The Guardians have reportedly agreed to a five-year, $20MM extension with reliever Emmanuel Clase, per Mike Rodriguez of Univision (via Twitter). The deal is pending a physical. The possibility of an extension for Clase first broke yesterday.
The deal includes a $2MM signing bonus and two option years at $10MM apiece for the 2027 and 2028 seasons, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). There is a $2MM buyout for each season, while incentives can raise the sum of each year to $13MM per year. Those option years buy out Clase’s first two years of free agency.
Clase dominated batters to the tune of a 1.29 ERA, 67.6% grounder rate, 26.5% strikeout rate, and 5.7% walk rate over 69 2/3 innings for the Guardians in 2021. He finished in the upper echelon of basically every Statcast metric in the book, while also averaging 100.3 mph on his fastball. If that wasn’t enough, Clase complemented that great fastball with a devastating slider. That wicked combination was what made Clase a tantalizing return for Corey Kluber when their long-time ace was dealt to the Texas Rangers.
The 24-year-old figures to be the Guardians’ primary closer this season. Perhaps more to the point, the Guardians hope he will be at the center of their run prevention plans for the next seven seasons, the length of contract control the team now holds over Clase. He is the only player Cleveland with a guaranteed contract beyond 2023.
Great team friendly contract for Cleveland. Kimbrel and Jansen are both making close to Clase’s entire contract value this year alone and Clase is better than either of them.
Comparing someone with 2 years of service to free agents is apples and bowling balls.
I wasn’t really suggesting Clase should get paid the same as Jansen or Kimbrel. I was just pointing out that a long term contract to retain one of the best closers in the game for a salary of $4 million is a great result for the Guardians organization.
Don’t throw away $300 mil on this guy. The only lucrative multi million contract I can remember is Scherzer. The list is long & lousy on the failures & then we have to hear teams whine on how all this money fell on average players. Load up contracts with incentives, make’ earn it!
Fellow posters, any long contracts any good you can remember? You may have to go back aways
AA is on the right track, sign’em when they’re young. Less money now, but added risk in the future. Better than signing a high percentage failure for the future..
Harper and Mookie currently Imo
Jeter, Kershaw Max
A rods quarter mill contract was a steal
Miguel Cabrera was one of the best hitters in the world during the life of his 8 year/$152M contract that ran from 2008-2015.
Gerrit Cole’s is turning out alright so far. Machado and Wheeler seem to be living up to expectations.
Freeman’s 8 year/$135M that just expired was well worth it.
Jeter’s 10/189 and Mauer’s 8/184 were probably considered great decisions within their respective organizations.
Good move for the Guardians. Now let’s get Jose done.
I doubt that will ever happen. If Cleveland is out of the race at the trade deadline, I expect Ramirez to be traded this season. They might be smarter to trade him now because he will be more of a 1 year rental come July. I don’t think Cleveland will ever offer even close to what it would take to retain Ramirez.
Jose will be just as easy to trade if he signs an extension. In that case teams won’t have to negotiate an extension with Jose, who would have the leverage of knowing they want him badly & also knowing exactly what they were giving up in a trade. If the contract extension is already in hand the suitors will be able to plan their finances before making their offer. I say, sign him now, inflation is going to eat up those digits anyway!
That’s only true if the contract is a desirable one. Just look at the deals Arenado and Bryant signed. Those deals were/are mostly prohibitive for trades unless the team is the Rockies and they end up eating a bunch of cash.
not really. There are prob some teams that would take him on this contract but won’t spend on what his extension will be. also if he gets hurt the Cleveland is on the hook for the contract
Maybe it is not very likely but I at least think there is a chance they can extend Jose. It might be one of those deals that includes an opt-out though.
NOW it’s Clase closed – wicked pitcher, the winged Guardians are watching from above
This is probably the extension Ramirez turned down.
Lol. The sad thing is, you probably aren’t that far off. I’m sure they would offer Ramirez a lot more than this but the offer would also likely be shockingly low for a player of Ramirez’ caliber less than 2 years away from free agency. I’m betting Cleveland didn’t even come close to a $200 million offer when everyone knows Ramirez could pretty easily get over $300 million after 2023.
I don’t see Ramirez getting $300 million. He’ll be 31 or 32 by the time he is a free agent. I’m sure he will get a huge AAV, but I don’t see him getting more than seven, MAYBE eight years unless a team really overpays.
When I think of comparable FA contracts for Jose Ramirez, Anthony Rendon is the first that comes to mind (7/$245). Not only did Rendon seem like an overpay at the time of signing but he was a little younger than Jose will be when he hits FA.
It was an overpay at the time and an even worse overpay now. Cleveland should never be guided by contracts like that. Jose Ramirez isn’t close to being a free agent and if he wants to be paid like one, have at it. Give up security and protection against performance decline and let’s play it out.
Avory – just to clarify, I wasn’t suggesting that Cleveland should offer him in that range. I was using it as an example against the idea that he could easily get over $300 million in FA
THAT’S who I was forgetting when I was listing the good players A. J. Preller has traded away!
Rangers lost one to the Indians.
What’s not to like. What are the chances Cleveland offers a extension and people say wow what a over pay, that player really made out.
So few pre-arb extensions seem like overpays at the time of signing.. at the end of the deal, that can be another story.
That’s what’s so smart about this deal: the two team option years mean the Guardians save about half of their money if Clase ends up hurt/ineffective by then. And if he’s still an effective closer he’ll be a steal at the option prices. Very low risk and high reward deal for the team.
I love to gloat when I’m right, so it’s only fair to admit when I was wrong. I wasn’t a fan of the Kluber trade at the time for Cleveland, as I thought they were selling low and that he was quite possibly still top of the rotation material. Instead he barely even pitched for the Rangers, and has been steadily declining since the trade was made. He wouldn’t even crack Cleveland’s top 5 at this point. Clase on the other hand looks like he will be an elite closer for years to come.
Cleveland may be infuriating and cheap as Hell, but they are not a poorly run organization. The Clevinger trade worked out similarly well for them.
I was hoping they’d keep Kluber and find a way to extend him. I knew they’d end up overpaying for the decline years.. but I was hoping he could be a “face of the franchise” guy. Good thing they got smart guys to make the right moves, haha.
What is this “face of the franchise” mania anyway? I knew immediately it was a sound trade for the Tribe despite the teeth gnashing from the peanut gallery. at the time. And I appreciate Hban22 for coming back and fessin’ up that his frustration got the best of him back then. Very few admit that.
Rameriez is gone with the cheap woke owner Dolan.
Lol, *Ramirez.
Dolan woke? Only in Cleveland would Paul Dolan look woke.
Pretty much. This woke owner is more happy appeasing a freak fringe minority of clowns than putting a Good teal on the field
Good grief, *team. You guys really need to learn how to spell if you’re gonna get anyone to actually take your ridiculous ideologies seriously.
To much time on your little hands to criticize a typo.
**Too much
My Dodgers will be trading for him at the deadline. LA is where every big name is blessed to play for. We are the market on big names. Gonna look great coming in setting up Kimbrel
Sure. Go ahead and send over Cartaya, Miller, and Busch & Clase is all yours.
Great deal for both the player and the team. If he continues his success, he becomes a monster trade chip for Cleveland if they are out of the playoff race. If Tito & company can somehow get this team to the playoffs again, Clase will be a huge weapon for them.
I don’t see Cleveland trading Clase. They have 5-7 years of controlled cost controlled. That is the perfect contract for a small market team. Clase is not going anywhere for several years.
I agree. Cleveland is only another year or so away from being a very solid team again. Their pitching staff is already pretty good as is, and their farm system is stacked, with many of their prospects close to being MLB ready. The offense will start looking much, much better in 2023, and none of their core players besides Ramirez will be free agents until 2025.
If I had to guess, I’d say that Cleveland will trade Ramirez for a package of near MLB-ready talent sometime in the next year, and plan to be seriously competitive from 2023 onwards.
*SPIDERS
Feel better now? I’d also ask if you finally got it out of your system, but we all know that’s a no.
A core piece we can hope.
Great signing from a fan’s perspective, but it’s an asset to be cashed in later…. Sub .500 teams get tempted in July and this offense looks BAD on paper (again). Probably makes Ramirez’s performance stand out more, not much protection there.
They control him now for 7 years. They have controllable pitching and a strong farm system. Clase will be a Guardian, not a trade piece.. This was a move for now and the future of the Guardians.
He likely lost a lot of money here, but relievers can be erratic too, so I can understand his desire to lock in $20M. Basically, if Cleveland is offering a long-term deal, you know it’s way below the market rate.
He’s only 21 and also sat out 1/2 a season for PEDs, so the risk is worth locking him up until he hits his prime years.
He’s 24
Smart move from the Tribe.