The Los Angeles Angels and third baseman Anthony Rendon are in talks to buy out the final year of his contract (valued at $38 million), according to ESPN. Rendon, who missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing hip surgery in February, is expected to retire if a deal can be reached.
Rendon, 35, agreed to a seven-year pact worth $245 million after winning the 2019 World Series as a member of the Washington Nationals. At the time, he was rightly viewed as one of the best at his position. In the preceding four seasons, he had averaged 26 home runs, 100 runs batted in, and a .912 OPS. His contributions had been worth an estimated 22.9 Wins Above Replacement, per the calculations housed at Baseball Reference.
Yet that version of Rendon rarely showed up for the Angels, instead dealing with constant injuries that, in recent years, required operations on both hips. To wit, Rendon had notched just 3.9 WAR in 257 games since joining the Angels. That works out to fewer than 43 games per campaign (though, to be fair, he did appear 52 of the Angels’ 60 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season).Â
Angels general manager Perry Minasian revealed in October that Rendon had yet to resume baseball activities — a less-than-promising sign for his chances of returning to the active roster.
ESPN’s report indicates that if the Angels and Rendon can agree to terms on a buyout, part of the arrangement is expected to see him defer some of the money owed to him. That would, in turn, create additional financial flexibility for the Angels to deploy this winter.
In Rendon’s absence last season, the Angels started Yoán Moncada and Luis Rengifo more than 50 times apiece at the hot corner. Both Moncada and Rengifo are now free agents.Â