Angels' Anthony Rendon out long term because of upcoming hip surgery

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon needs hip surgery and will be out for an extended period, his latest major injury setback since joining Los Angeles.

General manager Perry Minasian told reporters at the Angels' spring training complex Wednesday that Rendon will miss a significant amount of playing time for the fifth consecutive season.

Rendon is beginning the sixth season of a $245 million, seven-year contract that has been disastrous for the Angels, who haven't had a winning season since 2015 or made the playoffs since 2014.

Rendon, who will turn 35 in June, played in just 205 games over the past four seasons, and he has been on the injured list 12 times since 2021. He was on the injured list three times in 2024 due to separate issues with his hamstring, lower back and obliques while batting .218 with no homers and 14 RBIs in 57 games.

All told, he has played in only 257 games and missed 451 for the Halos.

The Angels paid top dollar for Rendon at the peak of his talents in 2020, just over a month after he batted .319 with 34 homers, a 1.010 OPS and a majors-leading 126 RBIs during the 2019 season while playing a major role in the Washington Nationals' first World Series title run.

Los Angeles owner Arte Moreno made the pricey deal shortly after the Angels missed out on signing Gerrit Cole, the Orange County native who chose the Yankees over the Angels in free agency.

Even when healthy, Rendon has never come close to his Nationals form since moving to Southern California. He has hit just .242 with 22 homers and 125 RBIs while posting a .717 OPS for the Halos after batting .290 with 136 homers and 546 RBIs in seven seasons with Washington.

Rendon has also frustrated Angels fans with a series of pronouncements about his passion for baseball — or lack thereof.

In the last two years alone, Rendon said baseball has “never been a top priority for me," complained about the length of the MLB season, and volunteered that he has been contemplating retirement since shortly after his major league career began.

Rendon's mammoth contract has limited the Angels' ability to contend for top free agents, and it has forced them to play a series of replacements at third base during his injury absences.

Los Angeles' latest contingency plan at third appears to be Yoán Moncada, who played just 12 games for the White Sox last season due to injury. Moncada agreed to a $5 million deal last week with the Angels.

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FILE - Los Angeles Angels' Anthony Rendon sprints to third during a baseball game against the Texas Rangers, Sept. 6, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)