Angels 3B Anthony Rendon To Get Season-Ending Right Wrist Surgery
The month of June has not been kind to the Los Angeles Angels, who went on a 14-game losing streak, falling out of postseason contention and out of first place in the American League West.
To rub salt in the wound, on Friday, the team announced that third baseman Anthony Rendon will miss the remainder of the 2022 season as he gets surgery on his right wrist.
Since signing a seven-year, $245 million contract with the Angels during the 2019-2020 offseason, he's played in just 155 games with the team in three years, not even a full season of baseball.
As stated above from ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan, Rendon is slashing .252/.359/.421 in that time with 20 home runs, 89 RBI and a 117 OPS+.
If you take away his 2020 season where he had a 150 OPS+, he's had a 99 OPS+ in 103 games with a .710 OPS, making him a below-average hitter in OPS & OPS+.
Considering his OPS+ with the Washington Nationals over seven years was north of 120, this recent string of injuries has made quite the major impact on his play on the field.
He's had two-straight seasons with a season-ending injury, following last year's season ending hip surgery. For a player with over $150 million left over the life of his contract, it's been a tough pill to swallow for the Angels.
The platoon trio of Matt Duffy, Tyler Wade and Luis Rengifo are expected to fill in the hole that now exists on the left side of the infield.
Keep in mind, especially with Duffy, that while he's not a formidable power-hitting threat like Rendon, he has a career .283 average and is a league-average hitter when it comes to OPS+ for the most part.
His defense is above-average, another thing to add moving forward. With the struggles the Angels are currently facing, they'll need some big time production from those three to make ends meet come season's end.
