Angels reportedly working on ending interminable Anthony Rendon nightmare

Scott Boras' recent answer to a question about his client Anthony Rendon makes a whole lot more sense now. Per Beyond the Halo, Boras "began talking about how he has been helpful in restructuring contracts 'when [injuries] have occurred and [players] have to retire'” on the Bet MGM Network recently. Buyout talks swirled around Rendon as he entered the final year of his deal that would have paid him ~$38 million. Those became true, and Rendon and the Angels are parting at long last.

Angels reportedly working on ending interminable Anthony Rendon nightmare

Per ESPN's Alden Gonzalez:

"Rendon, who spent the entire 2025 season recovering from hip surgery, is expected to retire, a source said. The 35-year-old is owed $38 million in 2026. A potential buyout of that remaining money has not been finalized, and situations like this can often get complicated, but the expectation is that Rendon will defer at least part of that money, giving the team more financial flexibility to address needs this offseason."

Alden Gonzalez, ESPN

When a casual Angels fan thinks of Anthony Rendon, they would naturally be quick to anger. However, the Rendon tenure in Anaheim strikes more as a disaster-turned-tragedy.

Watching players lose their love for the sport is sad to see -- so often are athletes' decisions to retire related to losing enthusiasm for playing a kid's game (as many refer to baseball as, not me personally), and the preeminent example of that psychology in modern sports history is Anthony Rendon.

What appears to have happened from the outside is that Rendon was paid half a fortune and checked out of baseball. What also happened is the World Series champion experienced myriad injuries, grew to become antagonistic towards the media and realized that his family meant more to him than his day job. For fans, sports are a way of life and not an occupation. For Rendon and many other professional athletes, it's just winds up being how they make a living. Rendon made a phenomenal living because of his many heroics in Washington, and actually did play well during his first season with the Angels during the abnormal 2020 season.

Angels fans will celebrate to see him go, but at the end of the day the end of this chapter in team history rings more solemn. Rendon is reportedly hanging up his cleats after 12 seasons in the bigs -- a career .290/.369/.490/.859 slashline in 916 games for the Nationals, and a career .242/.348/.369/.717 slash in 257 games for the Angels.

The Angels now have 13 position players on the 40-man roster, enough to field for an MLB team and nothing more.