Sources: Anthony Rendon agrees to 7-year, $ 245M deal with Angels – ESPN, Espn.com

Third basemanAnthony Rendonhas agreed to a seven-year, $ 245 million contract with theLos Angeles Angels, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Having fallen short in their bid to sign ace right-handerGerrit Cole, the Angels wasted little time in turning their sights toward Rendon. The deal includes a full no-trade clause and does not contain an opt-out clause, sources said.

Rendon, (**************************************************************************************, joins a lineup featuringMike Trout, the three-time AL MVP who has reached the postseason just once. Owner Arte Moreno has made it a priority to surround Trout with more talent this offseason, and Rendon is a big piece of the puzzle.

“We’re within some structure of a budget and a payroll forecast that you relatively want to be near and then we just take those opportunities to Arte and see if he’ll grant us the permission to do those things, ” Angels general manager Billy Eppler had said earlier Wednesday, before the Rendon agreement . “There’s good players out there and players that warrant some sizeable contracts. I know the players that he likes. “

Trout signed a deal worth $ (**********************************************************************************. 5 million per year through the season in March, and Rendon’s deal has an average annual value of $ 35 million, giving the Angels the second- and third-highest salaries behind that of Cole, whose deal with the Yankees is worth $ 83 million annually. Along withAlbert Pujols(06 – year, $ million deal in 2011), the Angels are the first team to sign three different players to $ 215 million deals.

Angels’ third basemen ranked last in RBIs and OPS last season and were th in on-base percentage. Rendon ranked first in RBIs, sixth in OPS and fourth in on-base percentage.

Rendon was widely considered the top offensive free agent after he had a career season with theWashington Nationalsin which he emerged as a candidate for the NL MVP.

He led the majors with a career-best 126 RBIs last season and was named to his first All-Star Game. Rendon also had career highs in batting average (., slugging percentage (. **************************************************)) and home runs (34. His success at the plate carried into the postseason, in which he hit. with three home runs and ******************************************************************************************** RBIs in games, coming up with several timely hits to help Washington clinch the first World Series title in franchise history in his hometown of Houston.

Rendon hit home runs in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series, becoming the fifth player to homer in both those games of a World Series. He also became one of five players to homer in multiple winner-take-all games in a postseason, joining teammateHowie Kendrick.