Angels make their move by signing Rendon, but finding legitimate pitching is still a must

The Los Angeles Angels were all in on pitcher Gerrit Cole in the free-agent market, but they fell short of signing him because of the record $324 million contract offer by the New York Yankees.

The Angels rebounded from that disappointment by signing third baseman Anthony Rendon to a seven-year, $245 million deal. The former Washington Nationals World Series hero will give the Angels a chance to turn around a 72-90 season that saw them finish in fourth place in the American League West, 35 games behind the first-place Houston Astros.

Teaming Rendon, who hit .319 with 34 home runs and 125 RBI to go along with a slugging percentage of .598, with reigning American League MVP Mike Trout should give the Angels a formidable 1-2 punch in the middle of their lineup.

However, signing high-priced free agents is no guarantee for any team, and the Angels have had their issues in the past. They signed Albert Pujols to a long-term deal in 2012, and it was just after his career peaked with the St. Louis Cardinals.

While Pujols has had some good years with the Angels – he hit 40 homers and slugged .480 in 2015 – he has not been the player with Los Angeles that he was during the first 11 years of his career with St. Louis, when he was widely considered to be the best right-handed hitter in baseball.

The Angels wanted to sign either Cole or Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg but could not swing a deal for either pitcher.

Once those deals were no longer possible, they decided to improve their team by adding offense. New manager Joe Maddon may not have enough pitching with the Angels, but his batting order will have Trout, Rendon, Pujols and Shohei Ohtani. They should be able to win a lot of games in 2020 by outhitting their opponents.

Angels general manager Billy Eppler knows that he will have to bring in some pitching, but he is optimistic about what his lineup can do. “You can rack up a lot of wins slugging throughout 162 games,”Eppler said, per The Athletic.

But the playoffs are at a different level of competition. Even if the Angels are good enough to qualify, they will need pitching to win in the postseason. They are currently considering Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians, Robbie Ray of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Caleb Smith of the Miami Marlins, and perhaps trading for David Price of the Boston Red Sox.

If the Angels want to give Trout a chance to shine in the postseason and make the signing of Rendon pay off, bringing in new pitching is a necessity.