Third baseman Anthony Rendon has become a punchline to a joke the Los Angeles Angels are not laughing at. That joke may be over soon.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported that the Angels are in talks to buy out the final year of Rendon’s contract. The expectation is that Rendon would retire once a settlement is reached.
Rendon had agreed to a seven-year, $245 million contract, including a full no-trade clause, with the Angels during the 2019-20 offseason. He was solid during the first year of that contract, posting a .286/.418/.497 batting line with nine homers and 11 doubles over 232 plate appearances. Rendon finished 10th in the MVP vote that season as he looked like the player the Angels had been hoping for.
Anthony Rendon only making his retirement from Los Angeles Angels official
The pandemic-shortened 2020 season was the high point of his time with the Angels. Rendon battled a litany of injuries as he was unable to stay on the diamond. There were questions as to whether or not he was putting in an effort to get back into the lineup, especially when he stated that baseball was not a priority and just a way to make a living. Rendon had become a questionable presence in the locker room, with Sam Blum of The Athletic saying that he would not repeat some of what Rendon had said.
Rendon has appeared in a total of 205 of the Angels’ 810 games over the past five seasons, including the 2025 season, where Rendon was sidelined all year due to hip surgery. He had been an abject disappointment during the time he was on the diamond, posting a .231/.329/.336 batting line with 13 homers and 39 doubles over 863 plate appearances since the start of the 2021 season. His nine home runs in 2020 were the most he hit in a season in Los Angeles, his 11 doubles the second-highest mark.
In reality, all the buyout would do is to make the end of Rendon’s career official. He had robbed Arte Moreno and the Angels blind over the past five years while being a complete negative for the organization. The Angels will not miss Rendon when he walks out that door for the last time.