The Los Angeles Angels have reportedly agreed to a seven-year, $245 million deal with free agent third baseman Anthony Rendon.
That contract matches the deal signed pitcher Stephen Strasburg with the Washington Nationals on Monday, and the Nationals are of course Rendon’s former team. Rendon makes $35 million annually over the contract, which is lower than only his new teammate, Mike Trout.
Rendon, 29, has been one of the most underrated players in baseball for several years. You may hear more about third basemen like Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado, and Manny Machado (all stars themselves and well worthy of the recognition, of course), but no third baseman has been more consistently productive over the last few seasons than Rendon.
According to FanGraphs, Rendon has been worth 6.7 WAR (2017), 6.2 WAR (2018), and 7.0 WAR (2019) over the last three seasons. He’s accumulated more WAR over the last three and four seasons than any third baseman in baseball. He brings a terrific, consistent bat — a .310/.397/.556 from 2017-19 — with a very good glove at third base. He put his talents on full display in October for the world champion Nationals, putting together a .328/.413/.590 postseason slash line.
And now the world’s best baseball player has a true superstar to join him in the lineup, for an Angels team that has consistently been a disappointment in the Trout era (certainly not Trout’s fault, as he spots them about 10 wins annually). That’s to go with Shohei Ohtani and elite prospect Jo Adell. So, the Angels are finally building something real around Trout, and they will likely turn their focus to attacking the pitching market in the coming weeks/months.
Oh, and it’s been a hell of a few days for super agent Scott Boras (whose client Gerrit Cole signed a record-breaking pitching contract on Tuesday).
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.