Anthony Rendon’s time in an Angels uniform is over.
The Angels and the oft-injured third baseman have agreed to restructure his contract just before the final season of the seven-year, $245 million deal, a source confirmed on Tuesday.
It is unclear exactly how the money will be reallocated. Rendon was owed $38 million in the final year of the deal. Per the terms of the new agreement, Rendon will not formally “retire.” That means that, for now at least, Rendon remains on the Angels’ 40-man roster.
The benefit of the restructuring to the Angels is that it will free up some undisclosed amount of money to spend on their 2026 payroll. It will also eliminate any possible distractions of having Rendon around the team and attempting to rehab.
Major League Baseball and the union, which both had to approve the restructuring, do not allow players to reduce the present-day value of a contract. That means Rendon would receive interest on whatever money is deferred. The average annual value of the deal, as it relates to the luxury tax, is not expected to change.
Rendon did not play at all in 2025, and he never even joined the team. The Angels announced at the start of spring training that Rendon needed hip surgery.
Rendon, 35, previously had surgery on his other hip, as well as injuries to his wrist and a bone bruise in his leg.
Rendon played 257 games in the first six years of the deal. He played 52 of 60 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, his first with the Angels. Since then, he played in just 25% of the Angels’ games over the past five seasons.
After finishing in the top 10 in MVP voting three times with the Washington Nationals, Rendon produced a total of 3.9 WAR, according to Baseball-Reference, with the Angels. He hit .242 with a .717 OPS.
The Angels stopped planning for Rendon to be an everyday player years ago.
They acquired players like Gio Urshela and Yoán Moncada to play third in recent seasons, and General Manager Perry Minasian made it clear at the start of the winter that he was looking for a new third baseman in 2026.
The Angels still haven’t acquired anyone for the position. At the moment, their most likely choices are Christian Moore, Vaughn Grissom or Denzer Guzman. Oswald Peraza and Kyren Paris could also get some time at third.
On the free agent market, the big names are Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez and Kuzuma Okamoto. The Angels also could trade for Nolan Arenado, who is being shopped by the St. Louis Cardinals.