Angels News: Anthony Rendon Has Taken His Trolling of the Media to a New Level

I guess if you can't help the team in any way, you might as well... troll the media?

The Anthony Rendon era in Anaheim has been an outright disaster for the Angels. The perpetually hurt third baseman has seemingly been at the forefront of more injury reports and suspensions than highlights and home runs.

In 34 games, newcomer Mike Moustakas has been worth as many bWAR (wins above replacement) as Rendon has over the last three seasons combined.

All that appears to be taking a toll on the former Nationals great. 

The Angels are playing for their first playoff berth in nearly a decade. The club is also, in a way, auditioning itself to free-agent-to-be Shohei Ohtani, who has made it painfully clear that he wants to win. With that in mind, journalists assigned to cover the Angels beat have an understandable duty to learn the latest on the injury front when it comes to Rendon and when he could potentially come back and help the team.

For the $245 million man, he's instead playing the petulant troll role in the clubhouse. Sam Blum of The Athletic has kept fans in the loop in his quest to get any sort of update from Rendon in recent days. 

He's getting the runaround.

An update:

Anthony Rendon, postgame last night, likened his promise to return to that of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in The Terminator.

He noted that he said he would come back out to talk, but did not say when.

Rendon didn’t come back out today, and provided no update.

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) August 10, 2023

I guess if you can't help the team in any way, you might as well... troll the media? 

To his credit, Rendon is currently sidelined with a nasty contusion after fouling a pitch off his left shin early in July. The most recent update (which came from manager Phil Nevin mind you) revealed a "deep bone bruise" along with "bleeding inside the [shin] bone."

You probably wouldn't be a happy camper if all that was going on too.

The Angels at this point likely aren't relying on a Rendon return to boost the club over the final seven-ish weeks of the season. And, if that's the case, the veteran will finish the season having played in only 43 games while posting a mediocre .236/.361/.318 triple slash line.