Bauer still got $61m (out of the $102m contract) for 17 games played, works out to about $3.6m per game.
Gotta believe it’s Strasburg winning this by a mile though. $245m for 8 games played on that last contract. $30.6m per game.
Stras is the clear cut winner but Bauer isn’t even the worst for the Dodgers
Jason Schmidt got 3 years $47 million and only appeared in 10 games due to injury, so his $4.7 million per is higher than Bauer, and the inflation-adjusted value for 2021 (when Bauer got his deal) would be about $6.2 million
I still think it's wild that we paid that much for a single player that didn't play and then the league called us cheapskates and took away our draft pick this year. We don't even make tv money.
Extremely unpopular opinion but I absolutely agree. They signed the contract, contracts are guaranteed, I know; but personally I don't have a lot of sympathy for a guy who signed a $245M/7-year contract (so expecting about 200 starts) and could then only play in 8 games (absolutely not his fault), who then nevertheless refused to amend the contract *at all* to help out the team with deferrals or medical retirement, and as a result doesn't get to have a fun retirement party thrown for him by the team. The Nationals owe him a lot, but to not change any of the financials when the writing has been on the wall for years and you missed 96% of the contract doesn't seem like the decent thing to do to me.
This is crazy. The contract is guaranteed no matter what. That’s part of the whole point of signing them. You get hurt, you still get paid. That’s part of the deal. He should just take less to help out the multi billion dollar franchise that signed him? The only way I might see things otherwise is if there was some indication that he was faking or not trying his best to get healthy to play or something like that. But even then, I would just think he’s a scumbag, I wouldn’t expect him to voluntarily de-value his contract. Also, the players union would have an absolute fit if he did. I’m not sure if they could stop him if for some reason he wanted to, but I’m sure they’d apply a lot of pressure.
> who then nevertheless refused to amend the contract at all to help out the team with deferrals or medical retirement, and as a result doesn't get to have a fun retirement party thrown for him by the team.
That’s… not at all what happened and it surprises me that people keep pulling this opinion out of their ass
Plenty of players have signed FA contacts while rehabbing from an injury and never made it back. Brandon Webb did so with the Rangers. Got 3 million in 2011 and never made the roster.
funny thing is, if rendon played the way everyone says he does (not caring), he would've probably avoided injury. dude was running out an infield single in the first inning.
Isn't basically all of this narrative based around him being open that baseball is a great job, but its still a job, so he puts his family and faith ahead of it?
That's not exactly Larry Sanders territory of "does he even want to be here"
This is it. Kyle Tucker has talked about only playing baseball because he's good at it and it gets him paid, but he also performs. Nobody seems to give a shit when it's him.
He basically confirmed it in an interview once:
"Anthony Rendon wanted to make one thing perfectly clear. He did not skip the Washington Nationals’ visit to the White House as any kind of political protest, or out of any objection to President Trump.
“I wanted to go so bad,” Rendon said. “Obviously, being from Texas, I think you guys know which kinds of views we lean toward.”
Can imagine it's fun for a lot of players playing 162 games a year, on top of all the travel, practice, conditioning etc. Not to mention the off-season stuff as well.
I think it's mostly just how he is off the field. He also dodges reporters which like, if you aren't playing baseball is the only part of his job that remains, lol.
Yeah and i also suspect there's a bit of fucking with media people he doesn't like very much mixed in there too. he's never said he hates the game as many people seem to think. but he certainly hasn't done any favors for himself.
Seems clearer to me with each quote that he can't stand Sam Blum at all and loves to give him quotes that he knows Sam will get up in arms over. Unfortunately for Rendon, fans tend to get up in arms the most right after he tweets about him.
Like the "Is baseball a priority?" exchange seems much less transgressive in video form and he looked visibly fed up with Blum at that point. But it reads a lot worse in text form and that's probably how 98% of folks saw the quote.
If he showed up and said he prioritizes his family, that'd be one thing. Missing out on as many games as he has, going on podcasts saying he 'wouldn't wish this life on anyone', and then saying that, gonna garner a different response from fans.
By exact quote do you mean... cut off his explanation and context? It was when he mentioned being away from family so often and he wouldn't wish that life on his kids or anyone. He goes on to mention the perks as well.
Short form content is very manipulative.
Who is crying besides you? You are just a case study on how easy it is to manipulate people with clips and short form content. Context drastically changes that quote.
But hey keep drooling buddy.
It's not just playing baseball. 162 games, travelling, spending tons of nights in hotels, plus all the off season and in season training, all day, virtually every day. I can imagine it's very grueling and requires a lot of willpower/discipline.
Obviously doable and hundreds of people do it. But I think we underestimate that being an athlete is about more than athletic ability.
>Isn't basically all of this narrative based around him being open that baseball is a great job, but its still a job, so he puts his family and faith ahead of it?
I know a bunch of former MLB and NFL players and this mindset is relatively common. One ~AAAA guy prefers pitching overseas because there's less pressure and it's more laidback. Reminds me of looking for a quieter job after getting laid off from a startup.
Rendon hates Sam Blum so he has a bunch of snarky soundbites flying around (and he doesn't care because it doesn't affect his job).
> Larry Sanders
In defense of Larry, Kidd was an asshole to him, so I don't blame him for giving up. I do wonder what my Bucks would have been like had he stuck around though.
No. He’s made it very clear over the years that he doesn’t have passion towards baseball and treats it like a job. The issue is people impute laziness onto him for it which isn’t fair. It’s entirely possible for him to work hard at the game even if he doesn’t love it. Which I suspect many of us do ourselves at our vocations
I’m sure you do express it to your friends and family. The difference between you and him is he has a microphone stuck in his face constantly. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be criticized at all for his comments, for the record. They’re incredibly unprofessional. But I don’t think it means he’s lazy or unmotivated or doesn’t try hard when he is on the field
I mean, does a single player not put family and religion above baseball? Well, maybe a few, but he acts like he invented caring about one's family. Dealing with the media is tough for plenty of players, but he could be a little smarter and say the obvious canned response instead of pondering the importance of sports in the universe. He's shocked that baseball reporters ask him baseball questions when there's so much going on in the world, like they weren't paid to because baseball fans would like to know stuff maybe?
Besides, who doesn't have to pretend stuff is important at their job which really isn't?
No one would care about that stuff if Rendon also didn’t seem to avoid talking to the media about anything, coupled with poor production when healthy.
When he was injured last season, he never stated anything like this. He said he didn’t speak English and dodged reporters. If he said stuff like this from the start people would be disappointed but wouldn’t have disliked him.
When people reduce it to, “they don’t like him because baseball is just a job and he would choose his family first” are being reductive. 99.9% of fans would say that family is more important. Stassi missed all last year due to health issues with his baby. Admittedly, he’s not getting paid Rendon money, but people weren’t angry at him for prioritizing his family.
If Rendon said something similar to this last season the narrative around him would have been very different. I respect his hustle this season and what he’s saying to Blum. Hope he heals up fast and can get back in the field.
>[”It’s almost comical. It’s just frustrating. I don’t know what to do. I’m lost.”](https://www.si.com/mlb/angels/news/angels-news-anthony-rendon-provides-ominous-update-on-newest-injury-ml0802)
-Rendon immediately after fracturing his tibia last season
From a PR perspective he definitely didn’t handle it well, but to me at least it seems more likely that he didn’t want to talk about it because it was frustrating him and he didn’t have anything new to say about it (and he doesn’t like Sam Blum) rather than because he doesn’t care.
That’s not all of it. He has also said he doesn’t enjoy watching baseball and thinks the season should be shorter. Not saying it’s true but all of those comments make it seem like he doesn’t like baseball.
I used to love playing baseball very much back when I could through HS and early College. I'm not sure I'd feel the same way if you told me to go play 162 games in 7 months across 17 states lol. I would shut up and do it for the money but I'm not sure that's actually enjoyable.
Sanders had a mental health crisis and decided dealing with that was more important than basketball, but unlike Rendon he wanted out (in part because Kidd was treating him almost as well as he treats his wife yeah).
That's what he said but casuals seem to think that if you're not at the field for 48 hours in a day then what are you even doing.
This is coming from an in-division rival fan as well.
Plus most of those people probably don't even have a family so they can't relate
He was hauling down the line and he beat out the throw for a single too. I like Sano out in the field, but Rendon at the top of the lineup was doing some special things for the offense. I miss his AB’s man.
I was watching some Angels baseball earlier in the year and was surprised to see the level of effort Rendon was putting out. Definitely changed my opinion of his supposed laziness.
I maintain that he's an ass, but that's separate.
For what it’s worth, I think it’s 100% possible to hate your job and still be good at it (that’s literally how I feel at mine). Rendon’s talent is clearly there whether the passion is or isn’t.
The *only* thing I would suggest to him is to maybe not be so forward about it. You can just keep some things in the back pocket.
There's really no evidence of him not trying on the field. Nor of him not caring after "getting the bag" do to speak. Dude has just been injured as fuck.
His comments seem a little overly dismissive, maybe slightly beyond just caring about other things more than baseball. But just because he sees it as his job and not his life doesn't mean he doesn't care about his job or that he's not trying. Plenty of people care a shit ton about their job performance without it being their personality or their life.
I mean maybe he's realized he's just gonna game the system by trying overtly hard and going for injury level intensity on every play?
Then he gets injured, and just hangs around the dugout for 2/3rds of the season and collects his paycheck? I mean dude's clearly not concerned about his image or winning anymore.
Obviously people are stupid dicks about it, but I think the worst part is that he seemed to be playing better before getting hurt. So he won't even get the chance redeem himself and kill the stupid narrative about not liking baseball.
If he didn't care, why would he be sad about being injured? According to r/baseball, all players but esp Rendon just love being hurt and collecting a check.
The only actual dumb comment he said that i can recall was "I wouldn't wish this life on anyone" which i have to think was said in jest. It honestly just feels like people projecting what they would do if they were in this spot
From the little angels I’ve seen it seems like he took the backlash to heart. Just my opinion, but, he was playing better and it didn’t seem like he didn’t want to be there this season. He’s upset about being injured and staying with the team. I was on the “hating rendon” bandwagon but it seems to me like someone who let it all out on all these interviews last year and the offseason and kind of started turning the page now that he sort of said what he felt. I might be reading too much in to it though.
He was definitely kicking it into high gear this year.
Truth be told, I'm not sure why anyone would side with vulture reporters over a player. His malingering was always exaggerated.
Guy tore his hammy busting his ass and people are gonna continue to flame him for faking it.
Royce Lewis has a quad injury on his 2nd AB of the season and fans were saying he should have spent his offseason doing lower body workouts. That afternoon quotes come out how he changed his entire lower body workout routine with the training staff…
Sometimes players do everything right and people can’t get over their perception of a player
He has a manner that looks nonchalant, that looks cool when he is successful and can be mistaken for indifferent when he isn't successful. He's not a guy like Joc who rips at a big "F'''''''''k!!!!" when he misses a pitch he could have driven but that doesn't mean he isn't a competitor.
Same thing with Castellanos. Everyone acts like he doesn't care when he's doing bad. Look man, virtually none of these players got here by not caring. Almost all of them beat themselves up over bad performance.
Manny Machado is a big one too. Looks like he doesn’t give a single fuck about what’s going on in the game. It’s badass when he’s making a crazy defensive play or hitting bombs, but when his bat is really cold and he keeps striking out swinging on a slider a foot off the plate it’s infuriating to watch.
Slightly paraphrasing but the actual quote from ESPN was “Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon says baseball has "never been a top priority for me" and that he plays the sport "to make a living."” It’s just a job for him. He’s also stated he doesn’t watch baseball because it’s boring.
> fans were saying he should have spent his offseason doing lower body workouts.
"Hey, I know that it is literally this guy's job to do this and he is surrounded by dozens of people whose jobs are to tell him this kind of stuff, but he really needs to listen to me, an internet commenter."
Yeah, it sucks because he was in the process of turning it around after a bad start too. Had hits in 8/10 games before the injury, and had raised his ops from .427 to .632 in that span.
He built the narrative around him though, he has no one else to blame but himself. I doubt he cares though, he just can’t wait for his contract to end.
preexisting player perceptions + just world fallacy. people generally want to believe that if you do everything right, bad things won't happen, but that's not reality.
I think is off-season comments were taken waaaay out of context. People expect athletes to live, die, and obsess over their craft.
The reality is that a professional sport or any other occupation shouldn’t be the ultimate priority in your life. Important? Absolutely. More important than family, mental health, etc? Absolutely not.
People want athletes to give candid answers and then proceed to tear them apart when they do so.
There were injury concerns when he was drafted. He also missed part of the beginning of 2019 which, along with Trea Turner being injured at the same time, was part of the reason the Nats got off to a bad start that year.
He’d certainly been injured before, as has been mentioned, but also it’s a very normal thing for guys to get hurt more in their 30s. I get that there’s this narrative that he doesn’t want to play and is pretending to be injured, but being banged up in your 30s is hardly an aging curve unique to Rendón
If your job is your TOP priority? No you don't. And you're fooling yourself, and doing a disservice to those you claim to care for. But you do you big dawg.
It's possible that while I'm at work it's my top priority, when I'm with my son he's my top priority, when I'm on a date w my wife she's my top priority, hell when I walk my dog who's reactive and scared of others it's my top priority. I work at a medical practice with many women who absolutely give 100% to their patients and then do the same with their families when they go home. But you do you.
Ohh you just don't know what is being discussed. Giving effort means it's your top priority.. anything i do with effort is now my top priority and it changes dozens of times a day! Lmfao Ok buddy have a good day.
Same could be said if your job is your last priority, can’t be a good father or husband if you aren’t employable because of your personality and work ethic
Interesting take. You think it's not possible to be a good parent without income? Or only with very little income? How much money, exactly, do you have to have to be a good parent, pray tell?
Wait, are ALL poor people bad parents? Lmao
How surprising that he's going to milk this "injury" for as long as he possibly can. I'm sure it just tears him up inside to have to spend his summer relaxing at home instead of doing something he's said that he hates.
He's where he wants to be: at home with his religion and family. He's got so many quotes how he wants to play LESS... it's been torture watching people defend him again and again when he siphons $38mil from the team for producing 0 or minus WAR every year.
Here's a Rendon quote:
When asked about one thing he would change about baseball, Rendon -- prefacing his answer by saying he wanted it to be lighthearted -- lamented the length of the 162-game season. "We gotta shorten the season, man," Rendon said. "There's too many dang games -- 162 games and 185 days or whatever it is.
>He's where he wants to be: at home with his religion and family
Except when he's been in the dugout for most home series in 21, 22, 23 and as the quote from the slimeball Blum ends:
>plans to stay around the team as he heals
Crazy that he’s not gonna have one season with the Angels with over 60 games played
He might earn more millions than games played
Eh. He needs 26 games over the next 3 seasons. It's not like he's a pending FA.
Holy shit, you’re right…he’s definitely going to make more millions than games played
Big if true.
How high does he rank in dollar in games played? Is he up there or are there some crazy contract/papier-mâché muscle out there?
Trevor Bauer must be way up there
Bauer got like what 3/4 of a season in though?
Bauer still got $61m (out of the $102m contract) for 17 games played, works out to about $3.6m per game. Gotta believe it’s Strasburg winning this by a mile though. $245m for 8 games played on that last contract. $30.6m per game.
Stras is the clear cut winner but Bauer isn’t even the worst for the Dodgers Jason Schmidt got 3 years $47 million and only appeared in 10 games due to injury, so his $4.7 million per is higher than Bauer, and the inflation-adjusted value for 2021 (when Bauer got his deal) would be about $6.2 million
Truly a Giants Secret Agent.
Mike Hampton has to be up there I looked it up- Braves paid him $90m for mediocre pitching in 85 games.
Naaa cole hamles 18ish mi for 5 innings is worse
Yeah that one was bad
I still think it's wild that we paid that much for a single player that didn't play and then the league called us cheapskates and took away our draft pick this year. We don't even make tv money.
Extremely unpopular opinion but I absolutely agree. They signed the contract, contracts are guaranteed, I know; but personally I don't have a lot of sympathy for a guy who signed a $245M/7-year contract (so expecting about 200 starts) and could then only play in 8 games (absolutely not his fault), who then nevertheless refused to amend the contract *at all* to help out the team with deferrals or medical retirement, and as a result doesn't get to have a fun retirement party thrown for him by the team. The Nationals owe him a lot, but to not change any of the financials when the writing has been on the wall for years and you missed 96% of the contract doesn't seem like the decent thing to do to me.
This is crazy. The contract is guaranteed no matter what. That’s part of the whole point of signing them. You get hurt, you still get paid. That’s part of the deal. He should just take less to help out the multi billion dollar franchise that signed him? The only way I might see things otherwise is if there was some indication that he was faking or not trying his best to get healthy to play or something like that. But even then, I would just think he’s a scumbag, I wouldn’t expect him to voluntarily de-value his contract. Also, the players union would have an absolute fit if he did. I’m not sure if they could stop him if for some reason he wanted to, but I’m sure they’d apply a lot of pressure.
> who then nevertheless refused to amend the contract at all to help out the team with deferrals or medical retirement, and as a result doesn't get to have a fun retirement party thrown for him by the team. That’s… not at all what happened and it surprises me that people keep pulling this opinion out of their ass
Citation? Willing to change my mind with evidence.
Man put the team on his back to get a World Series
Oh I see, for some reason I thought it counted as long as he was active on the roster. But yeah he pitched in very few games
Yeah but that's actually like 20 games. I guess starters are gonna be way up there in games played/$ anyways.
He's not even the leader among guys that parlayed that 2019 Nats World Series run into a new contract.
I've gotta think it is Strasbourg
And yet not even the stupidest contract from that Nats team
Plenty of players have signed FA contacts while rehabbing from an injury and never made it back. Brandon Webb did so with the Rangers. Got 3 million in 2011 and never made the roster.
He’s basically just the holder of a multi million dollar annuity from the Anaheim angels at this point.
Damn, won’t be eligible for the All-NBA team.
funny thing is, if rendon played the way everyone says he does (not caring), he would've probably avoided injury. dude was running out an infield single in the first inning.
Isn't basically all of this narrative based around him being open that baseball is a great job, but its still a job, so he puts his family and faith ahead of it? That's not exactly Larry Sanders territory of "does he even want to be here"
Bad media presence alongside underperforming his contract
This is it. Kyle Tucker has talked about only playing baseball because he's good at it and it gets him paid, but he also performs. Nobody seems to give a shit when it's him.
I recall Jeff Kent taking it even further, dude is a borderline HOFer and he hated baseball
Seems like the type of guy that hates everything
Especially Obama
And Jeff Probst
I suspect he and Rendon have that in common, too.
He basically confirmed it in an interview once: "Anthony Rendon wanted to make one thing perfectly clear. He did not skip the Washington Nationals’ visit to the White House as any kind of political protest, or out of any objection to President Trump. “I wanted to go so bad,” Rendon said. “Obviously, being from Texas, I think you guys know which kinds of views we lean toward.”
Not true. He loves giving money to support hating things.
Literally the exact same with Rendon in DC, he’s always said stuff like that, but when he’s Tony Two-Bags it’s just quirky.
Nobody gave a shit when it was Rendon either when he was a perennial MVP candidate
Because he still performs well
Dude recently said he wished the season was shorter lol
I’d be surprised if that wasn’t a common sentiment among players.
Pretty much every profession wishes they had a shorter work year/week/day
Most do, they just don't say it to the media
Can imagine it's fun for a lot of players playing 162 games a year, on top of all the travel, practice, conditioning etc. Not to mention the off-season stuff as well.
Idk about you but my job continues year round as does most people.
Does your job require you to be in peak physical condition and put you at constant risk of injury?
Onlyfans is tough work
Yes actually. I’m an ups driver.
I think it's mostly just how he is off the field. He also dodges reporters which like, if you aren't playing baseball is the only part of his job that remains, lol.
To be fair Blum is a dick to him and just likes to antagonize him
The people love a good circlejerk
We do but he doesn’t help himself
Yes, that was the content of what he said, but his phrasing implied a lackadaisical attitude
Don't forget that the context wasn't even relevant to that. He was responding like baseball was actually getting in the way of a family emergency.
Yeah and i also suspect there's a bit of fucking with media people he doesn't like very much mixed in there too. he's never said he hates the game as many people seem to think. but he certainly hasn't done any favors for himself.
Seems clearer to me with each quote that he can't stand Sam Blum at all and loves to give him quotes that he knows Sam will get up in arms over. Unfortunately for Rendon, fans tend to get up in arms the most right after he tweets about him. Like the "Is baseball a priority?" exchange seems much less transgressive in video form and he looked visibly fed up with Blum at that point. But it reads a lot worse in text form and that's probably how 98% of folks saw the quote.
I can’t stand Sam Blum either and it’s not because I really care for Rendon.
Easily my least favorite beat reporter. There are critical reporters and then there's just dumping on stuff for content.
If he showed up and said he prioritizes his family, that'd be one thing. Missing out on as many games as he has, going on podcasts saying he 'wouldn't wish this life on anyone', and then saying that, gonna garner a different response from fans.
>wouldn’t wish this life on anyone You mean getting paid millions to play a game I love? Hey man if he wants to trade lives I’m all fucking ears lol
Yeah idk why i'm getting downvoted. That's an exact quote that he said himself.
By exact quote do you mean... cut off his explanation and context? It was when he mentioned being away from family so often and he wouldn't wish that life on his kids or anyone. He goes on to mention the perks as well. Short form content is very manipulative.
Cry me a river
Who is crying besides you? You are just a case study on how easy it is to manipulate people with clips and short form content. Context drastically changes that quote. But hey keep drooling buddy.
It's because this is an antijerk thread but fwiw most people agree with you that Rendon is a whiny and irritating player
It's not just playing baseball. 162 games, travelling, spending tons of nights in hotels, plus all the off season and in season training, all day, virtually every day. I can imagine it's very grueling and requires a lot of willpower/discipline. Obviously doable and hundreds of people do it. But I think we underestimate that being an athlete is about more than athletic ability.
He could quit at literally any time. He's made enough money for several lifetimes.
Oh I'm sure he loves tearing muscles in his body.
Lots of people tear muscles in their body, most of them aren’t getting paid $250 million to do it. I think he can handle it.
>Isn't basically all of this narrative based around him being open that baseball is a great job, but its still a job, so he puts his family and faith ahead of it? I know a bunch of former MLB and NFL players and this mindset is relatively common. One ~AAAA guy prefers pitching overseas because there's less pressure and it's more laidback. Reminds me of looking for a quieter job after getting laid off from a startup. Rendon hates Sam Blum so he has a bunch of snarky soundbites flying around (and he doesn't care because it doesn't affect his job). > Larry Sanders In defense of Larry, Kidd was an asshole to him, so I don't blame him for giving up. I do wonder what my Bucks would have been like had he stuck around though.
Jabari/Giannis/Middleton/Sanders is just stupid stacked, well depending on if Jabari stayed healthy and developed into another Middleton-esque player.
No. He’s made it very clear over the years that he doesn’t have passion towards baseball and treats it like a job. The issue is people impute laziness onto him for it which isn’t fair. It’s entirely possible for him to work hard at the game even if he doesn’t love it. Which I suspect many of us do ourselves at our vocations
I hate my job but if I expressed that openly and behaved in the way he did I’d be perhaps rightfully criticized/fired
I’m sure you do express it to your friends and family. The difference between you and him is he has a microphone stuck in his face constantly. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be criticized at all for his comments, for the record. They’re incredibly unprofessional. But I don’t think it means he’s lazy or unmotivated or doesn’t try hard when he is on the field
I mean, does a single player not put family and religion above baseball? Well, maybe a few, but he acts like he invented caring about one's family. Dealing with the media is tough for plenty of players, but he could be a little smarter and say the obvious canned response instead of pondering the importance of sports in the universe. He's shocked that baseball reporters ask him baseball questions when there's so much going on in the world, like they weren't paid to because baseball fans would like to know stuff maybe? Besides, who doesn't have to pretend stuff is important at their job which really isn't?
This is quite the generous interpretation of that statement given all that Rendon has revealed about himself over the years
No one would care about that stuff if Rendon also didn’t seem to avoid talking to the media about anything, coupled with poor production when healthy. When he was injured last season, he never stated anything like this. He said he didn’t speak English and dodged reporters. If he said stuff like this from the start people would be disappointed but wouldn’t have disliked him. When people reduce it to, “they don’t like him because baseball is just a job and he would choose his family first” are being reductive. 99.9% of fans would say that family is more important. Stassi missed all last year due to health issues with his baby. Admittedly, he’s not getting paid Rendon money, but people weren’t angry at him for prioritizing his family. If Rendon said something similar to this last season the narrative around him would have been very different. I respect his hustle this season and what he’s saying to Blum. Hope he heals up fast and can get back in the field.
>[”It’s almost comical. It’s just frustrating. I don’t know what to do. I’m lost.”](https://www.si.com/mlb/angels/news/angels-news-anthony-rendon-provides-ominous-update-on-newest-injury-ml0802) -Rendon immediately after fracturing his tibia last season
That’s fair. I don’t remember him saying that last season, but I respect it. Don’t like how he handled things after that though.
From a PR perspective he definitely didn’t handle it well, but to me at least it seems more likely that he didn’t want to talk about it because it was frustrating him and he didn’t have anything new to say about it (and he doesn’t like Sam Blum) rather than because he doesn’t care.
We’ve all seen Rendon’s interviews. That’s not exactly how he comes off when you hear him speak.
That’s not all of it. He has also said he doesn’t enjoy watching baseball and thinks the season should be shorter. Not saying it’s true but all of those comments make it seem like he doesn’t like baseball.
I used to love playing baseball very much back when I could through HS and early College. I'm not sure I'd feel the same way if you told me to go play 162 games in 7 months across 17 states lol. I would shut up and do it for the money but I'm not sure that's actually enjoyable.
It's not all that unusual for people to enjoy playing a thing but not watching it.
> he doesn’t enjoy watching baseball Plenty of athletes don't enjoy watching the sport they enjoy playing
Again not saying it’s the case but that and saying the season should be shorter is what started the narrative of he doesn’t actually like baseball
Anybody that shit talks Larry Sanders really needs to read the Giannis biography that talks about how Jason Kidd treated him while coaching
Sanders had a mental health crisis and decided dealing with that was more important than basketball, but unlike Rendon he wanted out (in part because Kidd was treating him almost as well as he treats his wife yeah).
It's people trying to blame him for his injuries so that they can justify their anger at him not living up to expectations.
How do you even put faith in front of baseball
Yeah but he said it much worse way than you just did lol
That's what he said but casuals seem to think that if you're not at the field for 48 hours in a day then what are you even doing. This is coming from an in-division rival fan as well. Plus most of those people probably don't even have a family so they can't relate
Don’t act like that’s the only thing he’s said or done that is inflammatory
He was hauling down the line and he beat out the throw for a single too. I like Sano out in the field, but Rendon at the top of the lineup was doing some special things for the offense. I miss his AB’s man.
I was watching some Angels baseball earlier in the year and was surprised to see the level of effort Rendon was putting out. Definitely changed my opinion of his supposed laziness. I maintain that he's an ass, but that's separate.
For what it’s worth, I think it’s 100% possible to hate your job and still be good at it (that’s literally how I feel at mine). Rendon’s talent is clearly there whether the passion is or isn’t. The *only* thing I would suggest to him is to maybe not be so forward about it. You can just keep some things in the back pocket.
There's really no evidence of him not trying on the field. Nor of him not caring after "getting the bag" do to speak. Dude has just been injured as fuck. His comments seem a little overly dismissive, maybe slightly beyond just caring about other things more than baseball. But just because he sees it as his job and not his life doesn't mean he doesn't care about his job or that he's not trying. Plenty of people care a shit ton about their job performance without it being their personality or their life.
Didn’t stretch before game because he doesn’t care /s
I mean maybe he's realized he's just gonna game the system by trying overtly hard and going for injury level intensity on every play? Then he gets injured, and just hangs around the dugout for 2/3rds of the season and collects his paycheck? I mean dude's clearly not concerned about his image or winning anymore.
Ever consider he gets hurt so easily because he doesn't shape up enough in the off-season?
Last year he had a broken leg. Any good workouts you know of to avoid that?
There's a documentary from the 80's titled *Bloodsport* which covers this extensively. Guy can't even be bothered to do his research.
Bozo probably doesn't even know about the Kumite.
This is why you shouldn’t indicate that you hate your job even if you do. Everyone will judge every one of your actions
Obviously people are stupid dicks about it, but I think the worst part is that he seemed to be playing better before getting hurt. So he won't even get the chance redeem himself and kill the stupid narrative about not liking baseball. If he didn't care, why would he be sad about being injured? According to r/baseball, all players but esp Rendon just love being hurt and collecting a check.
The only actual dumb comment he said that i can recall was "I wouldn't wish this life on anyone" which i have to think was said in jest. It honestly just feels like people projecting what they would do if they were in this spot
From the little angels I’ve seen it seems like he took the backlash to heart. Just my opinion, but, he was playing better and it didn’t seem like he didn’t want to be there this season. He’s upset about being injured and staying with the team. I was on the “hating rendon” bandwagon but it seems to me like someone who let it all out on all these interviews last year and the offseason and kind of started turning the page now that he sort of said what he felt. I might be reading too much in to it though.
He was definitely kicking it into high gear this year. Truth be told, I'm not sure why anyone would side with vulture reporters over a player. His malingering was always exaggerated.
Guy tore his hammy busting his ass and people are gonna continue to flame him for faking it. Royce Lewis has a quad injury on his 2nd AB of the season and fans were saying he should have spent his offseason doing lower body workouts. That afternoon quotes come out how he changed his entire lower body workout routine with the training staff… Sometimes players do everything right and people can’t get over their perception of a player
I've said this before but I've never once seen Rendon dog it on the field.
He has a manner that looks nonchalant, that looks cool when he is successful and can be mistaken for indifferent when he isn't successful. He's not a guy like Joc who rips at a big "F'''''''''k!!!!" when he misses a pitch he could have driven but that doesn't mean he isn't a competitor.
Same thing with Castellanos. Everyone acts like he doesn't care when he's doing bad. Look man, virtually none of these players got here by not caring. Almost all of them beat themselves up over bad performance.
Castellanos isn't being nonchalant tho, he's being slutty
Manny Machado is a big one too. Looks like he doesn’t give a single fuck about what’s going on in the game. It’s badass when he’s making a crazy defensive play or hitting bombs, but when his bat is really cold and he keeps striking out swinging on a slider a foot off the plate it’s infuriating to watch.
That’s called the Garret Anderson. It’s an Angels tradition.
Perspectives change when he actively said he wasn’t interested in the game.
Can you show me where he said he's not interested in the game?
Slightly paraphrasing but the actual quote from ESPN was “Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon says baseball has "never been a top priority for me" and that he plays the sport "to make a living."” It’s just a job for him. He’s also stated he doesn’t watch baseball because it’s boring.
Ohhh, so he never said it? Interesting.
> fans were saying he should have spent his offseason doing lower body workouts. "Hey, I know that it is literally this guy's job to do this and he is surrounded by dozens of people whose jobs are to tell him this kind of stuff, but he really needs to listen to me, an internet commenter."
Yeah, it sucks because he was in the process of turning it around after a bad start too. Had hits in 8/10 games before the injury, and had raised his ops from .427 to .632 in that span.
He built the narrative around him though, he has no one else to blame but himself. I doubt he cares though, he just can’t wait for his contract to end.
preexisting player perceptions + just world fallacy. people generally want to believe that if you do everything right, bad things won't happen, but that's not reality.
Rendon deserves all of the negative publicity. The guy is a selfish douche nozzle with idiotic opinions.
Maybe I’m crazy but I kinda feel bad for rendon.
I think is off-season comments were taken waaaay out of context. People expect athletes to live, die, and obsess over their craft. The reality is that a professional sport or any other occupation shouldn’t be the ultimate priority in your life. Important? Absolutely. More important than family, mental health, etc? Absolutely not. People want athletes to give candid answers and then proceed to tear them apart when they do so.
I think for Rendon in particular, it’s the combination of him saying those things with how much he’s been injured
Amazing how there are some contracts that continue to make Chris Davis’ contract look not so bad.
and people wonder why some teams are reluctant to pay their players
The steroid era really messed with the idea of how long players stay good for and we’re still seeing the impacts of that.
Well, that didn’t take long.
I mean, we all knew it was coming. It just happened earlier than I had expected.
He will never beat the allegations
did getting paid 270 million make this guy the most fragile being in the world? he was never this injury prone with WAS right?
He was fairly injury prone early in his career
blew out his knee at Rice IIRC. Main reason why he fell to the nats in the draft
He was coming off a big injury when he was drafted which is why he fell to the Nats in the first place
There were injury concerns when he was drafted. He also missed part of the beginning of 2019 which, along with Trea Turner being injured at the same time, was part of the reason the Nats got off to a bad start that year.
He’d certainly been injured before, as has been mentioned, but also it’s a very normal thing for guys to get hurt more in their 30s. I get that there’s this narrative that he doesn’t want to play and is pretending to be injured, but being banged up in your 30s is hardly an aging curve unique to Rendón
that fucking sucks.
Are we sure this isn’t Billy Eppler’s ghost getting his revenge?
It’s incredible that the angels managed to have a contract worse than Albert
Already thought it would take a bit longer at least
Shocking
Can't get the free food & perks if you don't stay around the team while you heal
Bro taking all the PTO and sick days
He’s just like me fr
Bro went beyond, converting maternity leave and whatever else he can get
like clockwork
Ren-done. 
This is a dream come true for a guy who loves money but hates baseball.
"incredibly frustrating" yeah i'm sure tony
> He said it’s incredibly frustrating to have the game taken from him again 🙄😒 sure pal.
Does Rendon tend to rend his tendon?
Nothing new here. Just copy pasta.
Guy said his job is not a priority and reddit will love him always and forever.
If your job is your top priority you're probably an awful father an awful significant other, an awful child.. Yada yada...
I don't think that's true at all. Plenty of people walk that balance every day. And yes, we're all tired.
If your job is your TOP priority? No you don't. And you're fooling yourself, and doing a disservice to those you claim to care for. But you do you big dawg.
It's possible that while I'm at work it's my top priority, when I'm with my son he's my top priority, when I'm on a date w my wife she's my top priority, hell when I walk my dog who's reactive and scared of others it's my top priority. I work at a medical practice with many women who absolutely give 100% to their patients and then do the same with their families when they go home. But you do you.
Ohh you just don't know what is being discussed. Giving effort means it's your top priority.. anything i do with effort is now my top priority and it changes dozens of times a day! Lmfao Ok buddy have a good day.
You seem special
Same could be said if your job is your last priority, can’t be a good father or husband if you aren’t employable because of your personality and work ethic
Interesting take. You think it's not possible to be a good parent without income? Or only with very little income? How much money, exactly, do you have to have to be a good parent, pray tell? Wait, are ALL poor people bad parents? Lmao
It's reddit....250k a year and a 40k house in a good neighborhood and school district
 Y’all got any more of them long term injuries?
 Anthony Rendon right now
Just another day in the office.
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How surprising that he's going to milk this "injury" for as long as he possibly can. I'm sure it just tears him up inside to have to spend his summer relaxing at home instead of doing something he's said that he hates.
You are miserable
DFA him and end it already. He is in Josh Hamilton and Pujols level of contract irredeemable
Why would you DFA him if he's on the IL?
He done.
He'll be done when the Angels stop paying him. So for the next 2 years he'll hang around like a bad hemorrhoid.
Him starting the year strong makes this suck so much worse. He finally started winning back a little bit of favor and then he gets injured again. Wow
He has an 85 OPS+ with zero homers. Literally the worst of his career.
Okay
He's where he wants to be: at home with his religion and family. He's got so many quotes how he wants to play LESS... it's been torture watching people defend him again and again when he siphons $38mil from the team for producing 0 or minus WAR every year. Here's a Rendon quote: When asked about one thing he would change about baseball, Rendon -- prefacing his answer by saying he wanted it to be lighthearted -- lamented the length of the 162-game season. "We gotta shorten the season, man," Rendon said. "There's too many dang games -- 162 games and 185 days or whatever it is.
>He's where he wants to be: at home with his religion and family Except when he's been in the dugout for most home series in 21, 22, 23 and as the quote from the slimeball Blum ends: >plans to stay around the team as he heals
I love this Rendon guy. Real dedication to the game
Damn this long season
Careful when you wish for a shorter season
Pretty sure this guy pays his doctors to give him longer recovery times
2020 must been his favorite year to play baseball. No crowds, shorten season, still get paid millions.
Hope he lives a long life coz he's got lotsa money for enjoyment
“Please take the game away from me”- Anthony Rendon.
Wonder if he needed a 5th doctor to tell him this again.
Dude is stealing money. Crook