Should The Angels Release Anthony Rendon? One Former GM Thinks So
The Anthony Rendon experiment with the Los Angeles Angels has been a disaster.
After winning the 2019 World Series with the Washington Nationals, Rendon joined the Los Angeles Angels as a free agent on a seven-year, $245 million contract. His last year in the District of Columbia saw him launch 34 home runs and lead the majors in RBIs with 126. In five seasons with the Angels, he’s never hit 10 home runs, had 35 RBIs, or even played 60 games in a single season.
Jim Bowden, former general manager for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals for a combined 16 years, wrote in The Athletic that Rendon's "decline is here to stay," and they should just move on.
"The Angels have signed him through 2026 but continuing to try to salvage this huge free-agent misstep just doubles down on the original mistake," Bowden wrote. "They should just release him and move on."
Rendon has struggled since he arrived in Los Angeles and turns 34 in June but he didn't make any new fans this spring when told reporters that, "(Baseball) has never been a top priority for me. This is a job. I do this to make a living.”
That mindset is what prevented the Nationals from re-signing him. He also turns 34 in June and has been plagued by injuries in each season with the Angels.
However, the injuries aren't preventing him from taking quality at-bats. Rendon started this season 0-for-20 and manager Ron Washington kept him in the leadoff spot to try to break him out of his slump. The fans were getting restless and boos rained down from the upper deck of Angel Stadium on Rendon who struck out in the first inning.
He finally got his first hit of the year in the bottom of the sixth when he beat out a soft chopper to third base.
Rendon ended up recording a hit in all three games against the Red Sox, bumping his batting average up to .094 and his on-base percentage to .147. He's now hit a mini hot streak, and has raised his batting average up to .162.
