Where does Anthony Rendon rank on list of worst contracts in MLB history?

Ahead of the 2020 season, the Los Angeles Angels made a huge splash, inking Anthony Rendon to a massive seven-year, $245 million deal. At the time the deal was signed, there was little to be upset about. The Angels were adding a bonafide star to their lineup alongside the likes of Mike Trout and Albert Pujols as they attempted to finally make a run at a World Series.

Rendon was coming off a season which saw him slash .319/.412/.598 with 34 home runs and a league-leading 126 RBI in 146 games with the Washington Nationals. Not only did he win a Silver Slugger and earn recognition as a National League MVP finalist, but he helped the Nationals win the World Series. He was excellent that postseason, driving in 15 runs in 17 games while posting a 1.004 OPS. He was, very clearly, one of the best players in the world.

Even Rendon's first season in Anaheim went well, as he posted a .915 OPS while appearing in 52 of the 60 games that the Angels played in the shortened 2020 season. Since then, though, anything that could have gone wrong for Rendon, has, with his latest injury being the latest example. Rendon is expected to miss substantial time after undergoing hip surgery, and that could end his tenure with the franchise.

Considering how bad it's been for Rendon, it's fair to wonder just how bad this contract is relative to some of the other worst contracts in MLB history.

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Anthony Rendon's contract is the worst in MLB history after latest injury

A lot goes into a player having a bad contract, with things like injuries, underperformance, and off-field issues at the top of the list. Rendon, somehow, fits into all three of these.

Rendon has appeared in 257 of the 708 games that the Angels have played since signing the mega-deal. That's 36 percent, for those uninterested in doing the math, or roughly 58 games over the course of a normal 162-game season. That alone is bad.

His production when he has been on the field is also bad. His first season was rock-solid, but in his last four, he has slashed .231/.329/.336 with 13 home runs and 94 RBI. If Rendon was playing well but couldn't stay on the field that'd be one thing, but when he's played, he's been a below-average hitter, which is mind-boggling considering where he was even in 2020.

In that shortened 2020 season, Rendon was worth 2.2 bWAR. In the four seasons since, he's been worth 1.5 bWAR. In that 2019 season with the Nationals, he was worth 7.1 bWAR, well below the total 3.7 bWAR he's accumulated in Anaheim. This statistic says it all.

As if those things weren't bad enough, are we sure Rendon actually enjoys playing the game? Off the field, he has been suspended twice for involvement in altercations and has been vocal about how playing baseball is nothing more than a job for him and wishes he got to do the job less than he already has.

So, to sum up, Rendon has barely played, has been bad when he has played, and doesn't seem to even want to play. Yeah, this contract is bad.

A guy like Stephen Strasburg, for example, has made just eight starts since signing an identical deal to Rendon in that same offseason, and will not pitch again. That's bad, obviously, but it feels as if Strasburg could have pitched, he would have been a better player than Rendon has been during his time in Anaheim, and certainly wouldn't have embarrassed the Nationals franchise in the same way Rendon has embarrassed the Angels.

A player like Chris Davis who inked a massive seven-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles in the 2016 offseason, struggled mightily on the field, but was, at least, playing games.

The cherry on top is that with Rendon making the money he's making, the Angels have been reluctant to make any other major moves. Arte Moreno should be willing to spend a lot more than he has, obviously, but the fact that Rendon is making as much as he is on a team that is as scared of going into the luxury tax has undoubtedly caused them to run out worse rosters than they otherwise could have.

The Rendon deal just feels like the perfect storm of everything that could have possibly gone wrong actually going wrong. With the likelihood increasing that he has played his last game in Anaheim, it feels only right to declare his contract as the absolute worst in MLB history.