The Angels made a few moves before tonight’s game in Minnesota. Los Angeles selected corner bat Eric Wagaman onto the 40-man roster. The Halos also recalled reliever Guillo Zuñiga from Triple-A Salt Lake. They step onto the MLB club in place of Anthony Rendon and Ben Joyce.
Rendon lands on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to September 8, with a left oblique strain. Joyce is on the 15-day IL with a retroactive placement date of September 7. The fireballer is dealing with shoulder inflammation. The Halos moved veteran reliever Matt Moore to the 60-day injured list, officially ending his season, to create the necessary 40-man spot.
Wagaman, who turned 27 last month, gets to the big leagues for the first time. Any major league call would have been rewarding, but debuting with the Angels is particularly sweet. Wagaman is an Orange County native who grew up as a Halos fan. He attended Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa and entered pro ball as a 13th-round pick of the Yankees in 2017.
The right-handed hitter played parts of six seasons in the New York system. Wagaman posted middling numbers in the low minors but seemed to hit his stride in Double-A. He hit well in limited looks there between 2022-23. The Angels selected him with their first pick of the Triple-A phase of last winter’s Rule 5 draft. That got him his first extended upper minors opportunity with his hometown club.
Wagaman has taken advantage. He has split his time between the top two minor league levels and combined for a .274/.339/.469 slash through 495 plate appearances. He has connected on 28 doubles, four triples and 17 homers while striking out at only a 16.8% clip. Primarily a first baseman, Wagaman has branched out a bit defensively this year. He has logged a few hundred innings in the corner outfield and at third base. He should work as a bat-first player off Ron Washington’s bench for the season’s final few weeks as he tries to maintain his 40-man roster spot in the offseason.
Rendon goes on the IL for the third time this season and the 12th stint of his Angels tenure. He’s not officially out for the season, but an oblique strain with less than three weeks to play could result in him being shut down. If that ends up being the case, he’ll close the year with a .218/.307/.267 batting line and no home runs. Rendon has appeared in 57 games this season and hasn’t topped 58 games in any of his five years with Los Angeles (though he likely would’ve beaten that number if not for the shortened schedule in 2020). He’s under contract for $38MM annually for another two years.
Joyce hasn’t pitched in a week because of the shoulder issue. He’ll be out until the final week of the season. It doesn’t seem to be a major concern. The second-year righty told Erica Weston of Bally Sports West (X link) that he expects to pitch again this season. Joyce has been a rare bright spot for the Angel bullpen. He owns a 2.08 ERA with a massive 58.9% ground-ball rate across 34 2/3 innings. The Tennessee product throws harder than anyone else, touching 105.5 MPH in his most recent appearance. With Carlos Estévez gone, he could get the first look in the ninth inning next season.
Moore has been out since late August with a forearm injury. The severity isn’t known, but it’s a suboptimal way to go to free agency. The southpaw played this year on a $9MM salary. He struggled to a 5.03 ERA across 51 appearances. He’ll return to the market at age 35 and might be limited to minor league offers.
Well at least we know Rendon didn’t strain his oblique swinging for the fences.
“.218/.307/.267 batting line and no home runs. Rendon has appeared in 57 games this season and hasn’t topped 58 games in any of his five years with Los Angeles.”
The Angels have to eat that salary anyway, so why the Angels haven’t simply released him by now is one of baseball’s great mysteries. How could they possibly believe he will ever perform well, to say nothing of even attempting to perform well?
This is all a reasonable argument.. but maybe they dont want another Pujols situation on their hands? Granted, Pujols was still hitting home runs the last couple years with the Angels..
The Angels have nobody in house to take his place.
That’s why they keep him.
No viable 3B free agents next year but anyone can hit 1 HR. Very possible we’ve seen his last AB since Rengifo can at least play there. He’s not an MLB plate anymore.
@halosheaven I think rengifo will play third and Rendon will be a bench bat/ dh. But with the injurie problems in the infield you might as keep him and just limit his games.
The Yankees have Judge and the Angels have Drury.
Hopefully, Christian Moore will be up soon, he has to be better than the other low-quality in-house options.
Angels could even upgrade by signing Emmanuel Rivera, who the Marlins recently cut.
@manny. moore has a meniscus injury. He might be done for the year
Rex
Sorry to hear.
Thank you for the informed response.
It depends, with what we’ve seen of his current attitude it could be addition by subtraction > bury him on the bench. But Wash manage that way….
@poisonpens I don’t think it’s attitude, he got paid, and doesn’t care. So I doubt he will complain about riding the bench. when he plays rengifo can play 2nd or dh.
Only $77M left on the contract!
“Great mysteries”…Are you really claiming to not know that BIG MONEY is the ONLY reason that Rendon is still on the Angels? Tell me a time when a team, any team, has released a player with this much money on his contract?
January of 2000
Rendon Vs. Baez. Who gets cut first and gets to go home and be rich on the couch? Start a Poll.
America needs a Rendon for Baez challenge trade to see which one of them vetos it.
Prince Fielder comes to mind
Do the angels get insurance money when he doesn’t play?? Most big contracts are insured
Insurance doesn’t cover most injuries. Preexisting conditions are never covered and other restrictions make insurance nearly useless.
Rendon is the only player I wouldn’t trade Baez for.
Depends. A team has to take out a separate policy on a player/contract and the insurance charged is based on the cumulative value of the contract. So an insurance policy at his time of signing might have been several million dollars at inception; plus the annual renewal cost. Some players insurance won’t touch either way.
See 105-mph Joyce dealing with shoulder inflammation (again) is about as surprising as seeing Rendon hop on the IL, or we’ll call PT (personal time) for him.
Will be interesting to see who can play in more games in 25 and 26 between Rendon and Trout.
Do you mean baseball games or golf?
Baseball duh
“Baseball games or golf”…I haven’t seen the betting line yet, but I’m betting the farm on “golf”.
They both will play.
Yeah, they will play about 50 games on average before they hit the IL. If we add Bryant to that list, it will drop to 30.
Hot Take: I don’t think the Rendon signing has worked out very well for the Angels.
/sarcasm
Funny
Hey. It’s a great deal. So far, they are only paying $590,000 per game played…
Henceforth, it shall be known as the Anthony Rendon Memorial Injured List.
Rendon and Kris Bryant having a battle for the ages
Wait. Rendon on IL? I thought he was already on it. As in, never left it in the first place.
Just like Gose being DFA’d and then re-signed and then DFA ‘again?
I applaud the Babbit moniker, but the glaring difference is that Bryant actually likes baseball.
There’s a world of difference between Rendon and Bryant.
Bryant is dealing with plantar fasciitis. It’s a very difficult condition to overcome, especially quickly.
Bryant is not a malingerer, nor someone who comes up with a different ailment every month, like a certain ex-Nat now in his beloved SoCal.
Man.. I saw this headline and laughed. fielding a AAA team for sure at the end of the season.
Keep getting those losses! It’s all about high draft picks now.
This will be the first season of Rendon’s career he doesn’t hit at least one Home Run. Might be time to eat the money Arte…
He’s hit only 22 HRs total in his 5 seasons with the Angels. Of which 9 came in the abbreviated 2020 season. Before that, with the Nationals, his yearly HR totals were 20, 24, 25 and 34.
Eat the F$$$$$G money Arte Moreno tell me what it taste like at Rendon press conference when you signed Anthony you said you handpicked him watching him at Rice University but then who’s actually seen you in the last 3 years to embarrass to make a public appearance my advice to you is buy a nice rocking chair and sell the team. $2.5 billion and you turned it down maybe read the book the Art of closing the deal look where it got Trump convicted felony
Rendon saw Buxton, Bryant and Trout on the IL again and said, “hold my beer.” He strained his oblique handing over his beer……….
I’d love to know the insurance payouts on Rendon.
It’s likely way cheaper to keep him and collect insurance money for 2/3rds of the season than let him go and eat the whole number.
Plus there are zero third base prospects pushing him for the job.
“Insurance payouts on Rendon”…Are you sure his contract is insured?..Insurance premiums are highly expensive and teams don’t always Insure their biggest contracts. It would be interesting to know for sure.
Rendon has two years left on a 245-million-dollar contract. Sadly, for Angel fans buying $12.00 hotdogs and $18.00 beers, baseball just isn’t his priority anymore. Really an astonishing story. Rendon appears to be a major POS.
I still like Anthony
Hopefully he can play next year
With or without rendon the angels will make the playoffs in 2025
Trout like rendon
Same boat I know
Maybe trout will be traded to the Red Sox
He already played with the Yankees as mantle!!
Roger Mari’s came back to : detmers
Love gerhig is a high school pitcher in Huntington Beach ca, google it
Rendon has no interest in playing, he’s just going through the motions until that contract runs out.
I’d bet my house the angels don’t make the playoffs next year, let alone finish 500.
Nm you’re just weird
gold masters:
Please drink a lot of strong coffee, right now.
And seek help, asap.
Oh he’s already had his coffee – about a gallon of it, I’d say.
Maybe the Rendon disaster forces Moreno to alter his business, baseball and marketing strategies.
If Arte Moreno finally figures out that adding one or two superstars on top of a weak foundation of young players is fundamentally flawed, all this Angels mess(the last several years)might actually be worth it.
The ill advised attempt by some Angel fans to get Angel stadium to copy the Phillies fans and Trea Turner by inspiring Rendon with a standing ovation has aged terribly.
Trea Turner actually cares and his effort level and determination is unquestioned. Anthony Rendon?..Not so much.
So it’s now 5 years in a row where the Angels really don’t play a full season. The first month is “it’s a long season” and then they hang it up at 140ish to “see what the youngsters can do”. So they really only play about 120/130 competitive games a year.
But don’t complain next year when you get no All Star consideration. AllStars don’t hang it up to make way for youth with this many games in the year. Did Mike Trout sit out the early years so as not to get injured late in the season or did he play it through?
So did Rendon injure himself getting to the stadium? He and Kris Bryant might have to be dropped off by helicopter on a stretcher going forward, wrapped around bubble wrap just to be extra careful.
Glad to see Rendon stopped by to play a little ball this season.
That’s trash that even the Angels don’t want or have a place for.
Rendon hit two more HRs than me in ’23, but I’m happy to report I tied him in dingers this season.
I was going to say that you don’t play baseball, but he didn’t either lmao.
Anthony RenDONE
Is this pice trash need to go trade him just eat that celery
No habla Español
I have to think the Angels brass believes, like I do, that Rendon would like nothing more than to retire and jump-start his year-round life of unincumbered freedom. Enough so, that he’d consider buying out his own contract for 3-4 million bucks fewer. (Presumably, proverbial “pocket change” for a guy like him.) Especially if he’s invested wisely – at all. (Which most of them do.)
Obviously, most dead-money contract guys want to play on to the bitter end – maybe even try go out on a higher note – but they especially want to collect every last dollar they have coming to them! Maybe I’m wrong about this, but I just don’t see Rendon as one of them.
So c’mon fellas, make a deal. There’s gotta be an agreeable win-win number you can get to. Bend a little and move on. You’ll both be happier for it.
Perry Minasian is actually doing something that Arte Moreno refuses to do rebuilding The team with young players from the farm system, give Perry Minasian credit with his number one draft choices already in the major leagues, why do you think arte Moreno resigned the general manager for two years
My guess is Arte has 2 years to get the Angels over .500. If he does, he will probably get extended again. If he doesn’t, he will be out.
It won’t be easy to get this team over 500. The team will be handcuffed by the Rendon contract for next couple seasons. Team is already at a payroll Arte is comfortable. with. We know Arte won’t spend on a front line starter. I don’t see an upcoming increase in payroll for top FA. Perry will probably tinker with the bullpen like he always has. This will likely continue to yield mix results since RP is the least likely position to remain consistent year to year.