts.
@natsgm
That’s absurd the contract isn’t half way through. There is absolutely no way to judge the contract yet. You’re attitude is exactly how these absurd contracts get justified. You wouldn’t be saying this if it were YOUR money.
@before McCourt
I’m surprised you were able to name two. Please keep going. I will add Zimmerman, Belle, C.Davis, Kuechel, and Hayward to the negative ledger, without even straining myself.
Big Papi was never on a long term contract. He stayed in Boston with short deals.
As a Mets fan, we’ve only had a few mega deals but Beltran worked out. Wright did not, but only because of injury, so the Mets didn’t have to pay most of his salary. deGrom has worked out. Lindor is far too early to tell, but he’s going to need to step it up because that contract is enormous. Santana ended up getting injured, but he gave 3 excellent seasons and an OK fourth. It worked out. Scherzer will probably work out because it’s so short.
@flam – he has a 13 year contract that averages 25M per. He’s already giving them 35M per performance and by the time he hits the second half of that contract, 25M will be the new 15M, and so on. I’d say the Phillies got a pretty damn good deal with him – barring any major injuries. But even then they have insurance.
BeforeMcCourt17 hours ago
Then you remember Scherzer and Kershaw
===========================
I don’t remember Kershaw being a FA. So your sample count is all the way up to one. Out of the top 25 contracts off all time, I can see maybe 2-3 FA contracts that I would consider successful (Scherzer, Machado, maybe Cole even if it early),and (Miggy, Pujols, Strasburg, Rendon, Cano, Fielder, Yelich) that were complete disasters.
As a Mets fan the one that hurt was Jason Bay. I almost want to say everyone knew how that was going to turn out, but yet it happened and handicapped the team with the current ownership back then. And while it wasn’t an insane deal, it was one that stopped any other needed investments into the team. Dark times.
deGrom is debatable. Will ge ever pitch a full season again?
padam2 hours ago
As a Mets fan the one that hurt was Jason Bay.
==================================
As a RS, that hurt.
As a BB fan, it annoyed me. He kept coming back for more. I don’t mind guys looking to maximize their earnings, but at some point, players have to look at the bigger picture. He was loved by RS fans, had a perfect swing for Fenway, and the RS were contenders. He went to a stadium where his defense would be exposed, where his power was going to result in a lot of warning track fly balls, and where he’d never see the playoffs against.
@cosmo
Running your team like the Rays is great. But it means having the capacity to attract, and develop organizational employees that are stellar….who then find OTHER organizational hires who are as stellar to replace them if and when they leave for places like LA or Boston. Its an entire Baseball Operations. Which is much easier said than done. It’s not like everyone outside of Tampa and Oakland is TRYING to suck. KC and Pittsburgh are trying. It’s hard. And it frankly involves luck, as well. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
How the Angels can SPEND and still not develop is…too me…the worst baseball has to offer.
It actually isn’t as long as you would think. I read an article a few years ago, and most 100+ million contracts did work out overall for the team
Googling “percentage of large baseball contracts that work out” will find useful resources.
So the debate continues over something that can be easily researched in about 10 minutes.
I’m gonna challenge you on this. Go ahead research it, enlighten us. It’s a very subjective subject and all you’re likely to find are more opinions. The answer isn’t as easy as a Google search and if it is, ok, what did YOU come up with?
Start the timer now.
Specifics vary. Find 200m+ contracts. Find players whose value met or exceeded that
Actually, you’re right. It’s very subjective. My subjective opinion is that every single mega deal turns out to be great. 100% are the best contracts. I’m not going to research anything and I’m going to go with that instead.
Just ask the Mets and Lindor
Typical Arte Moreno knee jerk signing. Hey we missed out on Gerritt Cole let’s way overspend on a 3rd baseman and re-set the market, as I haven’t learned from the Pujols contract.
This is exactly it- rendon was nothing more than a desperation move after the team lost out on the player they really wanted (Cole)
But they did need a 3B, because look at that infield now!
Omg.. that makes 2 seasons in a row he’s had season ending injuries. Time to heal and hoping 2023 will finally work out for him. Hopefully Artie has insurance on this contract
Angels need to cut bait
What’s the point?
Yea, they gain nothing by releasing him
The only thing they’d gain is an extra roster spot in the offseason, when they’ll need to activate him from the 60-day IL. Not that they have enough prospects to protect to make that an issue.
All to solidify 140M in FUTURE lost money? Instead of just… keeping him for the same cost
Y’all would be hilariously awful business owners. Wow
Sometimes, the open roster spot is worth cutting bait on future salary. I don’t believe it is in this case.
They won’t cut him if they have insurance on his contract. They’d have to negotiate and that won’t happen – his injury isn’t career ending. See David Wright. He only retired after he got paid and the insurance company agreed on a payout.
I agree might as well release Anthony Rendón he’s cooked he Will never capture what he did in Washington
Angels need to be sold back to Disney and tell the players to actually play what they are worth.
Ok put Ward at third. Call Adell up and let him play every day. He isn’t worse than Duffy defensively. And Duffy offensive numbers are an absolute joke. Marsh at this point is a strike out waiting to happen. So give Adell the same opportunity.
With this way of thinking the Angels should try to trade for Justin Upton. Seriously Joe Adele needs to work on his defense he’s horrible. And play Ward at third? This isn’t a video game
Adell didn’t look half bad during his most recent call up. Small sample but maybe he is starting to figure things out.
Long have you watched Duffy play defense anywhere? Duffy is complete garbage with a bat in his hands. And with a glove. I’m not saying Adell is good defensively. All I’m saying is he isn’t any worse than Duffy. Or trade for Moustakas. Either or, is a better option than playing Duffy.
You have players in the roster like Duffy that play for minimum due to poor signings like Rendon. He’s a BUST.
@long duc
Ward played more 3B than OF in the minors and came into the majors as a 3B.
Teams have played worse options in the infield. Especially if it allows another hot bat in the lineup.
Maybe throw Beyoncé into the mix. She has similar range to the aforementioned Adele but ultimately two very different approaches to the game.
Ward hasn’t played on the infield in years.
That said the pile of blah that is Wade, Rengifo, and Duffy isn’t exactly lighting the world on fire.
bkbk endorses this message
Duffy ? I mean the guy can just hit an easy 290 and be on base for the top of the lineup and isn’t a hole… Adell has yet to catch a ball in the outfield but I’m still willing to roll him out. Marsh is still a league average hitter with elite left field Defense … so Marsh looks like the big plus to me, I’ll take him all day 162
Disastrous contract
This contract is starting to look Albert Pujols levels of bad.
Lmao. The pujols contract paid for itself within 2 months of it being signed 30x over
Anyone who doesn’t understand or refuses to acknowledge this isn’t worth a conversation about contracts. That was a business move that had very little to do with baseball. Any on the field performance was literally icing to Arte
Um no.
If you can prove that attendance or TV deals or the fraction the club gets on merch outweighed $200m+ in an upside down deal let’s see it. That doesn’t even include lost opportunities to play better players or repurpose a quarter of a billion dollars elsewhere. Or the fact that the Pujols signing triggered a series of other win now moves that also bombed.
I can only hope you are trolling and not being series.
No, this is a line that’s repeated on here pretty often. Supposedly they got more than 200m more on their TV contract because of Pujols, but I’ve never seen anything that actually corroborates that signing Pujols, in and of itself, bumped up the contract that much. I find it hard to believe.
At the time, the Angels were signing THE BEST HITTER IN MLB. If you want to ignore how that impacts revenue, you are not much of a business man. Its hindsight that he did not hold his performance level longer.
pujols was already in significant decline before leaving St Louis, which is one of the numerous reasons it was a terrible deal.
Wow. Look at this bum.!! I feel sorry for Arte Moreno. He really tries but damn!!!
And yes, I know “Bum” is harsh, but dude is cleaning up on the DL
You feel sorry for the guy who’s entire plan to build a winner has consistently failed but a guy who gets injured is a “bum”. Odd.
Allegedly Arte was the one that preferred Rendon to making a run at Gerrit Cole. Whoops.
Youre just making up stuff. The angels offered like 5% less than the yankees only and it was the largest contract by farrrrr theyd ever offered a pitcher.
I believe the Dodgers were 2nd place bidders behind NYY for Cole, Angels were 3rd.
5toolMVP, even Cole has said the Angels offered the second most total amount. The Dodgers offered the second most AAV. Which was second to the Angels in AAV. The Angels just w
weren’t willing to give him the 9th year. The Dodgers only offered him a 5 year deal at 35 million AAV.
Try again. Google is your friend here.
“Dodgers offer to Gerrit Cole”
“Angels offer to Gerrit Cole”
1)Yankees 9/$324
2)Dodgers 8/$300
3)Angels 8/<$300
I’m not making anything up. He refused to add the 9th season to the deal and decided that the money would be better spent on Rendon over less years because “we haven’t had a 3rd baseman here in a long time.” If the Angels would’ve offered $330 for 9 years he’d most likely be pitching for the Angels and they wouldn’t be worried about paying Rendon for being hurt for the first half or more of his contract
Silly arguments…….
At least the last 2 years of Cole’s contract will be an albatross….possibly as many as the last 4.
Watch.
@Samuel
At least 2 of Coles contract years he’ll toss meaningful games against a National League team in October. Watch. Value how you like. But it’s subjective.
Arte doesn’t realize winning the headlines in the off-season is not the same as winning in the regular season.
When the Angels went full bore on Gerritt Cole, lost, then pivoted to Rendon, I didn’t understand it. Still don’t. That was a marketing decision, not a baseball decision.
Arte made his money in the billboard business, so that checks out
@dirkg Didn’t Gene Autry do the same thing?
Gene Autry made his money in real estate.
Autry parlayed his singing and acting money into TV stations and radio stations. Some of his actor buddies laughed thinking TV would never take off.
Autry originally went to the MLB owners meetings hoping to land the broadcast rights for the LA expansion team (Angels were playing in actual LA at the original Wrigley Field then). He was awarded the team ownership when the supposed owners couldn’t come through.
For those of you thinking I’m crazy, the Chicago Stadium was called “Cubs Park” when Wrigley opened in LA. ballparksofbaseball.com/ballparks/los-angeles-wrig…
Its as if Arte Moreno prefers to listen to his sycophants rather than to his Baseball people when making decisions concerning LAA.
I didn’t think this contract would be that bad but this one seems to hurt,
The Angels curse still continues Maybe they should change their name to the Devils might have better luck
This team is cursed and a joke at the same time. Trout please demand a trade you deserve better!
Trout is getting paid a ton to play baseball in a beautiful city. He is just fine.
Anaheim is alright. Has some nice surrounding beach cities but Southern California ain’t what it used to be. We have homeless encampments all over the damn place.
Californuh-ah-ah, super cool to the homeless.
I’m sure Trout’s mansion is in a lovely area. Of course players want to win, but too many people assume that’s all they want. Trout wants to win with the Angels. Maybe he doesn’t want to just join a super team.
Horrible bust
Is there a rule that the Angels must keep a massive burden contract on the books at all times?
More of a fetish than a rule.
Yes, Arte prefers to waste his money on declining vets to investing in the farm.
I keep thinking that will change, but the Gary Matthews Jr. to Vernon Wells to Pujols to Hamilton to Rendon baton keeps getting passed.
@HalosHeavenJJ
I KIND of understood the Pujols deal at the time. Even though it screamed ugly beyond the first few seasons. But it would have made sense had they spent well around it on good baseball. But they didn’t. Arte just kept lining up those golden oldie vets like they were shots.
I was good with the Pujols contract because it was reported landing Pujols helped land a better TV deal. Any contract that pays for itself is a good contract.
And, I overlooked the obvious about Albert’s true age.
However, with Arte’s self imposed payroll cap, it seems we always have a declining vet taking up big money with holes that can’t be filled elsewhere.
@Halos
I coached for a team in Pujols collegiate summer league before he was even drafted….and even THEN his age was a running joke.
Not sure what all the discussion about Pujols’ “real age” is because his age is not even debatable: he’s 50…or 60, or something like that. But definitely between 45-65.
Again with this baseless claim that Pujols’ contract paid for itself. I’m not even saying it can’t be true but as much as you bring it up I’ve never seen you offer a drop of evidence towards the claim.
Yankee… Satchel Paige was famous for not only his skill but for the fact that nobody knew how old he was. HE didn’t know how old he was. He once asked, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” Pujols age will be a mystery til… We’ll whenever…
Hey Clipper! That means Pujols and I are the same age.
@Cosmo
I recall the time Pujols deal was signed. The numbers were laid out what it’d take to pay for itself. It was all on the front end. There’s some serious non-baseball relayed business involved.
Yes, Dock, but Moreno refuses to build a pitching staff that will allow us to compete. He will squander millions on bats and piece together a pitching staff of reclamation projects. Some have worked out, most haven’t. So it doesn’t matter if the Pujols contract paid for itself elsewhere if you don’t build a winning team around it. It’s always about pitching first.
Haha! Love it, Prov. Sounds like he’s the same age as a lot of people…of all different ages, lol.
Hey, can’t fault him, he can get discounts on both ends of the spectrum too!
Rondon: Man, I imagine he probably felt better not knowing how old he was getting because he didn’t have to worry about any thresholds (30, 40, 50, 60…). He just knew he was a year older – pretty cool, man.
@Dock
That still just sounds like a generalized claim. What is the specific theory behind this? I’m still not seeing any evidence or substance to this.
Prov356:
I hear you as a baseball fan. But there’s two versions of success for a baseball owner. One is on the field, and the other is at the bank. There’s no doubt the Angels made bank on Pujols. The valuations say as much. But we don’t get a cut…so we need the wins.
@Cosmo2
I can’t dig up the info. It was actually here on this site at the time. It was proffered and discussed what it would take for it to be valuable. That’s been years ago. I believe there were articles on here.
His signing did help them land a new cable deal. I know that contract seems ridiculous, but it’s not all tied to on the field analytics. It’s tied to revenue.
Thanks. I’m not saying I don’t believe any of this could be true, I just have a pet peeve about folks repeatedly making claims without ever backing them up. Your post is as close to evidence I’ve seen, I appreciate it.
@cosmo2
Fangraphs says teams are paying 8.5M per WAR in 2022. Rafael Devers is leading MLB in WAR right now at 4 which would be worth 34M if I’m not mistaken. None of that takes into account off-field value. Is that absolutely crazy? Seems wild. But before the the latest working agreement MLB players were actually the lowest % paid if the four major sports I believe…around 41% of league revenue.
Is it smart baseball to sign Albert Pujols back then? No one, including St. Louis was going to touch what Arte Moreno was going to do. Had they won a World Series in the first three years or so of the deal it wouldn’t look so bad to the eye. Fans lost…but Arte Morenos asset only increased in value. He bought the Angels for 180M. It was worth 2.2 billion in March according to Forbes.
The bad “baseball decisions” were actually made all around and because of those contracts. For several seasons the Angels didn’t even draft until like the 3rd rd after giving up picks. Pujols didn’t have to kill them…it was failure in developing players. The NY Yankees routinely pick down draft and come up with plenty of impact talent.
Yankee…
They’re strict about liquor laws here in Nashville and I love it when they card me, gray hair and all. Cheers!
Because there is NO evidence. Urban myth that Pujols deal helped the Angels land their TV deal. TV deals like that take months if not years to negotiate. Moreno opted out of the TV deal in 2010, a year before Pujols was even a FA.
Bill Shaikin of the LA Times knew of the TV deal weeks before the Angels were even considered a possibility for Pujols. In fact he wrote a column that states that the TV money ENABLED the signing of Pujols and Wilson, not the other way around.
latimes.com/sports/la-xpm-2011-dec-08-la-sp-angels…
Wrong. The TV deal was what enabled the Angels to jump into the Albert bidding. Not the other way around. Proof — latimes.com/sports/la-xpm-2011-dec-08-la-sp-angels…
“But before the the latest working agreement MLB players were actually the lowest % paid if the four major sports I believe…around 41% of league revenue.”
Dock_Elvis;
Excuse me……
MLB has far and away the most expenses of any major team sport. They go all over the world looking for players; play more games, hence far more expenses (more travel, housing, meal money, etc.). They are far more technically advanced which means buying equipment, then paying high salaries to the people that set them up, maintain them, and have the education and skills to use them and interpret the findings.
@Samuel
Yeah, that’s the MLB scouting and sponsoring Euro League basketball. Give me a break on these expenses. That’s the % of revenue compared to the other major sports. I can tell you teams don’t pay scouts very much…nor anyone that much throughout their organizations.
NBA teams and NFL teams pay a lot too. With lots of down time as well. And with NBA there’s a lot fewer games in 18k arenas.
These were the money facts leading into the lockout
Called it. Knew he wouldn’t play again this season. Congrats, Angels- ya played yourselves. He’s 3 years into this 7 year deal and they’re all wasted in one way or another. He’s barely played a full season’s worth of baseball and he’s been barely serviceable during those years.
Look, he said he wanted to retire and didn’t really want to keep playing after he became a free agent. You should’ve listened to him. Instead you handed the guy a $245M lottery ticket.
Between Rendon and Strasburg, I think going forward, teams, if not players as well, should be wary of 7 year/$245M contracts and avoid them like the 13th floor. Bad juju.
I bet the angels double down and give Aaron Judge the same deal next year. Then they can move Adell and 2 young prospects for a controllable SP like Castillo.
4 things:
1) I doubt Judge wants to go to the Angels, period. There are far better teams. Like the Yankees.
2) The Yankees’ offer was very close to that deal so Judge could get to the same numbers if they negotiated.
3) Refer to my point that no player should take 7 years/$245M, as it’s bad juju. And
4) I think 4 years on, Judge would want at least 7 years/$280M to match inflation on Rendon’s deal’s present day value at the time of its signing.
Aaron’s contract will be another horrible deal no matter where he signs- a 31 year old, 6’7, 300 lb player with an already extensive injury history. Can’t get many more red flags than that.
The issue with baseball is largely that guys get paid later for what they did earlier and the pre free agency team control and tamped down salaries for superstars last way too long. It makes sense for guys who take like 7-8 years from being drafted to realize their potential but guys hot out of the gate get screwed and want their money later as a result. It’s statistically obvious that players generally stop being the best version of themselves around 32-36 years old, so let’s call that 34. The teams know this. They can all offer virtually the same deals and so teams tack on years to get a deal done and the player gets all the money they can possibly squeeze out of their profession.
The reality is I think Judge should get like $35M for his final year of arbitration and then a 3 year/$135M deal with a few vesting options at lower AAV that could take it to 6 years/$250M w/ a player option that could take it to 7 years/$270M or 8 years/$305M if you include 2022, plus a bunch of escalator clauses like bonuses for MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, etc etc that could tack on $7.5M per season, bring it up to a max value of like 6 years/$280M or 7 years/$322.5M or 8 years/$357.5M etc.
But if he falls apart the guarantees are done after 3 years/$135M and anything else he gets is earned via his performance and ability to stay healthy and productive. If he maxes the deal out in any fashion he will have earned it and produced value to generate the salary- and he won’t be an albatross but he also won’t get screwed.
The issue with free agency is that it’s not actually fair or reasonable to never give guys big money- the money is there to pay them and every generation of free agents got severely underpaid vs their true economic value to the game while under team control and free agency pays them later for what they did earlier,
It’s a deeply flawed system.
In a perfect world s guy like Aaron Judge would’ve been paid $40m for that rookie year and $50M for this year etc and then taken way less money to keep playing.
Unfortunately they can’t all be Adrian Beltre’s, making very good money and still delivering value beyond the size and cost of their contract.
“3) Refer to my point that no player should take 7 years/$245M, as it’s bad juju.””
As delusional takes go, that one taketakes the cakecake – juju.
Did the Angels piss off some higher power or build the stadium on a ritual burrial ground? Almost every single big contract they sign becomes an albatross contract within 1-3 years of signing it. The only one that doesn’t look awful is Trout’s, but still. Pujols, Hamilton, CJ Wilson, Upton, Cozart, now Rendon?
Yeah and add Vernon Wells and Gary Matthews, Jr. And Ohtani wants the highest AAV long-term. They have to question doing that.
The Cj contract was fine, don’t know how that one always gets lumped in
Wilson was good for two years, then was bad the third year, solid but hurt for a good portion of the fourth year, and outright didn’t play the fifth year.
It is good compared to the others, but pretty mediocre all in all.
I think that is a pretty good description of it. 7.5 fwar for $77.5m isn’t really fine, but it’s not a disaster.
For most teams, that would be a bad contract, but with their track record is probably their second best “big” contract.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if memory serves me right it seems that almost every big contract the Angel’s give to “star” players coming from other teams whether from trade or FA is where they seem to be snake-bit/cursed. Anybody remember Mo Vaughn not even making it past spring training?
But it seems that the big contracts they given to their home grown talent has worked out. I believe the major players from their one World Series team’s roster were primarily from their farm system.
So maybe this will bode well/luckier for Trout, Ohtani, Walsh, etc.
I do like the Noah Syndergaard signing. I’ve never been a fan of Raisel Iglesias, regardless his success last season. He had good numbers in Cincinnati but I seem to always catch him blowing the game.
Now the question becomes what will it be next year? His hip and wrist will be fine, but something tells me he’ll develop a back problem or some other new injury that will shelve him for half of 2023.
The man is made of glass. Too bad because they looked like a contender this year.. is it time to start shopping trout and show? Two trades could have them sitting nuts deep in major league prospects
think you’d get more in return for ohtani given trouts contract.
id imagine the conversation would have to start w an organisations two top prospects and a player already up w 2 years of control on his way to star status
It’s crazy to say, and it’d terrorize the fan base. But the only way I see the Angels building a winner being strapped to the Rendon deal is to shell Trout and Otani for as much damage as I could muster…then raid every org I could for front office talent. I just can not see the Angels winning on Trouts timetable. That’s incredibly sad given how long he’s been there and could be.
You’re wrong.
metsfan – please refer to my answers every other time you’ve called for Trout to be traded. it’s as if you know nothing about baseball.
What a loser! Arte sure can pick them! 2020 we needed a starter like Gerrit Cole. Arte signs Rendon. We can fire Joe Maddon and every upcoming GM and will not fix the Angels! We have the dumbest owner in the MLB! Unfortunately, can’t fire him.
Gerrit Cole rejected the Angels and the Yankees offered him a ridiculous contract. Arte tried his best.
Was he hand gliding? Mah! Meatloaf!
this makes the deadline more intriguing now. what does arte do w ohtani?
Hopefully Moreno does not pay 0htani any where near 45m a year for any period of time.
Cut & Paste onto Judge
The Judge wants to spend his entire career in Pinstripes. Angels have historically been a ballclub where something tragic happens to one of their players.
Maybe they need to do a 80-point inspection to fix whatever else might be broken.
they already do the only problem is they can’t flip that lemon to anyone. lil backstory those 80+ point inspections are almost never done on a used car they basically look at the car and go it looks great, it starts and drives, and bam put a sale sticker on it and will deal with any warranty issues that are covered by the last warranty if it’s not out of warranty, but either way your still buying a used car and in most state unless it was written into the contract your buying it as is. the multi-point inspection is just a sales pitch the stealership uses to sell cars.
The knock on Rendon was that he was injury prone even before he was drafted.
Didn’t think he was the piece at that value at the time. But I’d have guessed they got a lot more value than this. So many people talk about small market teams like Pittsburgh being ridiculous. The Angels revenue and an owner that spends, and still can’t come up with anything but air. I want the Angels to succeed, but if they aren’t the worst run org in baseball they’re sitting at that table.
I wonder if the team even scanned his medicals before signing him to that lucrative deal. You would think there would be some indicators of potential trouble since he’s had just about everything go wrong that could possibly go wrong physically sheesh.
The Angels need a third baseman, The Angels need a second baseman. The Angels.need a 4th outfielder.
Did anyone these positions were going to be an issue in March? I didn’t.
Bring up Stefanic, Rengifo is not a major league player.
I hope you get my meaning because I’m having problems trying to describe it… LAA is the only franchise who’s greatest all time fail team consists of players who make up a better all time team than than the players who make up their actual greatest all-time team.
I understand the desire to do something. Particularly something that will get headlines.
But when you are outbid on Gerrit Cole and the other guys like Wheeler and Morton want to play close to home, maybe the smart play is to not blow your wad on Rendon.
Yet Boras and Arte both said as they discussed Cole, Arte said “I really want Rendon.”
More like Arte No Bueno.
Awesome job Angels. Just hand another division title to the Astros without a fight.
Once Michael Stefanic is healthy then call him up.
I didn’t realize he was hurt.
IL the last 7-10 days
2B Stefanic and maybe a trade for SS Kyle Farmer would be a decent upgrade over the current mashup of weak hitting middle infielders. If they can hit .275-.300 with some pop, I can live with .975-.980 fielding%
All off season I came up with trades for Farmer. Preferably along with Gray or Mahle.
Perry not addressing the middle infield has really come back to bite him.
When you have Wade/Velasquez back to back you are basically punting on an inning. Hard to win when you only have 6 real offensive chances.
6 is being generous.
Just think if they repurposed that money into the organization and front office, scouting, Dr’s etc how much money would be saved over the years.
They’ll cash the insurance check if that means anything.
With a lot of the insurance policies on these contracts, it’s not that simple. I remember there was a lot of discussion about what was actually covered with Prince Fielder.
@poop
Rendon had an injury history. It’ll be curious to see. Because that’s HUGE to payroll.
Welp, the good news is after this year, Upton’s money comes off the books so we’re back down to paying for only one really really bad contract. Then we can pay Ohtani 45m a year for a decade.
Paying Ohtani $45-50m/yr for anything over 2-3 seasons would probably be disastrous. 3/125m okay 4/175 is pushing it.
Let some other team deal with that 6-8 yr mess, it likely won’t end well…unless you believe this time will be different. Lol
a deal structured like Correa’s or Bauer’s would be best, high AAV, short term, with option years.
The guys on MLB channel were just talking about it. Basically the consensus was they have to sign Ohtani and pay him 50m a year. But when they do, they will lock up any money available to build a winning team. It’s a tough call. The entire nation of Japan watches the Angels because of Ohtani. Personally, I say let him go and spend 50m a year all over the diamond.
I’d agree for most teams and the Angels specifically. With their situation, signing him to a mega deal doesn’t make a lot of sense if they want to field a good team. He’s a great player, but they have too many weak spots.
I couldn’t agree more. It comes down to one simple question: Where are the Angels in the standings WITH Ohtani? Signing him only puts the payroll deeper in the hole and prevents the FO from filling other holes. Keeping Ohtani is actually detrimental to the team. Take the best offer at the deadline.
Just give him his money and release him he done nothing for this team we’re jinxed at 3base keep playing the AAA at 3 base 198 won’t win the west
I wonder what it feels like to flush $250 million dollars down the toilet. Rendon doesn’t want this for sure – its as much an embarrassment to him as it is to the team. But at his advancing age, even when he’s healthy again its difficult to imagine that this contract will ever seem ok.
Consider this:
Albert Pujols: $240 million playing contract plus $10 million “personal services”
Josh Hamilton: $125 million
Vernon Wells: $89 million plus Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera
Justin Upton at $106 million looks like a steal comparatively.
Plus add nice retirement packages for Matt Harvey ($11m), Cody Allen ($8.5m) and others and Arte has wasted about half a billion before the Rendon contract.
And I’m leaving off guys like Gary Matthews Jr. who only cost $50 million and the $87 million CJ Wilson who did better than most of Arte’s signings.
Hamilton, Vernon Wells, CJ Wilson, Pujols, Gary Matthews Jr., Upton, Rendon, etc. They even gave a a combined 92.5MM to Iglesias, Tepera, Bradley and Loup w/ a combined ERA+ <90.
They cycle continues. .
I don’t know why people keep mentioning CJ Wilson. 132 starts in four seasons.
77.5MM for a 96 ERA+ is why.
Perry should blow this entire draft on all 3B and SS. Lol restock the farm with some infield talent.
We have some but it is a ways off. Arol Vera, Jeremiah Jackson, Kyren Paris
Uh oh spaghetti oh
Aside from drafting Trout, how do the Angels never have good luck with signing players or have decent players ever live up to their respected contracts? Upton, Wells, Wilson, Pujols to an extent. Angels seem to always sign players out of their prime but still decent enough to put up respectable numbers but it doesn’t seem to ever work
Trade Rendon with Ohtani while they can get something back!
Good news Angels; only 4 years and about $155 million left to go
What was the medical team looking at before they sent him out that last game and didnt look ready? And i feel other teams would make a move for a 3rd baseman but i predict minasian will say the current guys can do the job.
Best wish for Rendon, hoping for a speedy recovery!
Let’s go Angels !!
Hey Buddy! Good to see you back on here.
Change the name back to Anaheim, we are cursed!!
Trout still has no steals so i wonder if he’s not close to 100%.
Ahh good. Bring Jack Mayfield back up.
Lmao ahh yes!! Bring up that .200 hitting, OPS+ 51 super subpar sub!!
World Series here we come!! Let’s goooo!!!
Hey, Prov, a bit off the topic, but have you seen or visited the Ripken fields near your neck of the woods (Pigeon Forge)? They just hosted another big annual tournament there and some friends of ours were there for their kid’s travel team – beautiful place.
I live near there. Pigeon Forge is a nice place, but horribly crowded. As for the baseball, Ripken-off was what one parent called it, because of the cost. That’s not surprising, given that Pigeon Forge itself is a tourist trap. I’ve never been to the baseball facility, so that’s all I’ve got. I’m sure it’s very nice, though.
Hey Clipper. I have not been out there. I’ve heard good things so we’ll have to put it on the list. Dollywood is supposed to be a good theme park out that way. We don’t support Disney so I hear it’s a good alternative.
BUST!!!
Another Arte Moreno contractual fiasco
Ohtani-Rendon and Soto-Strass will be the nice package to trade for.
Arte thought he had the LA market sewed up during the McCourt era. Too bad Arte things changed and LA continues to be the Dodgers town.
I see that the Angels are branching out. Used to be that they only specialized in long-term injuries with pitchers.
7 straight losing seasons. The model seems to not be working? Arte, do you have the stomach to try a rebuild? Ya know, gut it, including moving Trout and Ohtani? And, of course, moving Rendon too, that’s if there is a remote possibility of a taker out there for him
Even if you can’t get rid of Rendon, they need to strongly consider a to-the-studs rebuild. It starts with trading both Ohtani and Trout by the deadline. I know Trout has a no-trade clause, but I think at this point he’d be more than willing to cast his lot elsewhere.
Don’t worry, as soon as rendon is ‘back’, he will be back to his old self, talking about how he “doesn’t owe the fans anything” (he has said this numerous times- both in DC and Anaheim), and he’ll be injured again in no time. 1 of the most easily predictable to be disastrous signings I can remember- and rendon’s an ungrateful and unlikable person in addition to that. And the next horrendous contract will be for the grossly overrated Ohtani (only 1 single superstar season in 5 years and nothing close to superstar performance either before or since), assuming he agrees to keep playing in Anaheim
Another star out for the year. Big bummer. I suspect by his numbers that this has been bothering him off and on for the whole season.
My hope for the Angels to get healthy and stay healthy just went out the window. Unless the Angels make a trade – and before Fletch returns – get ready for a steady diet of Duffy, Wade, Velasquez, Rengifo and Mayfield. Three of them will be in the lineup every night. All nice depth pieces, but not everyday players.
Perry is working on 40-man roster depth, but it takes a few years of scouting, drafting and developing to get there. And the Angels are not there. They could compete for a WC if things broke right for them, but it just hasn’t happened.
Anxious to see how Perry handles this bump in the road. Does he get a middle infielder, 3B or 4th OF well in advance of the trade deadline or does he ride it out with his current roster?
No offense, but the Angels organization is horrible. They need to tear it down completely and start over, beginning with the farm. Trading both Trout and Ohtani should be their next moves. You don’t build a team by buying $30 million per year free agents.
True- they need to trade Ohtani and Trout because those are the only players who would give them enough of a return to enable any kind of meaningful reset and since their farm system is in shambles. Even then, it probably wouldn’t be enough (shows what a hopeless organization it really is), but it’s the only real option. Signing free agents won’t do anything meaningful and depending on the farm system as it is now won’t do anything meaningful. If they begin taking the right steps now, they *might* be competitive in 2026 (at the earliest). Trout actually should have been traded in 2019 at the latest- his value is way down now.
No smart team would give up a huge amount for a 31 year old, extremely injury prone, declining Mike Trout (which is why he should have been traded in 2019 at the latest), but it would at least be a decent return. The grossly overrated Ohtani is already a shorter term rental at this point- since he’s a free agent after next season- his trade value only goes down more and more the longer they wait.
Mrs. Dumdum?
Nice job by Boras with Rendon and Bryant. Got their rings elsewhere and laser focused on squeezing a massive payday for past/predictably downhill performance over bulk of the contract.
Boras has probably made more money with his clients being on the IL than they have been on the field.
Sign those big-ticket players! Talk about a recipe for failure……the Angels have it figured out.
Wow! Dodgers really dodged a bullet by Rendon saying he didn’t want to play for LA. He is really good and I hope he recovers.
Maybe he was referring to the Angels?
At least the Angels get insurance money instead of lack of production
LAA, where careers go to die.
So much for the NEW Albert Pujols!
Why did we need this guy!?
Because they haven’t had a real 3B since Troy Glaus.
As always a big contract working out great for the angels. Keep up the great work!
Rendon and Strasburg should be neck and neck for highest salary per games played.
Signing with the Angels is becoming the modern equivalent of being the drummer for Spinal Tap…
The Angels aren’t really getting burned more than anyone else on these dumb contracts, they’re just relying on them more and so the sting is worse and more obvious.
The irony here is the Washington Nationals had to make a decision of which superstar to pay after their World Series win in 2019 — Strasburg or Rendon.
They both got paid $245M over 7 years and haven’t lived up to it.
Obviously this is not a “season-ending” surgery. It’s a “career-ending” surgery and also a “team-ending” surgery too.
Get better Anthony. Looking forward to your play next year.
Pretty amusing how many lame people post on this site.
Another ridiculous contract explodes
Bad contracts measure???? What is the goal of baseball? Win games? Win a World Series? Rinse and repeat every year. If you don’t do that it’s a bad contract. Someone said Harper has lived up to his contract……he left the Nats and they won a World Series. You judge contract each year.
The Angels valuation has gone from 180M to 2.2 billion for Arte Moreno. Perhaps he isn’t crying himself to sleep lonely for a trophy.
I’ll say this. And it’s not meant as a dig at any kind of fan of any team. People have a right to expect a result for their investment of time and money. But if you don’t like the way a team is operated, and don’t have faith in it….stop giving them your money. Dollars eventually matter. That’s business…and that’s the language that’s spoken.
If you’re buying a season ticket to games regardless of the won loss record season after season…putting up with escalating prices. Then the tool is right on your own lap. Because if you dont…the $ speaks. It says what you do is say one thing and do another with your money.
I’m looking at it from a fan perspective not a business one. You and I have something in common with guys like Bonds and Trout. We haven’t won a World Series
@gaetti4Life
And the fan take SHOULD matter…it matters over the long haul. It’s easier to keep patrons than it is to make them. Given the exit of the baby boomers over the coming years…the heat is on to grow the game.
Personally, I think all the money talk sullies what should be the selling point. But that goes way back. I can recall distance between players and typical fans during my 80s childhood. But it’s like MLB uses it as a marketing point. Add to the fact it’s a hobby for people to view themselves as general managers and interact thar way.
Nope, never won a World Series. MLB screwed my organization to the point I couldn’t even remain. But I’ve contributed to a playoff run. There’s so much luck involved even when the ownership and hierarchy listen to their people.
I didn’t work for the Mariners at the time, and havent. But the scouting staff had a player they wanted with their second overall pick. Jack Zurdencik had a lot of pressure on his job at that point. He overruled his scouting dept and went with probably the most sure thing college bat in the draft.
The Mariners scouting dept liked this kid from a cold weather state. He played other sports and didn’t have a ton of the usual exposure. Seemed risky to a guy with pressure in his job…so Jack Z took Dustin Ackley. Mike Trout fell all the way to the Angels who had two picks in a row. They took Randal Grichuk with the pick before. The Yankees were set go pounce on Trout with the very next pick. Angels had no idea what they were getting.
So many variables in the game. If playing it on the field was all it was…it’d be much easier.
If I had to pick a 3rd basemen to go after at this point; Brandon Drury. Capitalize on the good season he’s having and it wouldn’t cost much pulling him from the fire in Cincy.
Comparing the Hamilton deal to the Pujols deals is a huge stretch.
Maybe time to blow up the Angels? Over the past 28 days:
Walsh 31/1 K/W
Velasquez 26/0 K/W
Marsh 33/5 K/W
What’s this team going to look like in 3-4 years?
Yet another disaster contract for the Halos