In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, Los Angeles Angels’ cautionary tale Anthony Rendon has landed on the 10-day injured list with lower back inflammation, per Angels PR on X. The move is retroactive to July 27.
This will be Rendon’s second IL stint of 2024 after he missed two and a half months with a left hamstring injury earlier in the season. The 34-year-old third baseman returned to the team on July 8 but will head back to the injured list with the new ailment.
Rendon has managed to play just 33 games this season. The veteran is slashing an embarrassing .227/.289/.273 with zero home runs, six RBI, four steals(?!) and an OPS+ of 59.
Games missed due to injury and poor play when he’s actually able to take the field have become part of Rendon’s identity with the Angels. It’s a surprising turn after he established himself as one of the league’s top hitters in seven seasons with the Washington Nationals.
Rendon’s success in Washington from his debut in 2013 through his final season in 2019 – when he made the All-Star team, won the Silver Slugger award and finished third in MVP voting – led to him signing a massive seven-year, $245 million deal with the Angels in 2020. Since then, it’s fair to say Rendon has failed to live up to his contract.
It’s difficult for fans to decide what is most irksome about Rendon. Is it the fact that he was a perennial MVP candidate in seven seasons with the Nationals but has essentially been a replacement-level player in five seasons with the Angels?
Anthony Rendon is on the injured list for the second time this season
Perhaps it’s the fact that he’s missed 419 of 652 games in Los Angeles. Rendon has yet to play more than 58 games in any of his five seasons with the Angels. Yet he played in at least 136 games in five of seven seasons for Washington.
Then of course there was Rendon's surreal admission earlier this year that baseball has “never been a top priority for me.” He told reporters, “This is a job. I do this to make a living.” Not exactly the words of a fiery competitor destined to lead your franchise to victory.
In his time with the Angels Rendon has missed lots of games, fought with fans, disagreed with team doctors over their diagnosis and essentially told the fan base that he could care less about the sport they love. And he did all this while earning more annually than the GDP of 87 countries.
Rendon joined the Angels in 2020 and only missed eight games in the Covid-shortened season. His injury issues started in earnest the following year. In 2021 he would make three separate trips to the injured list before undergoing season-ending surgery on his right hip in August. Rendon missed 104 games that year.
In 2022 he underwent right wrist surgery that would cost him 115 games that season. Then, in 2023, Rendon fouled a ball off his leg on July 4. While the team insisted he was dealing with a bone bruise, Rendon sought a different opinion from outside the team and announced he had actually fractured his tibia. Either way, he was out the rest of the season and would miss 119 games last year.
That brings us to 2024. Rendon suffered a partial tear of his left hamstring running out a grounder, which led to his first IL stint this season. Now he’s back on the injured list with the back problem. So far, Rendon has missed 73 out of 106 total games this season.
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