Source: Angels in talks to buy out Rendon deal

The Los Angeles Angels and third baseman Anthony Rendon are in talks about buying out the final year of his contract, potentially bringing a resolution to the seven-year, $245 million deal that did not come close to paying dividends, a source told ESPN on Wednesday.

Rendon, who spent the entire 2025 season recovering from hip surgery, is expected to retire, a source said.

The 35-year-old is owed $38 million in 2026. A potential buyout of that remaining money has not been finalized, and situations like this can often get complicated, but the expectation is that Rendon will defer at least part of that money, giving the team more financial flexibility to address needs this offseason.

Washington Nationals. If the Angels and his agent, Scott Boras, are able to finalize a buyout, he will end up playing in just a quarter of the Angels’ games over the life of that deal, compiling 3.7 FanGraphs wins above replacement (fWAR).

A first-round pick out of Rice University in 2011, Rendon established himself as one of the game’s best all-around players with an emerging core in Washington. He was a hitting savant, a gifted defender, and from 2016 to 2019, only nine position players put up more fWAR.

Mike Trout suffering a similar spate of bad injury luck. The unavailability of those two players, by far the team’s highest paid, when coupled with an overall lack of depth throughout the roster only furthered the Angels’ slide despite the emergence of Shohei Ohtani as a two-way phenomenon.

The Angels have not made the playoffs since 2014 and have not won a playoff game since 2009. The 2025 season marked their 10th in a row with a below-.500 record. Kurt Suzuki, Rendon’s teammate on the 2019 Nationals, has since been named the Angels’ manager — the team’s sixth in eight years.

Soon, at least, they can move on at third base.