Angels and Anthony Rendon to agree to mutual buyout

The Los Angeles Angels and third baseman Anthony Rendon have mutually agreed to a buyout

of his 7-year, $245 million deal he signed with the club in Dec. 2019.

Alden Gonzalez of ESPN first reported the news.

Set to make $38 million this year, Rendon, 35, is expected to retire in the final year of his deal after missing all of last season due to hip surgery.

Before signing with the Angels, he was fresh off a World Series victory with the Washington Nationals, where he was named the series MVP.

In a shortened season due to COVID in 2020, Rendon finished 10th in MVP voting after slashing .286/.418/.497, 31 RBIs, and 9 home runs. Since then, he has appeared in only 256 games as he has been plagued with injuries over the last five seasons.

In 2024, Rendon appeared in 57 games for the Angels, but there was a lack of production at the plate as he finished the year slashing .218/.307/.267 with 14 RBIs and zero home runs.

His career will finish as a .280 hitter, 671 RBIs, and 158 home runs.

Before last season began, Rendon arrived at Angels spring training and did not appear in a game, and had hip surgery that kept him out for the remainder of the season.

In the past, Rendon has gone on record for saying that baseball is not a priority for him and that he views it more like a job.

The Angels have been unable to rely on Rendon’s lack of availability to play on the field. Last season, the club went ahead and signed Yoán Moncada as a security blanket for Rendon in case he was injured.

Moncada was the Angels' opening day starting third baseman.

Moncada is now a free agent again, and the Angels will now find themselves looking to add at the position again.

Before the addition of Rendon, the team had struggled to find consistency at the position since Troy Glaus last played with the team in 2003.

General manager Perry Minasian has already said during the general manager meetings in Las Vegas that the team was already looking to add at third base.

The Angels are also in need of a left-handed bat, so they could look to add a left-handed hitting third baseman this offseason.

An option the Angels could look to explore to create more financial space for the team with Rendon retiring is by deferring payments, similar to what the Washington Nationals did with right-handed pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

Strausburg started receiving large deferred payments that began in 2024 and will continue through 2029.

This story will be updated with more information.