Anthony Rendon (1990-) - All-Star Third Baseman for the Los Angeles Angels

[DaveO]

I hope the Lerner's reverse their thinking and spring big time for a contract for Anthony Rendon.  He is on a hot streak and knocking the starch out of the ball.

Right now he leads the majors in batting average and RBI' s and is near the top for total bases, doubles, runs, OB% and slugging %.  He has won a couple of games with walk off hits.  Rendon's agent is the agent for Bryce Harper so he knows the Lerner's tendencies.

Come on Lerner's.  Sooner or later you are getting a big fat local TV payoff from the Orioles.  Now is the time to share it with Anthony Rendon.

[DaveO]

Thomas Boswell of WashPo agrees.   Boswell's description is superior to the above

[DaveO]

These teams could compete for Rendon if he chooses free agency:   Link

[DaveO]

Rick Snider, sports columnist for the Washington Express wrote his final column, as today the Washington Express published its final edition.  (the death of the Washington Express is an entirely different story.  I'm sad to see it go).   Snider's article

Snider makes personal comments and then does an overview of the Professional Washington sports teams;  really doesn't get into depth.  I suppose he wants to leave a good impression should someone want to hire him to write in the future.

As to the Skins he reminds us that except for two periods the Skins have been mostly bad.  The second period though lasted from the early 70's to the early 90's a longish period.  The rough part was to read his impression that there are about 30,000 diehard Redskin fans that will go to games.   That is putrid.  I recall struggling for tickets on the resale market when they were so hot....and growing more and more and more disgusted with the team and the visiting experience during the Snyder era.

On the NBA he doesn't say much except to reference that the DC area is a basketball hotbed.   Maybe.  But it has been 40 years since the Bullets/Wizards have been extremely competitive.  Who would know if that old perspective still holds.

On the Caps side he notes that the team has a strong following but wonders how that will last once Ovi retires.

On baseball he references Rendon, suggesting that the Nats/Lerners should resign him.  I agree.   I don't put an onus on Boras.  Its in the Nats hands.  They can compete aggressively or allow Rendon to hit the open market, and if they are still competing they will HAVE to fork up more money, I assume.

Geez i am sad to see another print media site crumble.  And good luck to Snider going forward.

 

[Keithstg]

22 hours ago, DaveO said:

On the Caps side he notes that the team has a strong following but wonders how that will last once Ovi retires.

On baseball he references Rendon, suggesting that the Nats/Lerners should resign him.  I agree.   I don't put an onus on Boras.  Its in the Nats hands.  They can compete aggressively or allow Rendon to hit the open market, and if they are still competing they will HAVE to fork up more money, I assume.

An Ovi retirement will definitely be interesting. The Caps have had franchise-defining players before (Langway, Oates, Kolzig, etc), but never a generational talent, or best player in the game until Ovi. I could see there being a short-term hit to ticket sales - how much depends on how many Caps fans are hockey fans, or Ovi fans exclusively. I'd bet on the former though admittedly hadn't considered it until your post.

The reasonable assessment of Rendon's contract status and responsible parties is much appreciated.

[DaveO]

1 hour ago, Keithstg said:

An Ovi retirement will definitely be interesting. The Caps have had franchise-defining players before (Langway, Oates, Kolzig, etc), but never a generational talent, or best player in the game until Ovi. I could see there being a short-term hit to ticket sales - how much depends on how many Caps fans are hockey fans, or Ovi fans exclusively. I'd bet on the former though admittedly hadn't considered it until your post.

The reasonable read and assessment of Rendon's contract status and responsible parties is much appreciated.

As a fan, I'm a homer.  I like it when the local "stars" stay and resign with the home team.  Regardless I had a job that equates to what Boras does.  In that job you work for your client and your goal is to get the client the best deal possible.  The other parties don't matter.  Most of the time "the best deal possible" is all about the money.  Sometimes its about "the money and other considerations--actually "other considerations" can weigh in a lot, but the job is mostly about getting the client the best deal possible.

Negotiations are at times contentious.  Its private.  The only way outsiders, such as fans will know about it is if someone on the inside leaks info.  In the world of sports I'm sure that purposefully occurs at times.  There have been not infrequent situations in sports where a team leaks the info to try and get a deal that is favorable to ownership.  Free Agency in baseball gives players a power they never had in the past.  If they opt for the money from an outside team....they are villains in the eyes of the locals.  Meanwhile there is little insight into the situation with the owners.  How much do they actually earn over the course of a season.  Virtually nobody knows.  How do they evaluate between making money versus spending more to compete for a championship.  Again, nobody knows.

For some reason one free agency deal from five years ago has stuck in my head.  Nelson Cruz, a free agent DH, had one season with the Orioles where he hit 40 HR's and had a bang up year.  He went into Free Agency again with great stats.  He was in his mid 30's and wanted among other things a 4 year guaranteed contract.  Teams vied for him.  Reportedly only one team stretched for the 4 years, Seattle.  The others, including the Orioles offered him competitive money but all the other teams would  only go with a 3 year contract.  Cruz signed with Seattle.  He had 4 solid, strong seasons, leading them in HR's, RBI's Runs over the term.  Meanwhile Seattle has not been great. 

The following season, I believe partially because they didn't keep Cruz, the O's gave Chris Davis his multi year contract for $23 million/season.   Its turned out to be the current worst contract in baseball.  Davis competes for the worst player in the majors.

What are you going to do???   Contracts are a crap shoot.  Meanwhile in our world, let the players have a shot at making the big bucks.  The owners definitely make out.  Allow the players to compete with owners for all those bucks. 

At least that is my $0.02.

[DaveO]

While "bigger things" might be going on in the rest of the world, it was revealed in the Washington Post that in early September Rendon was offered $210-215 million for a 7 year extension.  He passed on it.  It was mostly upfront money with relatively little deferred.  Unless Rendon, his agent, and the Nats make a deal in the next week or 2 he will be a free agent. 

All that being said I hope they retain Rendon.  I like his style and punch.  He has been one of the leagues best hitters for the last 3 years.  I also suspect he is playing with an unspoken injury right now. 

Come on Lerner's.  Pony up!!!!  Show Rendon the money.

[DonRocks]

5 hours ago, DaveO said:

While "bigger things" might be going on in the rest of the world, it was revealed in the Washington Post that in early September Rendon was offered $210-215 million for a 7 year extension.  He passed on it.  It was mostly upfront money with relatively little deferred.  Unless Rendon, his agent, and the Nats make a deal in the next week or 2 he will be a free agent. 

All that being said I hope they retain Rendon.  I like his style and punch.  He has been one of the leagues best hitters for the last 3 years.  I also suspect he is playing with an unspoken injury right now. 

Come on Lerner's.  Pony up!!!!  Show Rendon the money.

Dave, did they not pony up already? I didn't read the article but $30 million a year is a lot of money (plus, if he's playing with an unspoken injury, he'd be worth less to the Nationals) - I might be missing something here, as I'm reading this from afar, but this seems like an honest effort by the Nationals.

[DaveO]

40 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Dave, did they not pony up already? I didn't read the article but $30 million a year is a lot of money (plus, if he's playing with an unspoken injury, he'd be worth less to the Nationals) - I might be missing something here, as I'm reading this from afar, but this seems like an honest effort by the Nationals.

Arenado, also a third baseman, got $260 million for 8 years, a little better on face value than the Nats offer.  

Come on Lerner's stretch a bit more.

(Of course it's easy for me to say, it's not my money). 

Allow me to add something.  There are times when you want a deal "badly".  I think this should be one of those times for the Nats.  I don't think they have a killer third baseman in the minors.  There aren't a plethora of excellent third basemen if they lose him.  

[Keithstg]

18 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Dave, did they not pony up already? I didn't read the article but $30 million a year is a lot of money (plus, if he's playing with an unspoken injury, he'd be worth less to the Nationals) - I might be missing something here, as I'm reading this from afar, but this seems like an honest effort by the Nationals.

Far below market for an MVP- level third baseman, as the Arenado contract shows. At least the deferrals were mimimal - credit to the Nats for that.

The only team more interested in deferring money than the Nats was the NY Mets...how has that worked out?

[Pat]

18 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Dave, did they not pony up already? I didn't read the article but $30 million a year is a lot of money (plus, if he's playing with an unspoken injury, he'd be worth less to the Nationals) - I might be missing something here, as I'm reading this from afar, but this seems like an honest effort by the Nationals.

Rendon had already indicated earlier in the season that he was going to free agency to check out what different teams had to offer. There's nothing the Nats can do about that. It's his right, and they're going to have to bid against the other teams on the open market.

They've been negotiating during the season, regardless. Rizzo reported at least one offer/counteroffer was made during the season. (It's conceivable it was this one, but I thought he mentioned it earlier than early September.)

The offer that has been reported (which could have been leaked by ether or both sides) sets his market. Whoever wants him the most -- including the Nats -- will have to pay more for him than that. If the Nats set the bar higher, it would cost them even more money to retain him. Boras likes bidding wars and getting teams to bid against themselves. The Nats are trying to re-sign him without bidding against themselves, or at least any more than is necessary.

They seem to be approaching this differently than with Harper, including a deferral set up like Scherzer's, not like Harper's.

[DaveO]

Ahhhhhh rats.  Rendon signed with the Angel's.  Our loss their gain.  At least he is playing in the AL and won't have many games against the Nats.  

Life goes on.  But man in 2 years we lost Harper then Rendon.  That is a lot of offense.  

Meanwhile Boras just had 3 clients sign for $824 million.  I don't know his rate of compensation or how he gets paid over time, but that is an enormous amount of sports pay, a feat in it's own right.

[Pat]

I was glad that he at least went to the AL West, but the Nats play the AL West this year, so they'll be facing Rendon in May. 🤨

[Bart]

34 minutes ago, Pat said:

I was glad that he at least went to the AL West, but the Nats play the AL West this year, so they'll be facing Rendon in May. 🤨

Will he get booed like Bryce, or will he get cheers (because he's so cool, unlike Bryce)?

While I'll happily boo Bryce, I don't think I could ever boo Rendon.

[Keithstg]

10 minutes ago, Bart said:

Will he get booed like Bryce, or will he get cheers (because he's so cool, unlike Bryce)?

While I'll happily boo Bryce, I don't think I could ever boo Rendon.

I hope and expect that Rendon will get a standing ovation. Great player and class guy. Too bad he'll be out in the AL West fighting for .500, though I guess a turnaround is always possible.

[Pat]

12 hours ago, Bart said:

Will he get booed like Bryce, or will he get cheers (because he's so cool, unlike Bryce)?

While I'll happily boo Bryce, I don't think I could ever boo Rendon.

We're playing those games in Anaheim. I don't think they come here this season, so it will be quite a while until Rendon is here, unless we somehow play the Angels in the postseason.

I'm quite certain Rendon would receive a warm welcome. Harper's attitude had a lot to do with why he was booed, and he and Rendon couldn't be more different in that regard. And, of course, Harper went to a division rival.