Man, out of all the news I was expecting to see as pitchers and catchers begin to report around the league, I was not expecting to see the report out of Anaheim that surfaced yesterday. In case you do not know what I am talking about, Los Angeles Angels' third baseman Anthony Rendon, is having hip surgery and is expected to miss 'a long amount of time' this season. Sam Blum, a writer for The Athletic, even went as far to question if he will ever suit up for the Angels again.
Wow. Look, I will always love Anthony Rendon for all that he did for the Washington Nationals organization, and this setback is just another tragic development for a player who has had almost nothing but them since his departure from the Nation's Capital.
During his time in DC, us Nationals fans had the pleasure of watching Rendon blossom from a high draft pick with injury concerns, to an MVP-caliber who likely would have won the 2019 NL MVP if voting was completed after the postseason. While he spent most of his time being one of the more underrated players in baseball if not being the most underrated in the sport, following the 2019 World Series run, he would finally get his chance to be treated like the true superstar talent that he had become, as he would be entering free agency for the first time in his career.
News: Anthony Rendon is having hip surgery, and is expected to miss a long amount of time.
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) February 12, 2025
He had a setback in his rehab the last few weeks.
Another injury for Rendon, and it now becomes unclear if and when he’ll play for the Angels again.
On the flipside, following that 2019 World Series run, the World Series MVP and one of the other faces of the franchise, Stephen Strasburg, was also set to become a free agent. During his time in DC, Strasburg had been through several ups and downs, from an innings limit shutdown while the Nationals were in the midst of their best season in franchise history in 2012, to saving the Nationals from elimination multiple times during that 2019 run, Strasburg and the Nationals had been through a ton together.
That is why when both Rendon and Strasburg became free agents following that historic season, most Nationals fans knew that it was going to come down to one or the other in terms of remaining in the Nation's Capital, and the decision was going to be a hard one.
To say that it ended up as a lose-lose scenario feels disrespectful to both players, as they have each dealt with a slew of injuries since then, but when you account for the fact that they both signed very large contracts, neither of them have even come close to living up to expectations.
Strasburg would re-sign with the Nationals on a 7-year, $245 million deal, while Rendon would bolt to Anaheim, signing with the Angels for the exact same duration and dollar amount as Strasburg. Since they both signed these deals, Strasburg has retired from MLB, dealing with multiple injuries and setbacks that saw him pitch in just 31.1 innings after signing the deal, and having made his last appearance in 2022.
Rendon has played in just 257 games with the Angels over the course of 5 seasons in Anaheim, and his latest setback on the injury front has left his future to look more murky than ever, and there is a chance he has played in his last game at the MLB level.
All in all, the Nationals and Angels both swung and missed big time with these deals, and the ramifications of their contracts have had major implications on their franchises that still are impacting both clubs to this day. The Nationals have watched Trea Turner, Juan Soto, Max Scherzer, and other stars from that 2019 team be traded away, while the Angels had to watch Shohei Ohtani go across town to the Dodgers while receiving nothing in return.
It truly has become a matter that looking back, it is interesting to wonder if Rendon would have stayed healthier if he had come back to the Nationals, given how much he seemed to love playing in DC, and seemed to happy when he came back last season with the Angels for a road series. Perhaps Strasburg is healthier with another club too, but truly both players gave everything that they had for that 2019 run, and as Nationals fans we should be eternally grateful for both of their contributions.
Who did you want the Nationals to re-sign in 2019? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.