Anthony Rendon Is an Angel on the Infield

[krAbs]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/anthony-rendon-is-an-angel-on-the-infield/

Cool Fangraphs article on Rendon and the Angels, worth noting, the one negative part is about his future decline. Some useful context on the projections (from the creator of ZiPS) : "The ZiPS projections for Rendon feel a little light; that’s the case for a few reasons. The first issue is that people tend to overrate just how healthy a player will be in his 30s, so a lot of the missing WAR is ZiPS hedging its injury bets. In this case, it’s purely based on age and position; Rendon’s early-career injuries are too far back for the computer to care about. ZiPS also uses a mix of defensive stats rather than just UZR in its WAR. I’d still take the over on the projections, but they’re not as crazy-bearish as first glance might suggest"

Notable quotes from the article:
"Since his injury-shortened 2015, he’s accumulated the fourth-most WAR among position players. In the last three years, he’s accumulated the fourth-most as well. In fact, he’s one of the best 10 position players in baseball over every stretch you can count back, starting with his rookie year"

"Four years ago, Rendon was patient with enough power to keep pitchers honest. In 2019, he posted the fifth-highest slugging percentage in baseball while striking out less frequently than he had in any previous year."

"Our very early projections for 2020 already had the Angels as an 83.5 win team against neutral competition. This would leave them on the outside of the playoffs looking in, but Rendon vaults them into the Wild Card race immediately, even without any further pitching additions or depth hitters."

"Putting Mike Trout in front of him in the lineup (I’d bat Rendon fourth and Trout second, but the configuration won’t matter much) is a way to increase the leverage of those at-bats, to maximize the number of runners Rendon can drive home. Offense stacks, and combining great hitters is an excellent way to maximize a free agent signing."

This last point was really interesting - Trout plus Rendon is not just Trout's production and Rendon's production. Even if you don't believe in player protection, as far as run production goes, each of them makes the other's hits more likely to score more runs. There's a multiplier here. And that's before any production from Ohtani, Upton, or Adell - any one of which has the talent to put together a monster season. I still want pitching so we can actually maybe challenge the Astros...but, I'm starting to feel good about this signing.

[eaterfan]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/anthony-rendon-is-a-los-angeles-angel/

This article also from Fangraphs has a great line:

"An infield of Rendon, David Fletcher, and Andrelton Simmons might single-handedly suppress the league-average for BABIP on groundballs."

[krAbs]

24 minutes ago, eaterfan said:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/anthony-rendon-is-a-los-angeles-angel/

This article also from Fangraphs has a great line:

"An infield of Rendon, David Fletcher, and Andrelton Simmons might single-handedly suppress the league-average for BABIP on groundballs."

It really feels like a ground ball pitcher plays really well with us right now. Good way to make our money go further - a ground ball pitcher who is a #2 on most teams may become a #1 for us.

[eaterfan]

19 hours ago, krAbs said:

It really feels like a ground ball pitcher plays really well with us right now. Good way to make our money go further - a ground ball pitcher who is a #2 on most teams may become a #1 for us.

Yeah. But I wouldn't seek out a long-term FA based on that. This could be the last season of Simmons. Next year the infield could be above average but nothing exceptional. Also, the outfield may consist of Marsh, Trout, and Adell. We'll be kicking ourselves for having a tremendous outfield in an era of more fly balls and fewer ground balls for going with Grandma pitchers instead of strike out pitchers.

[wopphil]

I still can't believe we got him. I am not sure people realize how good he is. He is 4th in fWAR the last 3 years. Let that sink in. He is a superstar.

[totdprods]

51 minutes ago, wopphil said:

I still can't believe we got him. I am not sure people realize how good he is. He is 4th in fWAR the last 3 years. Let that sink in. He is a superstar.

I posted it in one of the day-of signing threads, but his last three years are eerily similar to the three years Vlad posted before we signed him. 5.5 bWAR, .300/.400/.500/.950 OPS, 150 OPS+ players. 

Edited December 13, 2019 by totdprods

[krAbs]

2 hours ago, eaterfan said:

Yeah. But I wouldn't seek out a long-term FA based on that. This could be the last season of Simmons. Next year the infield could be above average but nothing exceptional. Also, the outfield may consist of Marsh, Trout, and Adell. We'll be kicking ourselves for having a tremendous outfield in an era of more fly balls and fewer ground balls for going with Grandma pitchers instead of strike out pitchers.

Hey - don't talk like that...

[CanadianHalo]

Why is he projected to age so poorly? I’ve said it before but I feel like he will age like Justin Turner who is still such a good hitter. 

When you watch Rendon he’s never trying to do to much. He never presses and his body is built in a way that it should hold up. 

[krAbs]

7 minutes ago, CanadianHalo said:

Why is he projected to age so poorly? I’ve said it before but I feel like he will age like Justin Turner who is still such a good hitter. 

When you watch Rendon he’s never trying to do to much. He never presses and his body is built in a way that it should hold up. 

My understanding is that their projection system thinks he's a big injury risk, and that's most of it. We'll see. But, I think its like..."half way between a full season of batting .300 and half a season of an injury-driven .220, lets call it .260 or so on "average"."

[Angel Oracle]

15 minutes ago, CanadianHalo said:

Why is he projected to age so poorly? I’ve said it before but I feel like he will age like Justin Turner who is still such a good hitter. 

When you watch Rendon he’s never trying to do to much. He never presses and his body is built in a way that it should hold up. 

Yep, he is kind of the opposite of Pujols, who came here with 10 MLB seasons already of that exaggerated crouched stance and carrying at least 240 lbs from the beginning of his career here, and was 2.5 years older than Rendon currently is.

Rendon's feet and knees should hold up much better,  

[CanadianHalo]

50 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Yep, he is kind of the opposite of Pujols, who came here with 10 MLB seasons already of that exaggerated crouched stance and carrying at least 240 lbs from the beginning of his career here, and was 2.5 years older than Rendon currently is.

Rendon's feet and knees should hold up much better,  

That’s what pisses me off the most about the Pujols situation. 

The one thing he has complete control over he let go to utter shit the second he signed that contract and that’s his physical shape. 

He looks awful these days and looks like he doesn’t even care. For a dude with foot problems the FIRST thing he should’ve done was lose weight. He’s not old from a life stand point to look the way he does. It’s inexcusable given the money he’s getting paid to show up looking the way he does imo. 

[m0nkey]

Sorry libs, sounds like he's a MAGA:

Quote

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.” 

Rendon would have been happy to see Trump. In fact, Rendon said, Washington teammates Stephen Strasburg and Ryan Zimmerman had been invited to play a round of golf with the president months earlier at Trump International Golf Club, eight miles from the Nationals’ spring home in West Palm Beach, Fla.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2019-12-14/angels-anthony-rendon-why-skipped-trump-nationals-white-house-visit

[Pancake Bear]

4 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

Sorry libs, sounds like he's a MAGA:

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2019-12-14/angels-anthony-rendon-why-skipped-trump-nationals-white-house-visit

So are a lot of ball players. Who cares? Baseball (and sports) should transcend politics. Only time an athlete’s politics bug me is when they act like being good at a sport means people care what they think beyond that. Use your platform for whatever you want, but don’t expect me to be swayed by your opinion because you’re a sports star. 

If that’s too political for some of you, bite me. 

[Lou]

2 hours ago, Pancake Bear said:

So are a lot of ball players. Who cares? Baseball (and sports) should transcend politics. Only time an athlete’s politics bug me is when they act like being good at a sport means people care what they think beyond that. Use your platform for whatever you want, but don’t expect me to be swayed by your opinion because you’re a sports star. 

If that’s too political for some of you, bite me.