It’s safe to say that Anthony Rendon hasn’t been the most popular man in Los Angeles over the last few years. The third baseman has yet to play more than 60 games in a season since signing a massive seven-year, $245 million deal with the Angels in the winter of 2019; injuries limited him to just 43 games last year, during which he hit just .236/.361/.318 with two home runs. While there’s certainly plenty of blame to go around, Rendon’s lack of production and massive price tag has come to represent everything that went wrong for the Angels as they failed to build a contender around Mike Trout and the recently departed Shohei Ohtani.
Of course, Rendon’s handling of fans and the media hasn’t exactly helped his cause. He’s long been reticent to speak publicly, regularly dodging reporters during his time on the injured list last season and raising questions about just how committed he was to performing on the field. Those questions will only get louder after Rendon’s first interview of 2024, in which the 33-year-old made clear that baseball is far from the most important thing in his life.
Here’s what he told reporters, including Sam Blum of The Athletic, about his mindset upon reporting to camp on Monday:
Anthony Rendon on playing pro baseball:
— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) February 19, 2024
“It’s never been a top priority for me. This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job. So if those things come before it, I’m leaving.”
Here’s the full exchange: pic.twitter.com/xtgaywzNx9
“(Baseball has) never been a top priority for me,” Rendon said. “This is a job. I do this to make a living. My faith, my family come first before this job. So if those things come before it, I’m leaving.”
When asked if it was a priority, Rendon responded, “Oh, it’s a priority for sure. Because it’s my job. I’m here, aren’t I?” Blum tried to press Rendon further, asking if he wanted to be at Angels camp, at which point things devolved.
Rendon added that his perspective has changed since getting married and having children, which is certainly understandable — no one expects him to put baseball in front of his family. And, really, I want to give Rendon credit here for his honesty, and for voicing an opinion that’s much more common than most fans would expect: Just because you’re a world-class baseball player doesn’t mean you’re thrilled at the prospect of baseball defining your entire life in the way that a 162-game season demands.
Some perspective might be helpful here, though. Playing baseball is a job, but it’s a job that pays Rendon nearly $40 million a year — solely because of fan interest in the game, interest that he does have some obligation to reciprocate while speaking with the media. It’s unfair to require that Rendon define himself solely through his work, or to assume that a supposed lack of passion affects his production or his ability to stay on the field; most of us show up to work so that we can pay rent, support our families and everything else, and that doesn’t mean that we’re mailing it in.
But that understanding only goes so far, and you can understand why Angels fans might be frustrated at the prospect of spending $114 million over another three years for a player whose heart doesn’t particularly seem to be in it. If the Angels have any hope of remaining respectable post-Ohtani, they’ll need a return to form from Rendon, and it’s fair to wonder whether that’s in the cards as he enters his mid-30s. Is Trout sure he doesn’t want to follow through on that trade request?
