Los Angeles Angels: Signing Anthony Rendon would be a blunder

After missing out on Gerrit Cole, the Los Angeles Angels might be looking to sign Anthony Rendon, which would be yet another signing blunder by the Halos.

We found out on Tuesday that money and contending for a World Series really is more important that home-field advantage as the New York Yankees signed Gerrit Cole to a record-setting deal, leaving the Los Angeles Angels without the ace they so desperately needed.

Now the Angels have some work to do as this is a team that is far away from being a playoff team but cannot simply hit the reset button or commit to losing with Mike Trout on the roster. Without Cole, the rest of the offseason has become a puzzle that the front office is trying to piece together.

One of those potential puzzle pieces is Anthony Rendon, who the Angels are reportedly in on this offseason. After trading Zack Cozart the Angels have some more salary-cap space and a gap to fill at third base and Rendon is one of the best third basemen in the game.

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He was a National League MVP finalist in 2019, hitting .319 with 34 home runs, 126 RBIs and a 1.010 OPS last season. Rendon’s season and production capabilities are impressive, but for the Los Angeles Angels, spending big on Rendon would be a blunder.

The intrigue of signing Rendon is that it might not take a long-term contract. When speaking about Howie Kendrick, Rendon said that he hopes he is not playing baseball when he is 36. So instead of these long-term contracts, Rendon could be looking for a shorter contract (4-6 years) that is higher in annual salary.

This is perfect for a team that wants to improve now without hurting the team in the future. That is why the Los Angeles Dodgers are in on Rendon and why he could make sense for an Angels team that has been burned by long contracts time and time again.

Rendon absolutely makes the Los Angeles Angels a better team and calling this a blunder is not to say that he will be a bust in Anaheim or that he won’t be worth the money. While there is a chance that late in his contract he regresses and is overpaid, there are no signs that tell us that he will be significantly worse any time soon.

What would make this a blunder is based on what the Angels need and what Rendon provides. Rendon is a consistent, power-hitting right-handed bat that can be slotted in the middle of the order. Great, but the Angels already have that in Mike Trout and extended Justin Upton for that reason, who has underperformed.

He is better than what the Angels have at third base and he would make the team better offensively but he does not fix the disaster that is the starting rotation. Right now, the only pitchers the Angels can rely on in the starting rotation is Shohei Ohtani, Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning and Dylan Bundy and that is not a great outlook.

Ohtani is great when he is on the mound but he is coming off of Tommy John and we still are not completely sure if he can handle the two-way workload or a starting pitcher workload. Heaney is no longer a promising prospect and is who he is at this point, a guy who has good outings but ultimately finishes with a mid-four ERA.

Canning has good stuff but is still young and we cannot pencil him in as being much better than we saw last season. Finally, Bundy was just acquired and is mediocre at best and should be nothing more than a depth arm.

The Angels need multiple arms in that rotation, one of which has to be a big upgrade and by getting Rendon the team would be putting itself in a corner financially and would not be able to do that.

Let’s assume Rendon takes the short-term, high salary contract and is paid $33 million per season for five seasons and also gets some deferred money. Right now, with Spotrac’s estimated arbitration values, the Angels have $61 million in space under the luxury tax threshold.

Signing Rendon at $33 million would put the Angels at $28 million under the luxury tax threshold, which is enough to sign someone such as Madison Bumgarner, Hyun-Jin Ryu or Dallas Keuchel. However, the Angels have stayed below $175 million every season, which appears to be the ownership’s self-imposed budget.

This proposed Rendon contract would put the team at $160 million, which either restricts their spending based on the budget that we have picked up via trends or forces them to finally go all-in and spend over that budget and get close to that luxury tax threshold.

That is a possibility, but if they sign one big name such as Mad Bum or Ryu they would not even be able to bring in a viable innings eater and stay under the luxury tax. They can go over it all they want, but I doubt Arte Moreno has that in mind.

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Starting pitching is just too big of a need and it does not matter how good the offense is, a team will never be able to win in the playoffs without pitching. For that reason, Anthony Rendon is not a smart signing for the Los Angeles Angels to make.

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