Angels Are Officially "RenDONE" With Anthony Rendon

Apologies in advance to those who successfully adopted an "out of sight, out of mind" mindset when it came to erstwhile Los Angeles Angels' third baseman Anthony Rendon, but it must be reported that when the last out of the World Series was recorded on Wednesday night, Rendon officially became "RenDONE" with the Angels (h/t Halo Chalk Talk on X). 

And don't worry, unlike Beetlejuice, even if you say his name three times in a row, Rendon will not be returning to Anaheim, unless it's in the uniform of an opposing player, which, at this time, seems highly unlikely.

Rendon's departure closes the book on one of the Angels' darkest chapters.

He was the textbook example of the guy who had the perfect season at the perfect time. Though he was a solid contributor for the Washington Nationals from 2013-18 - .285 average, .830 OPS, 201 doubles, 102 home runs, 420 RBIs with a .974 fielding percentage in 613 games at third base, 169 at second and a smattering at short (4) - he saved his best for the final year of his contract in Washington.

In that magical 2019 season, he had career highs in average (.319), OPS (1.010), WAR (7.3) doubles (44), homers (34) and RBIs (126) while walking (80) nearly as many times as striking out (86), numbers that enabled him to finish third in the NL MVP voting.

In the playoffs that year, he hit .328 with a 1.003 OPS with seven doubles, three homers and 15 RBIs in 17 games as Washington won its first World Series.

That prompted the Angels to sign him to a seven-year, $245-million contract. Things actually started relatively well as he hit .286 with a .915 OPS and 11 doubles, nine HRs, 31 RBIs and more walks than strikeouts (38-31) in the Covid-shortened 2020 season. Those numbers were good enough to see him finish 10th in the AL MVP race.

Then the wheels fell off. From 2021-24, he was beset by a never-ending list of injuries that sounds like it could come from a warped game of "Operation": groin, knee, triceps, hip, wrist, shin, hamstring, back, elbow and oblique maladies all sidelined him at some point.

In that time, he appeared in an average of 51 games a season with a .231 average, .666 OPS and a combined 13 homers and 94 RBIs with 138 strikeouts to 100 walks.

The hip injury and subsequent surgery is what finally did him in as he missed the entire 2025 season, prompting the Angels to rework his contract last December so that the final $38 million owed him would be deferred and likely paid out between 2027 and 2031.

Unfortunately for Angels' fans, Rendon's was not the only recent large free-agent contract the team agreed to that did not age well as it descended into its current doldrums, with the Albert Pujols (2012) and Josh Hamilton (2013) signings also delivering nothing of real tangible value to the team.

In fact, the Rendon (No. 6), Hamilton (No.9) and Pujols (No. 10) singings made up 30% of Bleacher Report's Top 10 list of the worst contracts in recent MLB history, which was published in February 2025.

So now we can put the Rendon nightmare fully behind us (again, apologies for even bringing it up) and hope that the new ownership regime will have better luck when it comes to handing out mega-dollar free-agent deals.