1:40pm: Rendon is not officially “retiring,” Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register adds. He’ll still count against the team’s roster for the time being, although with the two sides agreeing to part ways, it stands to reason that the Angels could release him at any point. He’ll be paid regardless.
1:15pm: The Angels and Anthony Rendon have agreed to a restructured version of his contract that will defer the $38MM he is still owed for the next three to five seasons, reports Sam Blum of The Athletic. Rendon will not return to the team. His tenure with the Angels is over.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported in late November that the two parties were working on a buyout of sorts regarding the final year and $38MM on the seven-year, $245MM contract Rendon signed following his monster 2019 season. It proved to be a catastrophic misstep for the Halos — one of the least-productive major signings in the sport’s history. Rendon played in only 257 games for Anaheim, slashing just .242/.348/.369 with 22 home runs in 1095 plate appearances. Of a possible 1032 games he could have played with the Angels, Rendon will wind up appearing in just under one-quarter of them.
It’s easy to forget, but Rendon’s Angels tenure started out quite well. He played in 52 of 60 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and slashed a robust .286/.418/.497 with nine homers, 11 doubles, a triple and more walks (16.4%) than strikeouts (13.4%). It was precisely the type of star-level output for which the Angels hoped when signing the reigning World Series MVP after a sensational run in Washington; from 2017-19, Rendon had slashed .310/.397/.556 with the Nationals.
Everything fell apart from that point forth. Rendon’s 2021 season was cut short by hip surgery. His 2022 season ended early due to wrist surgery. He missed all of the 2025 season following a second hip surgery. Even in the 2023-24 seasons, when he avoided undergoing any kind of surgical procedure, Rendon was limited to just 90 games due to the combination of a fractured tibia (suffered when fouling a ball into his leg), a torn hamstring and an oblique strain.
As one would expect, as those injuries piled up, Rendon’s production wilted. Following his terrific 2020 campaign, he played in just 202 games with the Angels and hit .231/.329/.336 with poor defense. He was effectively a replacement-level player — and a frequently injured one at that. Rendon also sparked controversy off the field as well in 2023, when he was captured on video grabbing an A’s fan by the shirt after he’d been cussed at while leaving the field. Rendon swore at the fan and took a swipe at him after releasing his shirt. He was suspended for four games and fined by the league.
The Angels weren’t counting on Rendon for any contributions from Rendon in 2026 anyhow, but the restructure and deferral of his weighty $38MM salary gives the team some extra spending power this winter. Details surrounding the nature of the deferrals and how much — if anything — they’ll pay Rendon in 2026 are unclear. Blum, however, suggests that the Angels could use the newfound financial freedom to pursue a higher-profile free agent this winter. That doesn’t necessarily have to be at third base, although in Alex Bregman and NPB star Kazuma Okamoto, there are a pair of notable options at the position.
Many of the top names on the free agent market remain unsigned to this point. In addition to Bregman and Okamoto, none of Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Cody Bellinger, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez or Tatsuya Imai have signed yet. Imai’s 45-day posting window closes on Jan. 2. Okamoto’s posting window closes two days later.
Prior to the Rendon buyout/restructure, RosterResource projected the Angels’ payroll at about $172MM, which is roughly $34MM shy of their 2025 level. Depending on how the new arrangement has been structured, the Angels could be anywhere from $40-70MM shy of last year’s season-ending mark, which would give general manager Perry Minasian and his staff plenty of room to further augment the club.
Worst FA signing ever.
At least he didn’t play much. Which is better than playing poorly
oh – What are the odds of two teammates signing free agent contracts just 4 days apart, for the same 7 years and $245M, and both being absolute busts.
Strasburg was the bigger bust, at least the Angels got 3.9 WAR out of Rendon …… the Nats got just 8 starts and a combined -0.5 WAR out of Strasburg.
True but don’t forget Strasburg was mvp 2019 world series Nats screwed up not taking out insurance on that contract. ✌🏻
I don’t think the Nats could take out insurance on the contract… prior injuries to Strasburg was the reason…
Hosmer? Davis? Sandoval?
Pavano
Chris Davis close for sure
Steroids?
Christmas came on December 30th in Anaheim
Chris Davis
Pablo Sandoval
Mike Hampton
Jason Heyward
Josh Hamilton
Kris Bryant is also one that has turned out to be brutal so far. I hope he can get and stay healthy. Back injuries are no joke.
Rendon was bad I think there’s been worse contracts.
Don’t forget Strasburg!
He was hurt but not fake hurt
@em
Are you insinuating Rendon faked his injuries? Because you’d have to give him credit to his commitment of getting multiple surgeries in order to sell his lie.
Oh, this list could go on forever, despite the strong and telling start. Most free agents are largely busts, worth remembering every year at this time as people spout hypothetical nonsense about how this or that player is the holy grail for a team’s success. They so rarely, if ever, are.
Dimitri,
“if ever”
Schwrzer helped the Nationals win a World Series. That’s at least one.
Ohtani is likely to be a massive win for the Dodgers, on the field and off.
Now this is going back a ways, but the best ever signing had to be Greg Maddux. The first 3 years of his tenure with Atlanta he won the CYA (adding the one he won with the Cubs in his walk year made 4 consecutive). Larry Himes was the GM who.let him walk.
Has Rendon really ever joined the team?
Jordan Montgomery, 2yr/$47.5m, -1.4 WAR
Derek Bell’s free agent signing with the Pirates might be in competition
He was a complete bust (2001) and decided to leave the team in what became known as “ Operation Shutdown “
Did his agent tell him he was signing with the Pirates?
Kei Igawa says ‘konnichiwa’
No Stasburg signing worse.
Injuries to his left groin, left knee, left hamstring, left shin, left oblique, lower back, both wrists and both hips sent him to the IL.
How can someone be injured that much when he barely plays?
Josh Hamilton close 2nd.
Great. Now, we can all forget about him.
Like Vernon Wells, this is one of the worst moves, and I hope it stays this way. I’d rather not forget but remember not to do this again.
@alan, at least Vernon was a good dude.
Who?
IT’S OVER!!!!
Cue the “ding dong the witch is dead” music.
I’m shocked — the guy loves the game, cannot believe it
Always played with his hair on fire and just oozed class and gratitude.
And good with the fans. Quite the media darling as well.
Freeing up money for Okamoto?
Mr. Moreno, sell the team!
No there not selling the team. Stop it
sell it back to Disney! when Disney owned it they won the World Series in 2002
Disney became bad owners very quickly even though they created the good angels teams
Hell no. Disney was worse than Arte. They won the world series despite Disney ownership.
How can you blame Moreno for this? No one on Earth knew than Rendon was going to turn into this. He seemed like a perfect fit when he was signed and never really showed any signs of being a walking injury that hated the game of baseball in Washington. He is just a good example of why 100% guaranteed contracts are a bad thing for the sport.
People are stupid.
redmatt: Thanks for confirming it.
Arte was chasing Gerrit Cole knowing he was going to the Yanks. Then Boras threw Rendon and Morono was hooked. For too much. We needed pitchers but with that much tied to Rendon there were only scraps.
If you don’t know the story, keeping quiet makes you look smarter.
Yeah. This deal was a serious misallocation of resources at the time and just ended up looking even worse.
I bow down to your incredible intelligence. I didn’t realize you were in the room while the negotiations were taking place. Thank you for educating me Oh Great Aragon, Fly on the Wall.
Hi, fly. Go eat some cow dung and grow.
@Aragon -Actually Arte had been following Rendon since his days at Rice. He figured since the Angels lost out on Cole a power hitting 3B would be a good fit. And a lot of Angel fans (Including myself) were happy with signing. Especially after being the main cog on Chapionship team.
@dolomite – As a Phils fan we saw a lot of him with the Nats, and while the contract (like all large FA deals) was too much for too long, Rendon was an incredibly consistent (and highly sought after) player up until that point. The Phils loved him and no one would have predicted (with foresight) that it would turn out this badly.
The dude had a lot of serious injuries and it turned out to be an awful deal. But all of the geniuses on here that make him out to be a dirtbag are just venting their spleen and drooling on their keyboards.
The problem was that if Arte wasn’t going to spend any more money and bring in pitching that he desperately needed—-then this deal was never going to lead to success
This tied up funds that were needed to spread around and build a team. Arte’s been doing this for a long time though. He collects and overpays a couple big talents but doesn’t give resources to his FO and never builds a team.
Well stated, aragon.
Anaheim and Colorado manage to spend decently but rarely put together competitive teams.
It is like buying stock at the high point in the market and watching it fall.
Both before and after Rendon’s departure, Anaheim is the last place team in AL West by a wide margin.
@hiflew- Simple most fans don’t look at the big picture. And they’re lying if they said the Rendon signing was bad from the beginning. Arte spent money you can’t fault him for that.
Oh, really? Vernon Wells, Josh Hamilton, Albert Puhols were all on him. He has never been a good baseball mind. Just a dang good ad man!
@aragon-Vernon Wells was acquired by trade from Toronto. Was that you said “If you don’t know the story”?
Yes. And the Angels let the Jays off the hook on that extension.
Who said he was a F/A? The team paid $47 mil for 2 seasons he ‘played’ for the Angels.
It’s true that Moreno couldn’t have predicted this, but he also has a long track record of interfering with his GM to make big free agent splashes for the “splashiness” that weren’t good for the team. See also: Albert Pujols; Josh Hamilton.
It didn’t hurt that the Rangers were widely reported to be going hard after Rendon upon the opening of their new stadium. Grabbing the top free agent that your division rivals are going after isn’t a bad move in and of itself, but those have always been the bigger factors to his decisions over “What does the team need most right now to improve”.
Greatest heist in the history of professional sports.
Marwin Gonzalez with the twins imo. Dude got the contract based solely off cheating
2 years – $21 million is chump change compared to what Rendon got.
Pure Criminal
JM I think King James and his $50M ripping off the Lakers is the biggest heist
Right- the GOAT playing the best-ever basketball for a player his age is ripping off his team.
Okamoto and Imai duel signing to be announced this week
They’re going to duel?!
duo*
Spelling bee champ.
Never- I think most people talk to their phones rather than type it out.
He hasn’t been with the team since signing the deal.
Bigger major FA bust, Rendon or Chris Davis?
Rendon by far
@mr. I’ll raise you Strasburg. He pitched 18 innings after his deal
Strasburg was slightly worse but if you bake in the good will of the WS it doesnt feel as bad.
Dig – What does that mean? Strasburg and Rendon were teammates in 2019, both were instrumental in that championship.
There’s no comparison, Strasburg’s contract turned out to be the worst of the two.
@fever. Yeah Strasburg was worse. He had two starts. I guess he gets a free pass because of his injury. I’ll still take rendon playing 40 games a year. It’s still the worst contract in mlb.
I vote Rendon. Davis was bad, but at least he tried. He just lost his ability for some reason. Rendon lost his love for the game if he ever had any.
Rendon by a long shot. Davis cared.
Maybe Vernon Wells.
Jason Bay-Mets
Davis, because while Rendon not playing cost the team a lot of money, Davis playing historically bad cost the team a lot of money AND wins. Although, neither team was going to win even if they could re-allocate that money anyway.
@disadv You could argue that Rendon not playing kept the team from winning, as well.
I’ll still put the Rendon over Davis as the worst signing. As people have said, Davis cared. Rendon did not.
Anthony “its just a job, but I’ll attack a fan” Rendon.
@kellin
You’re conflating Rendon’s optics with his actual ability, though.
Rendon said baseball is “too long and boring” back in 2014, then went on to have several MVP-caliber seasons after that. So it’s not as though his words equate him not trying. His injuries have also been pretty catastrophic. I love what I do for a living, but if it gave me a hip injury more common in people 70+ that significantly affected my quality of life, I maybe wouldn’t be as rosy about it either.
As for Davis, he got in spats with Brandon Hyde, and had a reputation of not listening to coaches. I’d speculate that he was probably told things that he had already tried, but to act as though Rendon is purely a bum and Davis was pure class is just false.
Also, Davis put up a 66 OPS+ and -5.8 WAR in his final 4 seasons. Rendon, 86 OPS+ and 1.7 WAR. You can take those WAR and OPS+ with a grain of salt, but what you cannot deny is that they are calculated based on on-field results, and Davis’ numbers were not only bad, but actively worsened his team. And he did that while “trying.”
A chapter they are probably very satisfied with ending. Although they are still likely to owe a good amount of money due to whatever restructuring they have done, so is it really truly over?
The end of an error
This is great for the Angels. Gives them more flexibility for 2026 to spend.
It’s sad they’ve had two albatross contracts this century (Josh Hamilton) but at least the team has shown a willingness to spend, albeit not always wisely.
Wouldn’t call it an albatross by any means, put Pujols didn’t exactly live up to contract expectations either
Why spend more at this point though when you’re so far away??
It wasn’t necessary to say that he will not return to the team. We all knew that.
Bobby Bonilla payment schedule says hi…
I suggested this two years ago. Pay him a third of what he’s owed, then defer the rest for years. Even when healthy, dude didn’t want to play anymore. There was talk when Rendon went FA in 2019 that he he didn’t want to play much longer. Then he signed that long-term contract just to get the extra money. One more Angels free agent contract failure under Arte Moreno. They played themselves, although Rendon should have been upfront about his career goals.
At least Rendon is not taking up a roster anymore…
The damage has been done.
Did it ever start?
Heard he injured again himself opening the chirstmas gifts.
Literally the worst free agency move ever. Dude had a horrible attitude in LA. I never have seen a player who seemed to be on a HOF trajectory ruin their legacy more. Other than maybe Schilling
Technically, Anaheim. Dude thankfully signed with the Angels, because he hated the Hollywood “lifestyle”….
Make haste with thy departure Felicia.
What is his $/WAR over the life of the contract?
This is exactly why $/WAR means nothing
It would have been amazing to see a healthy trout, Ohtani and Rendon with Pujols in support as well. Too bad it never really came to fruition
Great! Now they’ve freed up enough money … to trade for Arenado. Come on… it’s the Angels after all and while his stock is sliding, even the Angels weak farm system may be acceptable to the Cardinals if they can talk Arte into eating most of his contract.
The Cards would to pay almost all of his contract to get a very low level prospect.
Rendon is now free from the everyday rigors of being a professional athlete! I hear he’s renting-to-own a new couch to celebrate the occasion!
This is why people there will be a strike
Come on. Because of his contract? You’re dreaming.
Dude, it’s the deferrals. The Angels are killing baseball, obviously.
Hahaha good one.
The leech is gone
WOOHOOOO!!!!!
$245 Million contract, 257 games appeared in, 1095 plate appearances =
$953,000/game or just under $224,000/PA while “with” the Angels.
Put another way: 3.9 WAR = $62.8 M/1 WAR
How rich do you have to be to be able to spend money like that and still keep the team?
Maybe I don’t understand this fully but I don’t understand how a player can just quit on his team and still be paid anything.
Think of it more like the Angels told him to go away rather than him quitting.
This doesn’t make sense.. especially if it has interest.. it would be one thing if the Angels are over the luxury tax and this helps them with a signing but geez… just pay the final year and learn and move on.. to drag out this monstrosity for more years is just a constant reminder of the headache this contract is/was.
The Angels will have to fund the principal on any of the deferred $ this year. They ll be able to do so and save some odd million$ depending on length of the deferral. Its not a windfall by any means but it is some savings.
Just speculating here, but the Angels ultimately had little leverage. This allows them a shred of savings and closure. Paying out a deferral thats accruing Is not really dragging it out, he wont be in roster or seen in clubhouse.
Of course it means nothing in Rendon’s case, that was the point.
Any time you want your team to sign a big free agent – “just spend whatever it takes! Its not my money! don’t you care about winning??”- remember that this is one of the possible outcomes.
If anyone tells you that a bad signing cant hurt a team, because the owners are billionaires… remember this can happen.
I lived through Jacoby Ellsbury. I still want the Yankees to go out and spend and do whatever it takes to win.
2026 comeback player of the year in SEA
Hallelujah!
Legend
With some other bad contracts, at least those involved significant injury or rapid decline in skills. Rendon just decided he didn’t want to play anymore. He gave up. That bothers me. We all have jobs we get sick of or are unhappy at every now and then. We have to keep grinding or we get fired. This clown gets his full pay. He shouldn’t get a dime.
If Rendon is still technically active and if he then agreed to waive his no trade clause, perhaps the Angels could use his deferred contract in an NBA-style trade for another team’s short-term bad contract.
Highly unlikely, but possible and potentially beneficial for both sides if there’s a team that could save luxury tax money in 2026 and/or 2027 by taking on a similar-value 3-5 year Rendon deal (and then releasing Rendon).
The CBT calculation remains the same, but this definitely provides greater cash flow.
Moreno has always been a “no debt” owner (the only one in baseball), so cash flow matters.
Now the question becomes – does this savings go to the on-field product, or the Skaggs family?
Ouch
@johnnyangel. Probably the skaggs family. I would’ve just released him, and bit the bullet this year
2019 The year that will live in infamy in baseball history. So many players made bank on the fixed baseball. Then baseball embraced gambling. Wow, you can’t make this stuff up.
Wish I got a guaranteed paycheck. My love for my job is gone. Oh wait….i still have to go…
Baltimore is going to find this out with their ridiculous five year deal with an obese player, with no range, no arm and no running ability. Oriole fans are going to cringe when Plumy falls on a ball and they see his fat legs bend backwards due to kinetic energy. You see, Plumpy doesn’t dive for a ball he falls like an oak in the woods. It’s a back injury waling to happen. Oriole fans are going to cringe when they see Plumpy stretch for. throw seeing clearly that Plumpy’s tight things are eventually going to pop a hamstring. Lastly, when they see Plumpy bat .178, 28-156 with 5 home runs and 18 RBI’s in a forty game stretch like he did last year, you will realize Plumpy pads his numbers on bad pitching and blowout games. You can kiss $150 million goodbye.
So you don’t like Pete then?
Most sluggers feast on bad pitching and blow outs.. It’s the name of the game.
How did he personally offend you so much?
Pete Alonso has a .1000 OPS in the postseason. I think we’ll likely catch a bad year during this contract. But you can’t say he wilts when it matters.
So does this free up a spot on the 40 man or do they have to officially release him?
The article states that since he’s not officially retiring…the Angels will need to release him.
Rendon was a joy to watch on the Nats and seemed like he was having a good time with them. He was like an entirely different person after the COVID season. The curse of the Angels, lol!
I’m not sure when 100% guaranteed player contracts became a thing in baseball, but that has turned into a massive misstep for the owners. I’m sure it became a thing in one of their bargaining agreements and of course the players will never give it back. And why should they? 100% guaranteed is an awful way to run a business.
The Angels have made some really bad signings. Pujols, Hamilton, Upton, Rendon, etc.
My guess is that Arte pockets the savings instead of reinvesting in the roster.
Does he get paid every July 1st?
Our long national nightmare is over.
Congratulations to Rendon on a solid career and for being extremely well compensated. He had a job, did as well as he could when healthy, and didn’t put his job before his family and health.
Celebration time for the Angels.
Would have rather gave him the 38 million up front if fans were allowed to throw it at him in pennies
Favorite Rendon memory, the time in a blowout game, he went to the plate lefty and hit a home run. Amazing!
For some reason I feel for Mr rendon. At least deferred payments help the team. Love the Kirby signing. He can pitch.
Hindsight is great, but the guy was coming off a 7.1BWAR season, and ould play the first year of his contract at 30… It was unquestionably an overpay, but expectations were not totally irrational. You do kind of wonder
he says he isn’t retiring – I wonder if he is going to try to go overseas or something because I can’t imagine a team signing him here
Fans pay salaries. Owners are just the middlemen. It would be nice if the fans could have some protection and take some of these ridiculous contracts to court for breach of contract.
If a person had integrity, he would return money not earned.
Guess the Nats made a good call letting Rendon walk away the 2019 WS Victory….. though they decided to re-sign Stephen Strasburg
If Celebriry Deathmatch were still a thing, Anthony Rendon vs Chris Davis would be a featured match for the winner of worst free agent contact ever.
To quote the late great Harry Doyle
Anthony Rendon retiring filling a huge hole at third base
Artie. I would be ok if his final check bounced
257 games played as an Angel, will have made well over $200MM in the process.
It’s hard to beat $778,210.12 per game.
What would be the biggest story Rendon signs with another team smashes 30 homeruns gets a ring all on the Angels dime.
More like Rendon’t…amiright? This thing on?
D.B. Cooper is jealous of Anthony Rendon.
Biggest POS in the history of baseball