Angels fans shouldn’t believe Perry Minasian’s predictions on Anthony Rendon

Perry Minasian has a frustrating boss. You might have heard of him? His name is Arte Moreno.

Minasian, and now Ron Washington, have to account for Moreno's failings to the media when asked about the state of the team. While Minasian might feel strongly one way about the direction of the team, but Moreno is a meddling owner who has the final say.

In the future, Angels fans will see how this dynamic between owner and GM plays out with the Anthony Rendon situation. It's well and good that Minasian called him unproductive, said he needs to earn his job, and also that he needs better from his player who will be making over $76 million the next two seasons. What does that mean though in reality? It seems exceedingly reasonable that Minasian is done with Rendon and wants to cut ties. He must have felt this way for some time now, given what everybody's seen and experienced with Rendon the past four years. However, why is he still here then? The guy with two home runs in two years? The owner.

Minasian wants the best players to see the field, and that should not include Rendon. Of 345 players who registered 230 plate appearances in 2024, Rendon's .267 SLG ranked 340th. His SLG only outranked Miguel Vargas, Dominic Fletcher, Taylor Walls, Brandon Drury, and Tim Anderson. Rendon has not been even close to worthy of holding his job, but he's held it anyway.

It's highly unlikely that Rendon earns his job in Spring Training. He's a shell of himself physically (not entirely his fault), mentally drained, hates baseball, and, given his distaste for the length of the regular season, will believably not perform well during Spring Training. Rendon is too weathered to compete for a roster spot, even though that's where Minasian says he is at in his career.

Obviously money is the issue, and Moreno wants his investment on the field. There is absolutely a scenario where Minasian tells Moreno he wants to cut Rendon, and Moreno will decline. That has probably happened already! If Moreno was not willing to defer payments for Shohei Ohtani, then he will not defer money for Rendon by cutting him. He will likely have him play out his last two years.

Well, the other scenario is benching him, and platooning him at 3B. If Rendon only plays against left-handed pitchers, he will not start often and will solely pinch-hit late in games. That would be a distraction and highly uncomfortable for everybody involved. A guy making the kind of money he's making simply cannot be a bench player, especially on a team like the Angels that just had their worst season ever.

Minasian calling out Rendon is good for content and helping Angels fans find an outlet for all their frustration, but the reality is that the Angels are stuck with Rendon. Cutting or benching him sounds good, but the practicality of it is lacking. Angels fans will have to see it to believe it.