The Los Angeles Angels are counting down the days until the end of the 2024 season on Sep. 29. And it seems they can’t get there fast enough, as they continue to lose key contributors to injury. The latest are flame-throwing reliever Ben Joyce and the oft-injured third baseman Anthony Rendon.
Joyce was placed on the 15-day IL with right shoulder inflammation, retro to Sep. 7. This means he’ll be able to return after Sep. 22 for the final week of the season if everything goes according to plan. Joyce has had a phenomenal true rookie season with the Angels. He has posted a 2.08 ERA, 1.154 WHIP and 207 ERA+ in 34.2 innings. He has reached 105.5 mph on the radar gun, and is expected to be a key reliever for L.A. moving forward.
The injury comes at a disappointing time for Joyce, but he is not concerned about any long-term issues. He spoke about the injury and evaluated his 2024 campaign thus far, via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“I’m not concerned, just kind of inflammation right now and I’ve been dealing with it for a few days,” Joyce said. “It’s improving. I just don’t feel like I’m at the point where I’m ready to come in and pitch yet.”
“I feel like I made a lot of strides this year,” Joyce said. “It was an up-and-down year in terms of how it started, and then I feel like I put together a pretty good stretch, and I’m pretty proud of how that went.”
Rendon, meanwhile, has been placed on the 15-day IL with a left oblique strain, retro to Sep. 8. His earliest return could come after Sep. 23, but with an oblique strain, it feels unlikely that he’ll only spend the minimum 15 days on the IL. It’s possible his season ends on his third IL stint.
If it is the end of Rendon’s season, he’ll finish with under 60 games played for the fourth consecutive 162-game campaign. He had his worst OPS — .574 — in 2024 and has nearly as many strikeouts (35) as he did hits (45). Manager Ron Washington wouldn’t commit to it being the end of his season.
“It started in his back area and it moved into his oblique,” Washington said. “We’ll just wait and see what happens. I’m not going sit here and say it’s the end of the year, but he has to go on the IL.”
The Angels still have two years remaining on the ill-fated seven-year contract they signed Rendon to back in 2019. Rendon is owed $77.1 million over the two seasons.
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Each year, one nominee is named from each of the 30 MLB teams and fans are given the opportunity to vote for who they feel should win the award. The fan vote accounts for one vote in the final tally put together by a blue-ribbon panel of experts.
