Anthony Rendon Could At Least Pretend to Like Baseball

It's becoming clear that the Angels gave this man one of the worst free-agent contracts in American professional sports history.

(Photo by George Kubas/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

Hi friends-

I was going to write about Rob Manfred’s imminent retirement today, but then Anthony Rendon opened his mouth to the media this morning and vomited out the one thing a professional athlete is never allowed to say.

But before we get into that, let’s review the context of Rendon’s comments. Last month, the beleaguered Angels third baseman went on a podcast and said he wished the MLB season was shorter. While it’s fair to debate whether the 162-game season is maybe three weeks too long, Rendon’s hot take raised eyebrows around the sport because he signed a seven-year contract for $245 million with the Angels before the 2020 season and, due to injuries, has failed to play more than 58 games in any of his first three non-COVID-shortened seasons in Anaheim.

And it’s not like Rendon was any good in the 148 games he’s been on the field since 2021. Over the last three years, Rendon has hit just 13 homers with a .238 batting average and a .701 OPS—worse than league average. His main highlight so far as an Angel was getting suspended for publicly challenging an A’s fan to a fight.

I’m willing to give any MLB player the benefit of the doubt when it comes to injuries as long as he hurts himself while doing his job. There’s no indication that Rendon got injured riding his motorcycle like Fernando Tatis Jr., flipping his dirt bike like Madison Bumgarner or getting into a fight with a wild boar like Yoenis Céspedes.

Getting sick or hurt comes with the territory of inhabiting a human body. We’ve all seen the devastation and anguish when a great competitor is wounded in the line of battle. A year ago, members of Team Puerto Rico openly wept when the Mets’ star closer, Edwin Diaz, tore his patella tendon in a freak accident on the mound after a win over the Dominican Republic during the World Baseball Classic. We all felt for Diaz. It’s gut-wrenching when a player suffers a serious injury while trying his best on the field.

But after the comments Rendon made today,