The Los Angeles Angels added another potent bat to their lineup, agreeing to a seven-year, $245 million deal with free agent third baseman Anthony Rendon, multiple media outlets reported Wednesday night.
The years and salary total match those of the contract that Rendon’s former Washington teammate, Stephen Strasburg, received from the Nationals on Monday. On Tuesday, former Houston Astros right-hander Gerrit Cole landed a nine-year, $324 million deal with the New York Yankees.
All three players appeared in this year’s World Series, and all three are represented by agent Scott Boras.
Rendon, 29, is coming off the best of his seven major league seasons, all of which were spent in Washington. He earned his first career All-Star Game selection during a year in which he batted .319 with a .412 on-base percentage, a .598 slugging percentage, 34 homers and a major-league-leading 126 RBIs. He also tied for the National League lead with 44 doubles.
He boosted his free agent value with a strong showing in the 2019 postseason. Rendon batted .328 (20-for-61) with seven doubles, three homers and 15 RBIs in 17 games. He helped Washington emerge with the World Series championship by hitting homers in Game 6 and Game 7 against the Astros.
In 916 career regular-season games, Rendon has a .290/.369/.490 batting line with 136 homers and 546 RBIs. He finished third in the NL Most Valuable Player voting this year, the fourth time he has ranked in the top 11, and received his second Silver Slugger award as the NL’s top-hitting third baseman.
Rendon will provide the Angels with a major power upgrade at third base. Los Angeles used four players for more than 20 games apiece at third base this year, with the most action (74 games) going to David Fletcher, who hit just six homers in 154 total games in 2019.
Rendon joins a Los Angeles lineup that features two three-time Most Valuable Player honorees, center fielder Mike Trout and first baseman/designated hitter Albert Pujols.
