Angels-Anthony Rendon news is a reminder of how great the Dodgers are

The haters always come out of the woodwork to cite the Los Angeles Dodgers' massive payroll as a means to diminish their accomplishments. It's a tired take, and one that's not entirely based in reality.

It's true, the Dodgers spend a lot, but they've also built a brand that is basically a money-printing machine, and they re-invest that cash back into the on-field product at a healthy rate. Many other teams simply don't match that rate of reinvestment.

But let's be real, having a lot of money means nothing if you don't spend it wisely. The Dodgers' odd Orange County cousins, the Los Angeles Angels, are living proof of this. The latest update in Angels land has them in talks to buy out the final year of all-time free-agent bust Anthony Rendon's contract with the expectation that he will retire.

The Angels expensive end to the bizarre Anthony Rendon saga only highlights the Dodgers' shrewd moves

Here's what $245 million on Anthony Rendon bought the Angels. They got a .242/.348/.369 line, Rendon playing in just 257 out of a possible 1,134 games (23% of the Angels' games over the seven-year term), and an albatross of a contract that sent Shohei Ohtani into the Dodgers' lap. It's been over two years since Rendon last homered for the Halos.

A user on Twitter/X by the name of VinRBI created a hilarious website that tracks just how much the Angels have paid Rendon per stat. Spoiler alert, it isn't pretty.

Of course, Rendon isn't the only gaffe the Angels have made. Arte Moreno might be maligned as a cheapskate over in Anaheim, but that wasn't always so. He made bad investments in Albert Pujols (though at the time, it didn't seem like one), Josh Hamilton, whose off-field demons should have raised red flags visible from the moon, Justin Upton, and many others.

The Angels aren't alone in their missteps, but they've certainly made more blunders than most. The Dodgers aren't immune to errors either, but they are few and far between and don't impact the club's ability to spend down the road.

Most of the big-money signings the Dodgers have made in recent years have come with players with the right combination of talent and makeup that make the risk incredibly low. As a result, the train keeps on humming, and they're free to do as they please because they avoid the anchors that crush other teams' flexibility.

Spending money is easy; investing wisely is the hard part.