Anthony Rendon underwent right wrist surgery in June, the continuation of a series of injuries that have plagued his past two seasons. The Angels announced he’d need four-to-six months to recover and proclaimed the surgery season-ending, but Rendon is holding out hope of a late-season return.
“That’s always been the thing, to come back,” Rendon told reporters this afternoon (via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). “That’s what I was pushing for the whole time. I’m going to push myself, push myself. I’m going to have them push me, push me. And if it works, we’re going to listen to my body. If it doesn’t feel good, we’ll pull it back. We’re just going to push as much as my body will take.”
To that end, Rendon took on-field batting practice for the first time since his surgery today. Fletcher adds that he’s been able to participate in defensive drills as well, perhaps enabling him to get back on the diamond before the season is out. There are a bit more than three weeks remaining on the schedule, with the season wrapping up on October 5.
The Halos are just playing out the stretch, of course, so there’s no reason to force Rendon onto the field before he’s ready. If he’s up to playing for even a week or two, however, it could have some benefits for the club as they turn their attention to 2023. Rendon indicated he’d feel better about his offseason preparation if he were able to make it back this year and log some game action heading into the winter.
Getting reinstated from the injured list this season would also expedite his return to the field in 2023. Not long after Rendon was injured, the Angels and Mariners engaged in a massive bench-clearing brawl. MLB handed the third baseman a five-game suspension for his actions during the melee. His suspension can’t be served until he’s reinstated from the IL. If he doesn’t make it back this season, Rendon would have to serve that ban to kick off next year.
Rendon appeared in 45 games before the surgery, hitting .228/.324/.383 with five home runs. After a massive showing during the shortened 2020 campaign, he’s had two seasons with roughly average production with IL stints for groin, knee, hamstring, hip and wrist issues interspersed throughout. He’s under contract for another four seasons beyond this year.
Even if he’s not ready to play, they should activate him this year so he can serve the suspension. No reason to let it carry over to next year.
This is all a clever boy and I love it
This is the ONLY reason he’s attempting to come back this year. There’s absolutely nothing to be gained by rushing his recovery outside of getting the suspension served so he can start 2023 clean. MLB and Manfred, however, are aware of this and have indicated they’ll closely watch his attempt to return, including requesting his medicals. If he’s activated and barely plays, they could still force him to serve the suspension at the start of next season.
I would hope they don’t dedicate much manpower to that..It’s only 5 games. Whoopty Doo.
I’d like to see him back on the field this year just to get some reps in.
@TrumboJumbo, sure, but it is 5 games so why not clear it out now if they can? Let Rendon start the year clean and not have to deal with the suspension. Rendon is rehabbing as is, so activating him, having him serve his suspension, and then have him appear in a couple games as part of his rehab, no matter if he’s compromised skills wise still, seems like a good solution, as long as they’re sure this won’t lead to complications on his recovery. Just have to convince Manfred it’s on the up and up!
Yes we are on the same page. 100% You said though that MLB is gonna be watching closely when they reactivate him etc…So he can’t “game” the system and not serve out his suspension while still basically hurt right? That was what I didn’t understand. They can’t play games with the players like that the union would roast their chestnuts. Read what the guy from the goonies (copperpot)said below this post, about “not monitoring” playing time. The commish can’t even remotely do what I think you are describing.
@Trumbo, the answer is easy. I was half asleep when I wrote my original note. 🙂
I didn’t know you could get emoji’s on here haha Awesome
How does that make any sense? MLB will let him play, to see if he’s playing enough, to suspend him? If he’s reinstated, he will serve his suspension. There’s no monitoring playing time.
@lordD99. “If he’s activated and barely plays…”
if he’s activated he’ll begin a suspension… he won’t play then be suspended.
Poorly worded on my part. Before a player who has been injured appears, he will usually have a rehab assignment. That won’t be possible here as the minor league post season should be over. If they simply elect to activate him five games before the end of the season, I can absolutely see MLB make him serve out his suspension at the start of next season. If they activate him 10 games prior to the end of the season and then they don’t play him, or have him pinch hit once or twice, then Manfred can once again decide the Angels are trying to manipulate the suspension and have him serve his suspension next season. It’s been reported that the Commissioner’s office is monitoring this. Now, do I think they’ll do anything? Likely not. The Angels will mask it properly. To be clear, I don’t have any issue with the Angels doing this, but I do believe 100% their goal is to get the suspension off the books before next season.
I disagree, getting the suspension out of the way is one thing but getting ten to fifteen games in to close the season can be a big benefit because he’ll go into the off season with a feel for the field again and that can be helpful mentally in preparing this off season, it won’t feel like an entire season lost, and instead of thinking about getting back on the field all off season he will already have gotten that out of the way and can focus on getting ready for ’23, those games are important, I’d get him in the lineup as soon as I could if he is healthy and capable of playing.
I agree with that.
Anthony Rendon – thought he retired..after 2019?
No, he didn’t retire.
Rendon led the Angels in WAR in 2020, so if that is an example of your thought process, maybe you should change your thought process.
Yikes! The Angels 2020 team was so bad that Rendon was their WAR leader!
Another person on this thread who is incapable of thought.
Rendon was 3rd in the AL in WAR in 2020.,
I was just kidding. He was a great player two years ago and has been unlucky with injuries. You Angels are pretty sensitive!
We can forgive you…this ONCE….
Often it’s impossible to discern jokes from stupidity.
Get Activated Anthony. We haven’t been eliminated …Yet.
I guess that “E” in the standings means we are excited for the playoffs?
When I posted the »E » wasn’t there. And I said « yet ».
The “E” stands for “Excited” for Arte’s departure.
As a bonafide Halo fan I am not giving up on him.
Massive showing in 2020? Bit of an exaggeration there.
I gotta think he still has the tools and the will….Do or die this year. I won’t be surprised if he comes back ready to mash though..
I was thinking the same thing. Good to really good yes but not I’d equate “massive showing” to video game like numbers and not a prorated 25-30ish HR season.
he is not a home run hitter. more of a doubles hitter who hits HRs occasionally.
Article dated 2020.
Make it back, show a little something, and then let’s trade you and pick up half your salary.
Needs to be activated with 5 games left. The club is at 28 players so now is the time to be short.
Got to earn that huge paycheck somehow.
In his first three years as an Angel, when he needs to out perform his contract, Rendon has played the equivalent of one season and slashed .252/.359/.421.
Staying healthy and avoiding age related slippage in his age 33-36 seasons are now necessary, though highly unlikely, to salvage Rendon’s contract.
I’m rooting for Rendon, but the odds are not in his, or the Angels, favor.
I would say that “outperforming” a contract initially or in general is a dubious concept/proposition. If he plays and the Angels don’t get to the playoffs ever it’s a moot point entirely. One man will not get you there singlehandedly. Case in point, Trout. He is there to help them get to the playoffs and further. This year his presence wouldn’t have made a lick of difference. Let’s hope next year is different.
It really was the two seasons with the Nationals, a power that could be attributed to a synergy with Juan Soto, when Rendon and Soto were basically on even footing in terms of who would emerge, and Soto has continued to excel albeit in somewhat of a unimportant role, Rendon was at the time considered to be as good or better than Soto, and many forget that. The last couple seasons have proven that Soto was the better player offensively, and it is the walks that separate the two, even if Rendon was healthy he wouldn’t have the OBP that Soto has posted, but Rendon is under contract and is a player of magnitude in the MLB, the Angels have a shot if Ohtani can keep up the dramatics. Rendon’s contract looks terrible but could turn out to be a value, If I’m Rendon and I’m hurt two seasons I’m renegotiating for the team but I don’t know how that works, money is a strange thing.
Good post bwmiller. Makes sense.
Thanks butter balls
Only GF can call me that but I’ll let it slide..
**my GF**
Right, the butter on your balls was your GF’s idea, anyways what’s it all about in this world, god damn dogs, lol
The Dogs prefer peanut butter…Ok thats enough haha
OK Trumbo – let’s go White Sox
Anderson the batting title winner is the only guy I kinda like on the that team.
As a Sox fan, I’d say that it’s Abreu who is the heart and soul of the team, he is a HOF type of a player, TA in all honesty has been the man at SS, and has made Rick Hahn look somewhat capable after trading away Tatis Jr., TA is a future HOF if he can continue to play at the level he has played. Add in Eloy, Vaughn, Robert and Moncada and the Sox honestly have a dynasty in the making if their GM doesn’t screw it up, all they need is pitching, they don’t have to sign a single positional player, sign Rodon back and bring Yermin back, and let’s go!
Yermin had the whole world captivated upon his debut. It was fun to watch. He did IndyBall players proud. I am a giant fan of any .300+ hitters these days though. With them being dying breeds and all. I want/hope Anderson has a great career and notches a few more batting titles. Haven’t got much of a look at Abreu over the years but have heard good things obviously.
Oh Christ Abreu is a HOF lock, but the real matter of importance to me is Yermin, because if you watch Yermin hit and understand Yermin’s importance as a glue guy and a player well then you have yourself a winning team.
Yermin, watch Yermin, you’ll see a little Mike Trout, you’ll see a little Pete Rose, so whose to say this guy doesn’t have that kind of ability, it only takes a small adjustment and he is hitting .280 with 30HR and a .350 OBP, that’s the kind of player Yermin can be, his swing and the walks says that to me, but have to commit to him for 400 ABs.
I am a Yermin fan, big believer, but only because of what I see in his personality and in his swing. Anybody that works to put Pete Rose into their swing has something going for them. Yermin needs to reel in his aggression a little, watch Trout, the powers there, just need those bat to ball skills and that bat control and Yermin can have five or six great seasons as a DH and a dedicated catcher, he should be Rodon’s catcher. They both come up with the Sox, even if the Sox don’t sign them back they should stick together. It’s kind of like destiny. Better together.
You sold me. I’ll try and catch some more Chi Sox games
Miller, I was looking at Abreu’s stats…I really had no idea. I do see the HOF in his future as well. As a west coast fan, sometimes you just don’t get to see some guys as much. I try to track all the good players but Abreu has flown under my radar. His stats are pretty impressive.
In 2002 they were not loaded with all stars. They were a well oiled machine with a good deal of luck. Hard nosed and scrappy. With those attributes anything can happen. They used what they had to the max (maximized what they had).
Year 1 of his contract was 2020… 60 game Covid season, he played 52 and was the best player on the team in 2020, top10 MVP votes. Definitely not injured or underperforming his first year in LAA.
tool, everything you said is correct. And it’s because of 2020 that Rendons cumulative three year numbers are not worse. That said, it doesn’t change a thing from my original post.
Remember when this guy turned down the Dodgers? LOL bullet dodged
When did Rendon turn down the Dodgers? Are you sure?
It was down between the Angels and Dodgers. He preferred the lifestyle in the OC over the LA/ Hollywood lifestyle. He mentioned this when he signed Trumbojumbo
Who could blame him…Didn’t remember the Dodgers going after him though. But I believe you haha.
I’m sure he turned down many teams to sign that deal. Who wouldn’t want .300 30+ injected into their lineup?
Agreed. Just don’t remember The Dodgers making him an offer.
Dodger never made an offer.
Angels good luck the next 4 years with Anthony Rendon. Same to the Rockies with Kris Bryant for the next 6 years.
Us Halo fans can weather a lot. If we can deal with Vernon Wells, Gary Matthews Jr, Josh Hamilton, and Pujols’ contract we can handle Rendons. Nothing new to us.
Vernon Wells is always fascinating to me. Scored an enormous deal that everyone viewed as an overpay at the time, then played average/poorly and almost literally every fan/writer viewed his deal as an albatross and potentially one of the worst ever. Then somehow the Blue Jays got the Angels to take his contract even though it was heavily backloaded. *Plus* the Angels gave up Napoli for him even though Napoil was already more valuable and went on to play much better than Wells for the next few years. Then the Angels traded him away for almost nothing while picking up most of his remaining salary.
Per B-ref and Spotrac, the Angels ended up trading two seasons of Napoli (7.3 WAR over that stretch) while paying Vernon Wells $67 million (Wells had 0.0 WAR for the Angels). Incredible.
And Napoli came back every year after to beat the pants off the Angels every chance he got.
napoli came to games drunk too many times. scoscia hated that. and he was a typical steroids user. not saying he did, though. you know.
Lol I don’t remember the drunk business. He did have Brad Fullmer muscles though.
Never heard of him showing up to games drunk. I did run into him and Lackey at The Catch after a game and have a beer with them. They were regulars.
Napoli loved to party.
And his hip condition only happens in people with steroid use. And he did play in Boston for quite a while. I’d bet he juiced.
You had a drink with him and Lackey?! Alright I’m a little jealous.
Yes. Walked into The Catch when it was across the street from the Big A. This was immediately following a game. Seattle was in town and Jarrod Washburn joined them/us at the bar.
It was really a great night.
Hahaha Washburn too?!?! Oh man thats great stuff!!
CJ Wilson! the guy raced while on dl(il) bragged about it. after being cut, he said he is buying an auto dealership with the money the angels paid him in an interview. a total dbag!
I was gonna throw him in the mix too…Arte never spent big on another pitcher after him..
I remember Arte signed Pujols and Wilson the same day. 11 years ago. So excited I was dancing on my roof. We thought we had something going..
Same with all the crappy contracts over the last 20 years. I can’t think of one, other than Trout, that has worked out well for us.
Yeah he’s about it.
Hey Trumbo, what part of the country do you live in that you’re on here this early?
Western America. My sleeping patterns are opposite that of a normal human being.
I’m in Nashville so I’m up a bit earlier than the west coast. I miss Pacific time for Angels games. We’re on the east side of Central time so it stays light really late here in the summer, like until 9pm some days.
It isn’t humid and miserable there like Los Angeles at the moment is it?
We’ve had a couple of nice days and this week is supposed to be beautiful. But we had a brutally humid summer this year. The weather is changing to Autumn…you can feel it.
The worst summers I’ve ever experienced were when I lived in DC. It’s 90 degrees at midnight some nights.
Oh man, Autumn sounds nice right about now. I was in Bullhead City AZ summer of 2017. For a few days at the end of June it hit 135. At 6pm it was still getting HOTTER. Lowest temp dropped to was about 95 around 5am. By 6am it was over 100 again. Great fun..
yikes
I use to have that argument at work.. The folks in Houston had a summer dress code, while NYC did not. I told them that everyone in the Houston office went from an air-conditioned house, to an air-conditioned car, to an air-conditioned office. Try spending 10 minutes on the platform of the 4-train at Wall St. It’s 10x as bad as anything in Houston.
Yeah, in DC I spent 10 to 15 minutes on the Metro platform in a suit. It was brutal.
On a more exciting note, Trout has been hitting like a man possessed since back from the IL. Completely unstoppable. Going for 8 games straight with a jack tomorrow.
Can he pitch?
Of course.
Crazy to think a couple months ago talking heads were saying that no team would take Trouts with his back, that he will never be the same player, that the angels are now saddled with another bad contract….
Was it talking heads or clueless people on a message board.
For position players, Trout is now 4th in the AL in WAR. He’ll likely finish the year 3rd in WAR.
I’ve heard he is washed up.
There is a large percentage of people who love to see bad things happen to others for the drama and gossip. It’s the type of person who sees an attack on the street and pulls out their phone to video it instead of helping the victim.
Notice none of them are on here now talking about how glad they are that they were wrong and Trout is seemingly healthy.
Been following Trout and watching him closely since his 1st day in the show. Always been suprised with how many nay-sayers he has. Drives people nuts he is on the Angels I guess. People have the same hostility with Ohtani too. Merely because he is on the Halos. They think the Halos are “undeserving” of such talent.
Oh yeah, been hearing he’s over the hill for years. I don’t think the man has lost anymore than a 1/2 step TOPS! And that is 1/2 a step lost on running/defense, NOT hitting ability. This is the same Trout we have always known…He is showing people who the best is once again.
I thought Pujols would have aged much better, but the shift killed him. Puljos never stopped hitting the ball hard.
Who knows about injuries? The last two years, not before that, Trout has suffered two injuries that have been and are concerning, Talent wise, he’s still great and will be for a few more years at least.
Fair enough
He is a Center Fielder though…
Machado > Rendon.
machado is worse than a fly.
Why this organization didn’t have team options on the last two years of this deal is beyond me…just shows that Scott Boras is the best agent in baseball.
it is more the baseball-stupidity of arte. he loves baseball but loves money more.
If not for Angels and Arte agreeing to let ohtani pitch and hit ( weren’t they the only ones to guarantee opportunity?) we may never ever have seen what we are seeing. Give credit for that.
According to Ohtani, that is 100% the reason he came to Anaheim. Well, 99% that and the other 1% was wanting to play with the best play ever.
Yikes. Best **player** ever.
Just in time to save the season
This is what happens when you give $245 million to a guy who openly admits to being apathetic towards baseball and is looking forward to an early retirement. Desperation signing after losing out on Gerrit Cole. Suffice to say, it did not work out well for the Angels.
Why?
The more I’ve gotten into Spring Training the more I realize how important off season routines are. Rest, recovery, reactivation.
If Rendon can get the suspension out of the way that is a small win.
However, getting onto a normal off season routine is a huge win.
will angels trade Rendon this off-season? Angel has a history of trading a player and paying a player to play for another team.
Don’t think this is a Josh Hamilton type deal yet. If any one of the Angels “bad contract” players have had a shot at rebounding it is Rendon. I really don’t see any instance in which he doesn’t stay. The guy has the tools still we gotta give him a chance.
People wrote off Trout and Ohtani. Maybe those same people will get it right with Rendon.
But I like my odds of going three for three more than the odds of those others going 1 for 3.
I never heard of anyone seriously writing off Trout and Ohtani.
No. For one there’s no replacement on the farm. Secondly he’s liked by teammates so there’s no Hamilton scenario (and rumors of Pujols).
Third the team is for sale. Arte will let someone else deal with his mistakes.