When the Los Angeles Angels signed Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245 million contract in December of 2019, they thought they were adding a franchise cornerstone to complement Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Instead, they imported an albatross of a contract he hasn't come close to living up to. So far in 2023, Rendon has actually been better at the plate, but is nowhere near the player he needs to be.

After awful seasons in 2021 and 2022, Rendon has started 2023 more favorably. But he's had a really weird campaign. In 2021 he hit. 240 with a .329 on-base percentage, while slugging .382. His .712 OPS was far below the .937, .909, 1.010 and .915 of the previous four seasons. He followed that up in 2022 by hitting .229 with an on-base percentage of .326 and slugging of .380. His OPS was down again, to .706. In 2021 and 2022 he combined for 11 home runs, and only managed to play in 105 game across the two seasons. Everything has been terrible and his deal looks one of MLB's all-time busts.

This season, things have changed. Slightly. Through 21 games, Rendon is hitting .250 with a .374 on-base percentage. That's good! But his slugging percentage has continued to bottom out and sits at a dismal .292. While he's been much better at the plate from an average and on-base perspective, his OPS is down to .665, and he has yet to hit a home run.