Yates to LAA, Harvey to Cubs, Rendon restructures deal

MLB Rumors: Kirby Yates and the Anaheim Angels have agreed to terms on a one year, $5 million deal, while fellow righty reliever Hunter Harvey and the Chicago Cubs have agreed to terms on a one year, $6 million deal, with $1.5 million in incentives, per reports.

In addition — and potentially related to the Yates deal — Sam Blum is reporting that the Angels and third baseman Anthony Rendon have agreed on a restructuring of the final year of his deal. Rendon, who is owed $38 million for 2026, will have the payout deferred for three to five years, with Blum saying that the move “frees up cash for the Angels to pursue a more high-profile free agent before the upcoming season.”

Yates isn’t exactly high-profile, nor is he that expensive, but the news that he was joining the Angels came down not long after the Rendon news broke, so one might choose to believe that there was a connection there. The addition of Yates continues Anaheim’s offseason strategy of acquiring low-cost, high-risk guys coming off a bad season(s). Along with Yates, the Angels have added Grayson Rodriguez, Vaughn Grissom, Alek Manoah, and Jordan Romano, all of whom are guys whose stock is at or near its all-time low.

Yates was outstanding in 2024 for the Rangers, who had brought him in on a one year, $4.5 million deal and were rewarded with year where Yates put up a 1.17 ERA in 61 games. 11 months ago, the Dodgers signed Yates to a one year, $13 million deal that worked out poorly, as Yates put up a 5.23 ERA and 4.76 FIP in 41.1 innings over 50 appearances. Between 2024 and 2025, Yates’ walk rate improved a little, his K rate declined a little, and his home run rate increased by 400%, from 0.4 HR/9 to 2.0 HR/9.

Yates, for what it is worth, has, over the course of his career, had issues with the gopher ball, averaging 1.25 HR/9. His two elite seasons — 2024 with Texas and 2019 with the Padres, when he posted a 1.19 ERA — correspond with the years where he posted sub 0.5 HR/9 rates.

Yates is a two-pitch pitcher, throwing a fastball and a splitter, and both got hit a lot harder in 2025 than they were in 2024. He lost about a half a mile per hour off of both pitches in 2025, and also lost about an inch of movement off of each, per Fangraphs. Yates will be 39 in March, so one can have a degree of skepticism as to whether he’s got anything left.

Hunter Harvey is coming off a season with the Royals where he had a 0.00 ERA, which is pretty good, along with a 1.35 FIP. However, he did that in just 10.2 innings over 12 games, as he missed several months with a teres strain, and then missed the final couple of months of the year with an adductor strain. Harvey has gone from former first round pick and top 100 prospect busted prospect to twice waived guy who became a solid reliever after being claimed by the Washington Nationals prior to the 2022 season.

And as for Rendon, well, the Rangers pursued him aggressively after the 2019 season, only to see him sign a 7 year, $245 million deal with the Angels. Sliding doors and all that — I can’t imagine the Rangers would have signed both Corey Seager and Marcus Semien after the 2021 season had they been saddled with the Rendon contract. Rendon had one good season for the Angels, in 2020. He never played more than 58 games for them in a season, and last appeared in a major league game on September 7, 2024.

Rendon missed 2025 due to hip surgery, and is expected to spend the 2026 season on the 60 day injured list.