The Anthony Rendon era in Anaheim has officially come to an end. The Los Angeles Angels and their much beleaguered star have agreed to restructure the remainder of his contract, a league source told The Athletic.
The 35-year-old is owed the $38 million for the final year of his seven-year, $245 million deal. The Angels will pay out that money over the next three-to-five years, freeing up significant cash for the team to pursue high-profile free agents in 2026.
Rendon will technically remain on the Angels roster for the 2026 season, and is likely to be placed on the 60-day IL at the outset of spring training. The exact terms of the restructuring are not clear — though this move will allow him to remain in his native Houston rather than being with the team in Anaheim.
Rendon signed with the Angels before the 2020 season, and just months after winning a World Series with the Washington Nationals. However, his tenure in Anaheim was filled with injuries and drama. After putting up solid numbers during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Rendon’s body began to break down.
He missed the second half of the 2021 season with a hamstring injury that eventually led to hip surgery. In 2022, he played just 47 games after suffering a wrist injury. And in 2023, Rendon fouled a ball off his shin, causing him to miss the second half of that season.
Rendon’s 2024 season was limited to 57 games, due to various back, oblique and hamstring injuries. Another hip surgery caused Rendon to miss the entire 2025 season.
In addition to the injuries, Rendon missed nine games due to multiple suspensions. He was suspended five games in 2022 for his role in the Angels’ brawl with the Seattle Mariners — despite being injured at the time. Then, he was suspended four games for grabbing a fan during a postgame altercation in Oakland following an Opening Day loss in 2023.
Rendon communication style often created more issues. He said very little about his injuries, instead using quips like “No habla ingles today” to respond to queries about his health.
And when he did speak to the media, it often stirred up controversy. In 2023, he insisted — citing his personal doctor — that his shin injury was actually a fracture. Angels team doctors had diagnosed it as a bone bruise.
Ahead of the 2024 season, Rendon said that baseball has “never been a top priority for me, adding, “This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job. So if those things come before it, I’m leaving.”
That comment came after Rendon told podcaster Jack Vita that the baseball season was too long. “We gotta shorten the season, man. There are too many dang games.”
Rendon did not spend any time around the Angels while recovering from hip surgery in 2025, despite rehabbing, at times, in the Los Angeles area. Typically, players rehabbing locally will have a locker, or stop by the clubhouse from time-to-time. Rendon’s full-season absence is a sign this mutual parting of ways has long been on the table.
While Rendon technically has not retired, it’s hard to imagine him playing again at the big-league level. He will turn 36 in June, and never played more than 58 games in a season with the Angels. In total, he appeared in just 257 out of a possible 1,032 games over six years.