When the Los Angeles Angels came to an agreement with free-agent third baseman Anthony Rendon on December 13, 2019, there may have been some mixed feelings on the transaction. While the signing was certainly a cause for some celebration, it also signaled that the team had pivoted a bit from its primary focus heading into the winter.
The Angels knew they had to make a big splash in free agency and many pundits expected them to be active. A team that had been decimated by injuries on the pitching front, the Halos were attached to nearly every big free agent arm on the market and the thought was that they would come away with at least one ace.