Jose Ramirez won’t be going anywhere. The star infielder has agreed to a new five-year extension with the Guardians that will see his 2023 club option picked up and another five seasons and $124MM tacked onto his contract, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Ramirez’s contract now runs through 2028 and contains a full no-trade clause as well, all but ensuring that he’ll remain in Cleveland for the long haul. The Guardians did explore trade scenarios while simultaneously discussing an extension, Passan adds, noting that the Padres in particular believed they had a chance to pry him away. Ramirez is represented by Repulik Sports.
The new contract is the largest in franchise history but will still be regarded as a club-friendly deal. Ramirez has emerged as one of the game’s elite players at a time when annual salaries well north of $30MM have become commonplace, but the switch-hitting 29-year-old has been “adamant” about his desire to remain in Cleveland during negotiations, tweets Zack Meisel of The Athletic. Ramirez was already set to earn $12MM this year, and next year’s now-exercised option came with a $14MM value, so he’ll now be guaranteed a total of $150MM over the next seven seasons.
Prior to this new deal with Ramirez and this week’s extension of closer Emmanuel Clase, the Guardians didn’t have a single dollar committed to the payroll beyond the 2022 season. Locking up Ramirez now puts any near-term trade chatter to bed and sets him up to serve as a focal point in the lineup through what will be his age-35 season. Ramirez’s contract clocks in south of the $151MM extension signed by Altuve at a similar juncture of his career and well shy of Nolan Arenado’s $234MM extension with the Rockies (although Arenado was just months from free agency, whereas both Altuve and Ramirez were controlled through the upcoming season and one more via an affordable club option). Maxing out his annual salary doesn’t appear to have been as large a priority as staying with the team that originally signed and developed him, however, and Ramirez’s new deal obviously offers more than a lifetime’s worth of financial comfort.
It’s a major win for the Guardians and their fans to keep Ramirez locked in as the face of the franchise as the team kicks off a new era in its franchise history. Trading Ramirez just one year after trading away Francisco Lindor and just months after a name change/rebranding that was far from universally praised by the fan base would’ve been a tough pill for many longtime Cleveland fans to swallow.
Instead, Ramirez will continue to show off his electric brand of across-the-board excellence at Progressive Field for more than a half decade. While he first broke out as an above-average player back in 2016, it was the 2017 season that saw Ramirez jump into the ranks of MVP-caliber talents — and he hasn’t looked back since. Dating back to 2017, Ramirez boasts a .280/.365/.547 batting line (39 percent better than league average, by measure of wRC+) with 144 home runs, 112 stolen bases (in 134 attempts) and strong defense at both third base and second base. There’s virtually no flaw in Ramirez’s game — evidenced by the fact that he trails only Mike Trout and Mookie Betts in total Wins Above Replacement, per FanGraphs, since 2017.
The extensions for Ramirez and Clase come at a time when the Guardians are set to welcome a wave of high-end young talent to a roster that is, once again, deep in talented young pitchers. Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, Triston McKenzie, Zach Plesac and Cal Quantrill give Cleveland a strong collection of big league rotation pieces, and touted righty Daniel Espino isn’t far behind that quintet. On the position-player side of things, outfielder George Valera and infielders Brayan Rocchio, Tyler Freeman, Gabriel Arias and Nolan Jones (who’s also seen time in the outfield) could all be up in the big leagues by 2023 — some of them as soon as during the 2022 season.
That collection of young talent simultaneously gives Cleveland good cause to lock Ramirez into place and also provides the typically low-payroll club the ability to dedicate a significant portion of its annual budget to one player in just this manner. The Guardians will need to make a similar decision on their ace, Bieber, before too long, as he’s controlled another three seasons and will see his price tag continue to mount through the arbitration process.
With Ramirez putting pen to paper on a second club-friendly extension, however, it stands to reason that the team has a bit of extra leeway in trying to piece together an extension for the 26-year-old right-hander. The Marlins’ five-year, $56MM for Sandy Alcantara is the largest ever extension for a pitcher in Bieber’s service bracket. If the team waits until next year, the extension record for that four-plus service bracket jumps considerably; Jacob deGrom signed a five-year, $137.5MM deal in that same bracket. Bieber won’t have quite that same earning capacity, as deGrom was a Super Two player whose second-year arb price had already soared to $17MM — Bieber is not Super Two-eligible and is earning $6MM in his first year of arb in 2022 — but the gap in those two records still serves to illustrate the likely hike in Bieber’s eventual price tag.
Regardless of whether Cleveland keeps Bieber, goes year-to-year or even eventually considers trading him, the Guardians’ future looks quite a bit brighter with Ramirez now etched firmly into cornerstone status. And if the team prefers not to spend big money to keep Bieber in place alongside him, that’ll only further allow the front office to make some free-agent investments to supplement the burgeoning young core. It’s not likely that we’ll ever see Cleveland dive headlong into the deep end of the free-agent pool, of course, but some second-tier spending to surround Ramirez and whichever of the team’s prospects emerge as regulars will eventually be required if the Guardians hope to keep pace in an increasingly competitive AL Central.
The White Sox are currently the AL Central favorites, due in no small part to their own exciting young core and some key investments in veterans on the free-agent and trade markets. The Twins, meanwhile, have a series of young pitchers on the cusp of the big leagues and shocked the baseball world with their offseason signing of Carlos Correa, which firmly signaled there’s no intent to rebuild after a lost year in 2021. Detroit and Kansas City are both emerging from longstanding rebuilding efforts themselves and are set to welcome some of the sport’s premier prospects to the Majors when the season opens (Spencer Torkelson in Detroit, Bobby Witt Jr. in Kansas City).
The shifting landscape in the Central makes it all the more pivotal for the Guardians to not only retain Ramirez but to succeed with their own player-development efforts and to spend at least some money to supplement that group. Cleveland will probably always have the division’s lowest payroll, at least when all five Central clubs are aiming to contend, but successfully bartering a team-friendly extension with a superstar talent of Ramirez’s caliber helps to narrow the the edge that other division rivals may have in terms of their overall financial resources. Beyond that, a long-term deal for a face-of-the-franchise player of this nature is cause for any team’s fan base to celebrate. Ramirez jerseys ought to be flying off the shelves now in Cleveland, as Ramirez could spend the next seven seasons looking to add to his already-impressive collection of three Silver Sluggers, three All-Star nods and four top-six MVP finishes.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
A pleasant surprise. Didn’t think they’d be able to make this happen.
This deal tells you everything you really need to know about the true state of the franchise & the direction of the team. Ramirez loves it there & knows the team is poised to win and win a lot over the next 6 years.
Put down the bong.
You can smoke weed and still make valid arguments. Maybe you can’t. Maybe you should put down the bong, instead of putting people down.
Pick UP the bong perhaps?
Mind your own business. I didn’t address you.
Nothing more entertaining than a slap fight about weed on the baseball trade rumors comment section……
He addressed me but I got delivered to the wrong address.
^ 🙂
I’m sorry, do you think that the conversations here are private? Not how it works.
They nop going nop where he should text the free agency nop extended
Money talks. While 24.8M per year for the extension is team-friendly, it’s also nothing to sneeze at. But I feel they will be looking up to the Sox for the life of this contract.
You’re right, chicken-feed it ain’t Somehow in these discussions nobody mentions that there ARE limits for what can be done with tax avoidance, and top-bracket guys are generally too smart to push the envelope.
It’ s a bummer, though as it hinders my strategery of the Giants saving their cash to get Ramirez ASAP. Would have been a great start.
I don’t know what I’m going to tell Farhan when he calls.
the White Sox will find a way to narrow their period of contention…. They always do
Tigers gonna take that decision before the Sox do.
Except for the starting pitching …. this franchise is very mediocre right now!
Except for the starting pitching???
Cleveland develops players (especially pitchers) as good as anyone. They have a system, a sometimes frustrating system, but the fact that they spent ANY money is a good sign that the asset acquisition portion of the post-Lindor mini rebuild has concluded
All it took was a team name change and a few dollar signs.
Great deal for the Guardians and for Ramirez, who wants to stay. Cleveland has obviously done a good job creating an environment where he wanted to remain, and put up enough to make that happen. And Ramirez turns out to be a franchise player who wants to stay with his team, as opposed to an ego player, who wants to get the highest buck anyone has ever gotten. Good for them and good for him.
It’s incredible how deep they are at INF and SP prospects (and that’s obviously omitting Valrea). I’d be surprised if there’s not 1 bona fide star out of that group and 2-3 others who are quality, extension worthy candidates. Depending on how long it takes to sort all of those players out, they could certainly be damn good for another 4-6 year window very soon.
Nice for Cleveland and also for Ramirez. The Cleveland Spiders are spending some money.
Yeah, I figured he’d price his way out but it’s good to see Cleveland able to hang onto their superstar. And he took a relatively team-friendly deal too (considering what he could have gotten on the open market), so you know he’s committed to them.
It’s so refreshing to see a player take a “below market” deal to stay with a team / organization he is comfortable with. He could have easily earned another $70M+ with a larger market team, but he seems happy to stay where he is and finish out his career in Cleveland. I’m hoping Xander Boegarts takes a similar approach with his opt out clause at the end of this season. Sign an extension for ~ $25M-$28M per year instead of looking for the $30M+ payday. Xander is very comfortable in Boston and can point to this Ramirez deal if he decides to take less than maximum market value for his services.
Refreshing? Yes, but this extension is financial stupidity for Rameriz. He left over $100 million on the table and would of been worth every penny of a contract like Arenado.
Exactly! The only hero here is Jose himself. He took such a MASSIVE discount to stay in Cleveland it isn’t funny. The Players Union has to be mad, as $75 to $100 million was left out there because Jose didn’t go to free agency. As a Cleveland fan,
I am thrilled to keep him, BUT the Dolans are still the Dolans. The word is, has they not come to such agreeable terms, Jose probably would have been a Padre (or something else) by Friday. They are still the cheapest owners in MLB, and I still don’t trust them at all. They will need several more signings of our own talent, PLUS some outside talent before I, or frankly most of the fans, believe they have turned over a new leaf.
They’ll ship him out before he sees most of it!!
Ramirez has a no trade clause. What is so hard to understand about that? Ramirez wants to stay in Cleveland
@marinersblue96;
Not “stupidity” at all…….
He had a stretch recently where he couldn’t hit for a bit over a year. Cleveland coaches worked with him to straighten it out.
If that happened again while he’s playing out the contract he was in before the extension, he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the money he just signed for.
He didn’t leave anything on the table. Ramirez is 30. Arenado was not. Two totally different markets
Mantooth there is a big difference between Bogaerts and Ramirez; Ramirez wouldn’t be a FA for another 2 seasons and Bogaerts only has to make it through one before the market awaits. He’ll be on the precipice of a 200M dollar payday and as Story proved, even a below norm production can still earn Ramirez money where as we’ve seen players like Josh Donaldson look set to make insane money in FA only to have injury (or a Cody Bellinger underperform) punch their career earnings in the face. Awesome to see a deal done but I don’t think Bogaerts will be settling for anything this team friendly if he keeps up his production from last year.
Good news for baseball when a homegrown player wants to stay put and then does.
This just in. The padres are now after a package of trout and ohtani, still trying to include hosmer.
More coming soon
They’ve been trying to trade Hosmer for 3 years
With Preller, it wouldn’t surprise me if he pulled it off.
It would surprise me if he pulled it off without including one of their top 4 prospects and eating at least $25m
Smartest girl around
Preller is an awful GM, it amazes me that he still has a job.
Preller is a breath of fresh air. Nice to see the Padres very active in the market and aggressively trying to improve. Preller has had some dud deals and bad luck, but he has WAY more good deals. The franchise is in dramatically better shape than it was before Preller arrived.
I can name 10 bad Preller deals for every 1 good one you can name!
Cronenworth is a good deal. Every other deal he either lost, or it is too early to tell.
OK. I will start and won’t pick one of the obvious ones:
Preller picking up Kirby Yates on waivers. Went on to lead NL in saves and go to the All Star game.
Your turn. Name 10 bad deals.
I’m just getting started.
Myers trade, Kemp trade, both Upton trades, Galvis trade, Shields signing, Profar signing, Hosmer signing, Nola trade and Clevinger trade.
OK. Fair point on many of those. But Clevinger deal was bad luck due to 2nd TJ. Plus Galvis trade was for De Los Santos who has not done anything spectacular.
My turn. Let’s do an easy one. Trading for Tatis.
Your turn.
Tatis trade was good luck. No one knew he would be this good.
Padres automatically lost the Galvis trade even if de los Santos never threw a single pitch in MLB.
Myers extension, their involvement in the Bauer to Cincy trade, Moreland trade, Taylor Williams/Matt Brash trade, Frazier trade, Hudson trade, Marisnick trade, Pagan trade, Snell trade, Brett Nicholas/Emmanuel Clase trade.
Trade for Yu Darvish. Your turn.
AJ Preller has traded the following:
Max Fried
Trea Turner
Yasmani Grandal
Zach Eflin
Joe Ross
Rene Rivera
Alex Dickerson
Luis Castilo
Emmanuel Clase
Brad Hand
Rowan Wick
Brad Wieck
Franmil Reyes
Manuel Margot
Luis Urias
Eric Lauer
Cal Quantrill
That is a pretty notable list of ML players. Now factor in the Preller’s draft history has produced zero impact position players, zero TOR starters and zero high leverage arms (that he hasn’t traded away) I have to wonder why you think he is a “breath of fresh air”.
The guy struck lighting with Tatis and Croenworth but immediately negated the surplus value of Tatis by signing him to a massive extension.
Now factor in the fact that none of his touted position players have made an impact, he may get snake bit with a couple prospects he traded away like Edwards, Arais. Preciado,
Lastly, Preller made some disastrous free agent signings, Hosmer, Myers (extension) Profar and Kim.
And the Cubs are extremely grateful for Preciado and Caisse… not to mention clearing 40 plus million dollars… what did that 23.5 million buy the Padres last year? 1.3 WAR?
Darvish wasn’t a good trade. BTV says the 4 prospects we traded are worth $21.3m more than Darvish. Padres also gave up Zach Davies in the trade and the Cubs paid like $4m of Darvish’s contract but both are pretty negligible so I didn’t include them.
Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish, Mike Clevinger and Blake Snell gave the Padres a combined 6.1 WAR, rotation overall was a whooping 5
Fried, Castillo and Quantrill had a combined 14.1, factor in Lauer, Eflin and Ross and it’s 19.5,
Ouch!
Cubs only paid Darvish the bonus money he earned for his 2020 season.
Yeah, a long list of ML players, but there are many mediocre players there. Some not a fit in the NL (Reyes). Some weak on defense (Dickerson). Some that greatly underperformed in SD.
Luis Castillo? Really? You can’t blame Preller for that one. The original deal that acquired Castillo was brilliant. But he had to give him back when Rea needed TJ.
I am not saying Preller has won every deal. But he has won way more than he has lost.
Compare where the Padres are right now as an organization compared to where they were before Preller. It’s not even close. The team now has vastly more talent on the MLB roster and a solid number of excellent minor leaguers about to make MLB break throughs.
Preller has been bitten by bad luck too. Cleavinger TJ. Pham stabbing. etc.
Grisham and Davies is clearly superior to Urias and Lauer.
Machado signing was solid.
Dickerson is weak on defense and the Giants released him.
Quantrill is legit, but Cleavinger is clearly better, but had bad luck TJ
Margot underperformed in SD and was replaced by Grisham (gold glove and superior OPS)
I can keep going if you wish.
I will take Preller any day compared to what we had prior.
The Darvish trade was widely praised industry wide. Darvish was excellent until he hurt his hip. Can’t blame Preller for that. Darvish is healthy now and is poised for a great 2022.
Man already provided you with 20 bad moves. I think you can say he backed up his point.
Reyes is a fine fit in the NL now.
“ Some that greatly underperformed in SD.”
They underperformed because the Padres’ development system is bad. That is a point against your favor, not for it.
The Cashner trade would have qualified as a good Preller trade, even with them having to send back Luis Castillo.
“ I am not saying Preller has won every deal. But he has won way more than he has lost.”
We’ve already proven that that simply isn’t true.
“ Compare where the Padres are right now as an organization compared to where they were before Preller. It’s not even close. The team now has vastly more talent on the MLB roster and a solid number of excellent minor leaguers about to make MLB break throughs.”
They were below .500 while being above the luxury tax. Most teams in that position have fire sales.
“ Preller has been bitten by bad luck too. Cleavinger TJ. Pham stabbing. etc.”
And plenty of good luck. Tatis, Crone, etc.
“ Grisham and Davies is clearly superior to Urias and Lauer. Machado signing was solid.”
Trade will come down to Grisham and Urias. Urias was better in 2021.
“Quantrill is legit, but Cleavinger is clearly better.”
Not sure that is true. And even then, Quantrill wasn’t all we gave up and Clevinger is a free agent after 2022. Also, there’s no “a” in Clevinger.
Grisham is probably better than Margot but also cost Urias and Lauer. And Emilio Pagan has been garbage in SD.
“The Darvish trade was widely praised industry wide.”
Because he has name value. In terms of actual trade value it was not good.
“Darvish was excellent until he hurt his hip. Can’t blame Preller for that.”
I can and I did.
I can go all day kid.
I’m sure if someone gave me 150 million dollars extra to spend on my team it would be in a vastly better place as well.
I’m not sure I would say Clevinger is clearly better (especially when you cannot spell his name correctly) when Quantrill just gave the Guardians 22 starts of sub 3 ERA ball..
Grisham and Davies clearly superior? 5.4 WAR to 3.3… 7 years of control to 4? Try again.
Grisham maybe better than Margot but is Grisham and Pagan better than Margot, Urias and Lauer?
You can keep going all day long if you keep wanting to cement your poor argument. I’ll wait.
@rct There’s more where those came from
Shields = Tatis
Sure, the team is a lot more talented… going from 68 million to 209 million will do that for you.
Wil Myers = Trea Turner…
I get a sense I’m speaking to DeadliestCatch/bringinthereliefpitcher/thebighurt619/Math&Baseball
I will take Urias and Lauer all day over Grisham and Davies.
Davies is gone, Grisham has some serious offensive flaws that were exposed late last season. Urias is set to break out, if he already hasn’t. And Lauer was excellent last year, and is a young LH starter.
Sorry Johnny but the gorilla destroyed you. A even decent gm could do more with Darvish money than Darvish. Although far away the Cubs got some huge upside prospects. I am sure the Brewers would have a good laugh if you offered their former players back just for Eric Lauer alone.
“Compare where the Padres are right now as an organization compared to where they were before Preller. It’s not even close. The team now has vastly more talent on the MLB roster and a solid number of excellent minor leaguers about to make MLB break throughs.”
Fun Facts:
Preller took a 3rd place team and turned them into a 4th place team by making a bunch of “win now” moves.
Preller is currently spending over 100 million dollars than his predecessor
Preller’s only winning season came in a 60 game season
Preller has is currently on manager number 4.
I’m just saying I would HOPE that if I went through an 8 year rebuilding process and got an additional 100 million in funding, I would have my franchise “vastly more talented” as well. But given an 8 year rebuild and 200 plus million in spending, I would hope I’d actually make the playoffs too.
JohnnyMcStickySubstance
But Clevinger deal was bad luck due to 2nd TJ.
=======================================
I’m not sure about that. This is more a real life lesson, but when someone offers you a good deal, you need to know their motivation. To paraphrase The Big Short, “Thanks for the offer, but before I accept, you have to tell me how you are going to screw me”.
In Clevinger’s case, CL was in 2nd, one game behind the WS, and with the best Py W/L in the AL, So what would motivate them to trade their ace in the middle of the race?
Secondly, his stats were down. Small sample at the time of the trade, but his FIP was 5.66, and his BB9 was 4.37. He definitely wasn’t pitching as well as he had in the previous three seasons.
“Darvish was excellent until he hurt his hip. Can’t blame Preller for that.”
I can and I did.
=============================
This once again ignores the obvious. Darvish turned 35 last year. Anytime you acquire older players, you cannot claim bad luck when that player gets injured. That’s like me, as a RS fan, saying that the RS got unlucky if/when Hill declines. His age and physical condition is baked into the signing.
Gotta loves the Padres fans always trashing every thread even those that have 0.0000000000% to do with them.
In 2014, Preller traded Carlos Quentin, Cameron Maybin, Matt Wisler, Jordan Paroubeck and 41st pick in the 2015 MLB draft for Kimbrel and Upton… A trade at the time that was considered more cost cutting for the Braves at the time but that 41st pick turned into Austin Riley.
With the budget he was given and the prospects they have/had he has done remarkably bad. I don’t get how any padres fans are still defending this guy.
Also, the Machado signing can only be “solid” for two more years. After that, it will go 1 of 2 ways.
1. His contract will be underwater
2. The Padres will lose him for a draft pick
And I have ZERO interest in listening to your prognostication about how Machado will opt in if he thinks the team will contend during the post opt-out years. In reality he won’t even consider that.
I’m fairly certain the international draft disaster will be sorted by 2023 which means the Padres would lose Machado for nothing.
He turned Shields into Tatis. Try again.
He also traded Trea Turner and more for Wil Myers so there is that.
I’m just saying, Epstein took a less talented roster and depleted farm system and built a NLCS team in three years, a World Series winning team in 4 while spending less money but it’s cool… defend Preller and his excessively long rebuild and one winning (short) season. Hey he did manage to land Tatis in a trade.
The Moreland trade didn’t hurt SD at all. While Moreland didn’t perform all too well, both players traded to Boston have since been DFA’d so they didn’t really give up any legit prospects by adding Moreland. Both prospects sent to Boston were over-hyped.
After saying you won’t use the obvious ones, you immediately switched gears and went for the most obvious ones because you failed to have more than one. You’re grasping at straws in a back and forth on bad AJ Preller moves, and I don’t think AJ sucks but man… you got utterly owned dude. 20 bad moves to 3 good ones, and those good ones are the most obvious ones too. At some point, a wise person would have cut bait. It’s embarrassing.
Harambe RIP, but RIP to your point too. It’s amazing to see someone back up a ridiculous point with a ludicrous ratio (10:1) and still come out the victor.
Find a Padres thread to trash with this nonsense.
@TheTrotsky Tatis was a lottery ticket that paid off. And he also ate half of Shields’ contract in the trade.
@Dorothy_Mantooth What did Moreland do in SD?
@mmyechoandbunnymen And I gave him the Cashner to Miami trade as a freebie (which WAS an outstanding trade even with the Padres having to give Castillo back)
Having Darvish is better than not having him right now, but it’s pretty early to call that a win. It’ll be several years before they know what they gave up.
The Tatis trade is worth 20 bad ones.
@kcmark Depends how bad. If it’s 20 Moreland trades then sure. 20 Kemp/Myers trades? Not so much.
@mmyechoandbunnymen Echo & the Bunnymen is one of my fave bands of all time, right on !
The Indians also traded Trevor Bauer when they were killing it.
The Indians will trade anyone to keep their competitive window open longer + keep their rebuilding time shorter. Don’t think you can say they knew Cleve was broken.
Won a Cy Young the following season. That trade did not help the Guardindians. At least not for 2019-20.
Can we trade with the Padres again?
Thanks for Adam Frazier, Matt Brash, Ty France, Andres Munoz, Luis Torrens, and Taylor Trammell for Taylor Williams, Austin Nola, Dan Altavilla, Austin Adams, Ray Kerr, and Corey Rosier.
Just glad Toronto didn’t get him
Oh plz learn about baseball before u taking shift
You’re glad Toronto didn’t get Jose Ramirez? One of the games great superstars in his prime?
I’m glad for guardians that blue jays didn’t get him bd a package of crap lead by Alejandro Kirk and lower prospects is of absolutely no use to guardians ! Would have been great for blue jays but not guardians, they should have countered with Bobby Bradley for Kirk straight up
He may not be a jays fan ?
I mean, I’m a Yankees fan and I’m happy he’s staying in Cleveland. I like seeing franchises being able to keep the superstars that they develop through their system. I’m hoping the Nationals find a way to keep Soto too.
Says the team that constantly took advantage Seattle’s organization for years!
He’ll be traded in July. Doesn’t change a thing lol
There’s literally a no trade clause, so no he won’t
Can’t he waive it? why would he sign a 5 year deal, with no opt-outs, and a no trade clause, your basically f*** if Cleveland does nothing the next 5 years.
Evidently he WANTS to stay there. Just like Joey Votto over in Cincy. Pretty sure he knew there was a good chance Cleveland would do nothing the next 5 years.
Cleveland has controllable pitching and a strong farm system. Cleveland will be fine the next 7 years.
Literally, in the article you’re replying to, there’s a quote from Zach Meisel (the Guardians beat writer for The Athletic) saying Jose was a driving force in getting this done. He wanted to be here. That quote seemed to suggest that his agent didn’t want him to sign this, and instead try to get more money in free agency.
Of course he *could* waive it, but they’d have to do a lot to alienate him to get him to do that. They’d have to suddenly become the Rockies’ front office or the Marlins’ before Ng (referencing Arenado and Stanton here).
@Cubswin
Why would he sign it? Very simple. He feels its a good contract for him and he likes the Team and City he is playing in. Regardless of what Cleveland does, he will be paid at what he considers a fair amount, and remain in a place where he is comfortable doing so. Just the opposite of the term you used.
Stop reading Dolan’s PR prattle. Perhaps you haven’t noticed what the other AL Central teams have been doing or how their farm systems rate.
Naturally the agents want their commission.
Jose now becomes the biggest sports hero in NE Ohio, supplanting Lebron. He like it there.
Compare him and his personality to that of the QB the Browns just got.
Someone wrote it here – Cleveland sports fans need to look away from the Browns and throw their support behind the other 2 professional teams. They get good young guys that want to win as a team.
@ Windowpane;
Could you please list for us your accomplishments in life?
You’re the “expert” List your accomplishments.
@Samuel
They can look away all they want, still going to be looking at losers
Sanctimonious losers are going to be sanctimonious losers…
I think he did.
There’s a NO TRADE claus.
Yeah because nobody in history have never been dealt with a no trade?
He took a SIGNIFICANT pay cut to stay there so it’s very unlikely he invokes it.
Full NTC
Yeah with his full no trade clause
This is the greatest. This may be the first Guard I’ll see in my lifetime that spent entire career in Cleveland. I may even invest in a jersey now (assuming they dump the wings logo)
Only way I buy a jersey if Dolan sells the team and the Indians are brought back, otherwise they are dead to me.
not so dead that you still feel inclined to read the article, the comments and post replies?
Oh you’ve seen plenty of guys spend their entire MLB career in Cleveland. Guys like Eric Stamets, Jensen Lewis, Matt LaPorta, Jerad Head, Nick Hagadone, and Josh Judy
;P
that’s funny. I guess I have.
The GuardIndians lock up their franchise position player at a surprisingly reasonable cost and Ramirez is now set for life. Not a Tribe fan but looks like a win-win.
What a discount damn.
Jays are going to have give you so much more now to get him (just kidding, chill)
Obviously Zaidi had no interest in Ramirez. He would rather look for bargain basement deals and hope they turn into lightning in a bottle.
Or maybe, now stay with me here… maybe this had nothing at all to do with Zaidi or SF because Cleveland never seriously thought about trading Ramirez.
Wait… you are saying that Zaidi cannot tell Cleveland to hand over Ramirez and they must do it? This is news to me.
Was bashing Zaidi for not trying to trade for a player of Ramirez’s talent. At least Cleveland recognized Ramirez’s value.
The Giants has nothing to do with a Cleveland player. They couldn’t sign him, he was already under contract in Cleveland. And as far as trades go, Cleveland had to be willing to deal him. So not sure what your getting at, your either a troll or someone who is willfully ignorant and just want to bash a team that has nothing to do with this situation
Farhan should still stop aspiring to make the giants the athletics! Nobody in mlb should aspire to be the athletics! The athletics don’t even want to build like they do if they could trade resources to team building with giants they would !
The Giants literally won 107 games last year. I’m not saying it’s going to happen again this year but clearly Zaidi has some idea what he’s doing
And they looked outmatched in the playoffs like his old athletics teams !
Just saying he can do The Whole cute little Oakland smoke and mirrors thing and spend like a big market gm ! He can have the best of both worlds like the dodgers! He doesn’t need to stick strictly to his Oakland roots of team building
They were hardly outmatched. Stop with the false narratives.
They lost by one run in game 5 against a 106 win team. Dodgers beat them but ‘overmatched’ is a stretch
To bad he won’t have anyone in the line-up to protect him, easy to pitch around him.
I’ll take Franmil Reyes behind him and Straw ahead of him.
Reyes .324 OBP and high strikeout, is going to protect him, good luck with that.
I am so happy today because I like Jose and I like my team. I will love watching Jose even if he’s not elite a few years from now.
That being said the fanbase here is toxic. They’re going to sarcastically complain about it being below market value today, they’re going to still call the Dolans cheap under every unrelated Guardians article, and they’re going to still be bitter. Worse, if Jose isn’t as good 3 years from now they’ll turn on him just as they did Hafner, Sizemore, Kipnis, and Santana. And that will suck, because Jose has earned this money and even if he’s terrible immediately, he’s earned it through his past play on cheap deals.
I just want to enjoy my team without every post about them on Twitter turning into a cesspool of awful cynical complaints. I feel like anytime I’m like “yeah I really like the pitching” or “man I can’t wait to see George Valera or Brayan Rocchio” I just get *drowned out* by the same cynical jerks who swore they were giving up the team 4 years ago when they didn’t further increase their then-record payroll. Or who want to still complain about the name change.
I like my team. I like my city. I like Jose. It honestly feels lonely being a fan with some optimism in this city.
but the dolans are cheapppppppppppppppppppp
Those kind of fans are the main ones that post for every team. We had a lot of them in LA until we won in 2020 and then they died down a bit. It’s frustrating and I hear you.
Paul Dolan thanks you as he skips and whistles to the bank!
@col_chestbridge
Try getting off the cesspool of Twitter. There’s a real world out there waiting for you
I work at a casino and I can confirm the takes are *even worse* in real life.
LOL. Fair enough
Hey Col_chestbridge, don’t let the idiots get you down. I make liberal use of the mute button here for people who continuously post stupid or hostile comments, it makes the comment section much more enjoyable.
Great reply mate hit the nail on the head!
You’re not alone. Most Clevelanders don’t waste their time on these sites, only the small percentage of Debby Downers. The rest will be around as soon as the team starts winning & (remember the Cavs’ victory parade?) someday our optimism will be justified.
Nice of Cleveland to get these financials worked out before he’s traded for Biggio and Groshans.
LOL
Biggio is a stiff.
yea, saves Toronto alot of time and they’ll probably thow in their 27th best prospect into the incoming deal
Nice deal for Cleveland.
Kinda shocked that both sides could find common ground on a deal. Feels foolish from Cleveland’s perspective because of the monster return they could have got for him but at least they’re extending their own.
Hey Samuel, if you’re reading this, I guess all those season tickets I bought paid off. Go Guardians!
@ enjoylindor;
LOL
Sure, that’s it.
You’re one of many here that pounded the Dolan’s.
Urge you to understand what Cleveland is doing – same as Tampa, Milwaukee and others. Small market teams can keep a few core players. Then they have to surround them with productive young veterans that are affordable. It works!
Bieber will be next.
Just wanted to let you know you’ve been living in my head rent free lately. Thanks for letting me know how small market teams operate. Honestly, this is all in good spirits and I hope your team does well this year
I have 6-8 that I follow. Cleveland is in a 2nd tier. I believe they can compete for the ALC and with that manager and a few late season trades can win it. Will even be better in 2023 and on.
LOL!
Doubt he can read
Not a Cleveland fan but I am a fan of this move. Way to go Tri… err, I mean Ind…. umm, yay Cleveland.
But I thought he was being traded to the Blue Jays?
Why was it always specifically the Blue Jays?
Shapiro/atkins and homer fans
He will. Soon. No trade clauses can and will be waived.
Lotto numbers please
I can 100% assure you he wouldn’t ask for a no trade clause in the contract if he wanted to get traded anyways
He may not mind to be traded—he just wants full control on when and where that is.
He now has power & financial security. He left some dollars on the table for it obviously but this certainly doesn’t guarantee he’s in CLE forever.
OHMANOHGODOHMANOHGODOHMANOHGOD
Now do Bieber next.
they don’t need Bieber lol, he’s dead weight to them. He’s a major trade candidate
I’m sure that’s what other teams what them to believe. Last year’s injury makes it the perfect time to see if he’ll accept the team-friendly special.
I would be surprised. They’ve really taken a liking to churning in and out with pitching, and basically none of the pitchers they’ve traded away *didn’t* immediately become pumpkins. Bauer for different reasons, but the wear and tear limited Clevinger, Carrasco, and Kluber to basically non factors last year.
They also have a whole pipeline of good starting prospects. Gavin Williams was a favorite of Pitching Ninja last year, Daniel Espino throws 100, has a nasty breaking ball and has control.
I would assume they trade Bieber right before his arm disintegrates, along with Plesac/Quantrill.
They seemingly have 3 rotations worth of intriguing pitching prospects in the minors, so maybe. But they always seem to want to lockdown one established starter.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they pitched a lowball extension offer to a couple of guys. The guy that might be the most receptive to it would be McKenzie given the up and down nature of his development and his rough first half last year. Plesac they probably have limited good will with after suspending him and shaming him during the 2020 season. Quantrill didn’t come up here and probably doesn’t have the same loyalty.
Bieber, Civale, and Plesac were all really tight with Clevinger and Bauer. I would be surprised if any of them suddenly became hometown discount guys.
Good for all concerned. Looks like everyone got what they needed to stay married. Shows also that for some players being comfortable outweighs seeking the last dollar Jose will be loved and revered and never be criticized by fans and press at home. Lindor will not be able to say that.
Congrats to Jose for getting new contract. I really like Jose but you deserved 30+mil a year. If you wanted to stay, more power to you but I hope he understands that is money you can never get back. Anyways, good to see Jose back. Doesn’t change our terrible offensive team. Just stays status quo but having Jose around can never be a bad thing.
Jose already has made more money than he an his family will need in their lifetimes.
This contract puts them in the stratosphere.
Yes but it’s not 20 generations money. You never really want to turn down guarantee I get it. I mean yes it’s a lot of money but it could have been double. Yes, If he is happy here this is something but he might one day regret it. You never know what happens in life. Also, unless Cleveland gets a new owner, What it is the past will be in the future with the Dolans. He deserves better as being one of best players in baseball.
He could of turned down the extension to get much more elsewhere but that is also a risk. A major injury during his current team friendly deal could of resulted in never seeing a 300+ million contract offer.
I’m sure he’s very happy with what he’s getting in guaranteed money.
A reminder of how reactions are always in the moment. This looks like a great deal for the Guardians, but it’s also a lot of guaranteed money for the player. If Ramirez stays healthy and performs, great. The moment he looks like he’s declining (a reasonable guess for someone who will be 35 at the end) or if he’s injured, fans will gripe he’s overpaid, a dead weight, etc.. That’s not a specific knock on Guardians fans….it’s a universal reaction.
I don’t know that it’s universal. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the same kind of complaining from Tigers fans about Miggy. Hell Mets fans gave a really nice send-off to David Wright.
Mets fans griped for years about David Wright…they did give him a nice send off, but there were a lot of “why can’t he be cut loose” comments (usually along with “why is he still being paid”. As to Cabrera, I’m not in Detroit, but even the initial reaction, at least from pundits, was negative.
Bad move by him. He could’ve made 10-15mil more a year if he went to another team.
@dutchvanderlinde
He didn’t want another team. So what you describe would have been a bad move for him.
Yeah, $200+ million when he comes from poverty could’ve bought him so much more that he won’t be able to afford on this deal. SMH
Total B S.
I get it, from his perspective- Even if he faltered, they would have picked up the option and by the time he’d hit the open market, who knows what kind of situation he’d find himself in. Sure, if everything went perfectly, he might have been able to secure a 6 year/$210M deal, but that’d be a best case scenario of him putting up career best numbers the next two seasons with no major set backs or slumps, which isn’t a guarantee.
Also this kind of money, while a discount by any measure, isn’t exactly an under pay either. Like… sure, it’s not market value, but it doesn’t feel like he’s letting Cleveland get him for pennies on the dollar like with the Acuna deal in ATL, etc.
I think this is a phenomenal deal for both sides and it’s good for baseball for a club like Cleveland to commit to a homegrown talent in this manner and to increase their payroll a little bit to at least look like they’re trying to compete.
Crazy that their two largest deals prior to this were Swisher’s 4 year/$56M payday and Edwin Encarnacion’s 3 year/$60M deal.
I hope this works out for both sides. Genuinely happy to see him stay in Cleveland and not see another A-list player have to get flipped from a mid-budget club.
Great deal by both sides. They got a great discount, as he would have gotten AT LEAST 200 million in free agency. He wanted to actually be there and was okay with taking less, so good on him as well. Looking at this from the Indians perspective though…a major win. They got a better player in Ramirez for more than half the price of a lesser player they traded in Lindor.
Lindor versus Ramirez career comparisons from a dollars per war perspective will be interesting….
Not from here on out. Not as a Mets fan.
Well this is a very pleasant surprise
I do like when players want to stay somewhere and back that up. No doubt he could have got more, he’s consistently elite.
He probably forfeited a $100M more if he made it to free agency after 2023, but we should all be so poor to take a consolation prize of $150M+ deal!
I think this is good for baseball. It’s a clear compromise from a player who simply prioritized his team preference over market value, going against the typical “maximum price” FA Freddie Freeman-type situation that’s all too common. Nice when a great player realizes there’s simply such a thing as “enough money.” He’s staying for what’s likely a career & that’s a great thing for the fans, team, & Jose.
I wonder, does Judge align more with Ramirez or Freeman… I’m thinking Freeman, but that’s the cost of the Yankees operating strictly like a business.
I appreciate Jose and others like him. He is sacrificing money for happiness. A lot of Cardinals have done this similarly in the past. There is nothing wrong with that and it’s good for baseball. Plus, if he happens to lead Cleveland to a WS title, he will be immortal in that town. No one cares if he is mercenary winning a title somewhere else. That being said, if it isn’t STL, I like new blood winning. I’d be happy for Jays or Friars fans or for those 673 Rays fans.
Really surprised that he gave that much of a discount and that the Guardians spent real money. Great deal for them.
WAY too cheap…Ramirez got fleeced. 6.0 WAR player for $21M a year???
He went from an insane bargain to a pretty good bargain. Very rare in this game.
Just wait until the idiots at the MLBPA start griping about his below market extension. Didn’t they do this last time with his deal as well as Carrasco’s?
Fleeced? Not really. He’ll be 31-35 at about 25m per. He’ll be well into his decline phase. It’s a good deal for Cleveland, but no one expects Jose to be anything like a 6 WAR player at age 34-35. He’s more likely to be out of the game than putting up 6 win seasons, in this era of fast, faster, fastest pitching. And just wait for the injuries to start up.
So much for the Jays trading for him … then he resigns for a team friendly deal. What a bummer
Good move by guardians ! Blue jays where unwilling to trade anything of use to guardians for him so there was no reason to make a trade here ! If anything they should have countered the blue jays package by replacing Ramirez with Reyes for the same said package blue jays where offering
You don’t really know that right?
Cleve wanted to keep him, he very clearly wanted to stay. I don’t think it the jays put martinez or Moreno on the table it would have changed that.
Yes a package lead by Kirk and lesser prospects would have been a really crap package ! Anything from ottto lopez down on the blue jays list is pf no use to the guardians for Ramirez! Again they should have countered with replacing Ramirez for Reyes for the same package blue jays offered
I mean you don’t know what the jays offered and based on this, it wouldn’t have mattered.
If they offeeed Moreno, gorshans and one more key piece guardians do it ! Guardians had no reason to do a deal that didn’t include both top prospects from jays
This is the Indians signaling that they are ready to really start competing again. They have a great farm system that is soon to graduate a ton of young talent, especially offensively. And the pitching is already good and should just keep getting better over the next couple of seasons. Lock Bieber up now, Guardians.
Drinking the koolaid.
I don’t know exactly what that is supposed to mean, especially because I’m not even an Indians fan. I basically just stated some facts. The Indians have a ton of minor league talent soon to graduate to MLB, and their pitching staff is already good as is now. Locking up Ramirez is a signal that they are ready to contend again, otherwise they would have traded him for more prospects.
*I meant “Guardians” btw… gonna take me a while.
He must really like Cleveland….good for him I guess.
Very nice. Ramirez clearly valued staying in Cleveland enough to leave some cash in the table.
It’s good when star players stay home.
Too bad Freddie didn’t hear this. With all the deferred money plus the inevitable endorsements etc he probably would have done better staying in Atlanta.
Great news for Cleveland fans.. but I cannot help but wonder about the trades that were discussed. I find it difficult to believe they would actually trade him before the season started.
He’s 29 now, and assuming the Guardians picked up his option for 2023 he would have been 31 hitting the open market in 2024. He might have got a $30M+ AAV then, but not many 31 year old’s get long term deals. He might have got a deal lasting 5 years but more than likely he would not have. So if his desire is to stay in Cleveland, then this is a good deal for him. He’ll average almost $25M for those 5 years and while he maybe giving up $5M+ in AAV he gains instant security. That is of some value.
As a Tigers fan, I hate it because we have to face him now for another 6 seasons. But for Jose and Cleveland, a pretty good deal all around.
I think you’re completely off about his FA projections.
Barring injury in the next 2 seasons, he would have easily got a 7- 8 year deal. Semien is somewhat of a comparable given age and elite performance, only difference is Ramirez has a longer track record.
Ramirez is in a superior class of player to semien… it’s not even close. And I’m a jays fan who saw the absolute best possible version of Semien. Jram is a top 10 player in baseball and top 5 in American League year after year after year…
Semien has been a top 10 player in baseball the last 3 years as well.
I’d take Jram all day long, but Semien got top dollar in free agency so it could easily be a floor for Jram had he reached free agency.
Semien was great in 2019 and 2021…. all other years he was not in the same universe as Ramirez. And his best two career years are what you expect from and have seen from Ramirez almost every year of his career. I just don’t think there’s any comparison between them in quality. And I really really like Semien, but he’s only had two good offensive seasons in a very long career, and some real stinker seasons too including as recent as 2020. The As didn’t pay him even a modest amount because he just wasn’t seen as a star player. He hits in front of Vladdy and has career year suddenly people try to compare him to jram. Semien is a top 50 player in baseball only after his career year, jram is at minimum top 10 in baseball every single year for well over half a decade now.
Semien last 3 years WAR = 15.4
jram last 3 years WAR = 13.4
Last 4 years
MS = 19.3
JR = 21.5
Both elite players the last 4 years.
Semien has to slug pretty close to last year to provide that WAR again. He used to be a slick fielding SS which will help tbat WAR number.
The problem w Semien is that his years are uneven. You have 2 MVP type production years and 2 years where he’s below league average w the bat. If you get that at 2B—the contract will quickly be a disaster.
Wow! He must really love Cleveland. Would’ve gotten way more on the open market.
I’m just stunned. Of course we still have CLE being CLE in that if Ramirez didn’t accept the extension he would have most likely been dealt to SD today. Would be interesting to know what the return was going to be, but I’m sure it would have started with Campusano. The haul would have been massive if Hosmer would have been included, but a franchise like this just doesn’t take on bad contracts like that.
CLE got have gotten a good return for JRam without taking Hosmer
Thanks
Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shapeshifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil! But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword, stepped forth to oppose me…
*CLING*
*CLANG*
*SLASH*
Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where my evil is law. Now the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku.
I am a Minnesota Twins fan and I am still happy this deal got done. Good for the City of Cleveland, good for baseball in general.
Greatest home town discount of all time? Even with the two years left of control and 28 now…. at 30 a regular top 5 mvp candidate gets 250 million plus easyyyyyy, probably 300… wow makes me sick to my stomach jays could have extended him for something similar if got him.
Pennies on the dollar.. pennies
Number 1, he’s 29. He’d be 31 when he hit the market. What 30 year old has received a 300M new deal?
Pujols got 250 in his 30s and that was ten years ago… with how contracts going up and up (seager not getting 300 plus million back when Pujols got his deal, maybe 100 million less). So ya I think a superstar who is slightly younger in this current cba could get 300 million even at 30. Either way…. the deal he got is half that so cute 100 million off and still makes a great discount lol
Acuna and Albies? Although that wasnt even hometown discount.
*SPIDERS
. . . in your head.
Good for baseball and for the Spiders. That said, how about investing in one outfielder or something?
And it hasn’t been mentioned, but I wonder how much of this has to do with Tito? Players love playing for him.
Right. The Guardians are going to have one of the lowest payrolls in the league, yet they’re contending with obvious holes. How about if they spend a couple dollars to fill those holes? They’re clearly making a nice profit right now. Invest in the team for the fans.
Not sure why they haven’t signed conforto yet
Conforto is damaged goods.
Still better than what they plan to throw out there.
Conforto would be perfect for Cleveland
Kudos, smart move all the way around. A lot of people need to eat some crow.
Jose sold his $400 million dollar career to a crap organization for a total of $161 million. I feel bad for the guy. He deserved so much more.
Jealous much, Twins fan. Cleveland has been one of the winningest teams in MLB the last decade, has a great manager, and strong front office. The grass is not always greener elsewhere.
Not that anyone really needs 400 million.
But you can turn 160 mil in to 400 pretty damn easily.
Let’s also not forget that the cost of living in Cleveland is low, he doesn’t have to drop 25 mil on a house to have a mega mansion.
You feel bad for a guy who’s guaranteed a salary of $150 million.
Dang, man, you must be one rich cat. Are you a Pohlad by any chance?
One thought about any Cleveland trade ideas – their 40 man roster this season is overstuffed with prospects (and more to add next year) so they should be looking to trade several prospects for one player, not one player for several prospects who would need to be added to the already full 40 man.
Finally some great news
Another reminder that all MLB teams are in very good financial shape.
Now spend more on the overall roster, Cleveland.
If I were him I would have demanded opt outs, or maybe opt outs that were triggered based on payroll or team wins or something, because now that he’s given them yet another team friendly deal they need to do what they can to make sure they keep a solid team around him.
Boy, I wish more small and mid market stars were willing to do this (and I’m a Mets fan).
Hopefully a bunch of Midwest area car dealers will line up to sign him up as a spokesman immediately so he can make up some of that money. Because I have to think he’s about as popular an athlete as there is in Cleveland at the moment.
(As opposed to a hypothetical top athlete in another hypothetical sport with all kinds of hypothetical legal and moral issues who somehow gets a hypothetical bazillion dollar contract).
Very interesting concept of opt-outs that are triggered if the team’s payroll or win total falls below a certain threshold.
I don’t trust the Indians to put a winner around him as they continue to sell off core players despite swearing they want to contend. As JoeBrady said, why would you trade your ace in the middle of the race? But I think JRam knows that already and he clearly wants to be there anyway.
I have no idea if such a clause would be permitted.
Absent that, just plain opt outs would be fine. Cleveland would have to continue to persuade him to stay each year.
Seems fair if he’s going to give up money to stay. And I think he may have potentially left a lot of money on the table by not taking himself to free agency.
If they are just straight opt-outs he will use them if he can get more in free agency. Whether or not the Indians are contending won’t be considered.
good for Cleveland. JRam was already likeable – especially when you play fantasy – and now he’s even more. Guardians are going to be ok. The 2021 Giants proved that how a team looks on paper to the start the season means nothing… you won’t win a WS b/c the good fortune will run out, but what a season!
Great signing, but they’ll still struggle on paper and on the field. This lineup will challenge last years for the record number of games being no-hit.
According to MLB Trade Values, Ramirez just gifted the Dolans with over 70 million dollars.
Seems to me the Guardians just gifted Jose $150 million, or more than he can ever spend. So, if he likes Cleveland and wanted to stay there, why should it bother you?
Still won’t change my mind. Screw the Cleveland Baseball Club.
Dolan doesn’t care what fans think.
Saw him take over a game with his bat and beat the M’s at T-Mobile.. He is The Man
Plus his fans ruled the night…
Give me 3 of these Ramirez deals vs 1 Lindor deal. Excellent work Cleveland.
I try to explain this to people, but the Lindor trade is really Lindor for Rosario, Gimenez AND someone like Ramirez. That $34M per buys a lot of improvement.
Some good 19 year olds in that deal too that might make an impact later on.
Cleveland has a ton of prospects. Good ones. Not a ton of great ones. They’re really a team where it would make some sense to package a few and get a controllable OF’er. Or a 1B/DH. Basically get yourself some offense. You have the ability & Cleveland is typically very good at recognizing which prospects are redundant in their system.
Awesome. I think MLB needs more Ketel Marte and Jose Ramirez. Happy guys prioritising happy.
Yeah this seems like a very friendly deal. Ramirez could have gotten way more probably lol.
As a Twins fan I am not a fan of this move. But good for Cleveland, what an absolute steal for the Indians.
Nice to hear, player staying because he likes where he is at. I queasy Boras is not his agent. Good for the Cleveland fans.
I can’t believe it. I thought for sure Jose was gone. Man am I happy for him and the city of Cleveland. This doesn’t answer all the needs,but it’s a great start. If this didn’t happen and we traded him for more prospects that we would eventually lose in the Rule 5 draft, you’d be lucky to attract houseflys this summer and you might as well pull the sod over this season. Again thank God to everyone involved who got this done.
This is clearly better than the crappy free agent signings I was hoping for! Honestly shocked, but thrilled
Good for Ramirez. Cleveland will end up trading him though in like 1-2 years… I understand why most high profile free agents avoid destinations like Cleveland, Oakland, etc… No guarantees that you will be there long-term. Additionally, it’s important that he got that no-trade clause. I guess he might’ve gotten it anyway eventually (10-5 rights).
What about a no trade clause do you not get. Ramirez wanted the no trade because he wants to play in Cleveland. He will not be traded in a year or two.
As a Jays fan, this disappoints me since I was hoping they would get him at the trade deadline. But as a baseball fan I’m really happy to see a smaller market team lock up their home grown star player.
I really hope this contract pans out for both Player & Team
Good for Cleveland, finally keeping one after watching several star players leave over the years.
Several? That’s funny.
Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, C.C. Sabathia, Bartolo Colon, Cliff Lee, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco and likely more that i just can’t remember
And here we thought it was strictly a Cleveland thing, forget Manny Ramirez, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Mookie Betts, David Price…
Victor Martinez, Carlos Santana, and the list goes on.
Yeah, only Cleveland has ever traded somebody or had them leave in free agency.
Nice for Guardians fans. Explains maybe why The FO didn’t spend $ most of the offseason.
I’m just happy that he’s no longer on our Jays trading radar. Cost was way to high.
Agree— I think the ask from Cleveland was Moreno, Martinez and Kirk. I’m not sure the Jays FO makes that deal without having a JRam extension in place.
“I know I left money on the table,” said Jose, “but I just love that Guardians name! That sealed it for me!”
Typo alert, Steve:
“Ramirez is represented by Repulik Sports.” That’d be Republik . . . which also is misspelled deliberately, so, no harm, no foul, right?
I hope he gets along with Emmanuel.. Remember Omar and the other Jose?
Padres were in the mix to trade for Ramirez. How many prospects did they have left in there farm system that Cleveland would have wanted?
They were never going to trade him at this point in the season, that was pure posturing.
Now would be a good time to trade him.
Yeah quick, before he realizes he has a full no trade clause. Brilliant!
Omg I can’t get used to this Cleveland guardian nonsense
And cell phones! What’s up with that?
If Tito keep leaving struggling relievers on the bump to serve up late go-ahead runs like he did today, having Ramirez on the club won’t make as much of a difference.
Ramirez wants to stay/play in Cleveland. That’s what he wants. His call. He got what he wanted so is grateful. In the next two years all he would have heard is trade rumors and uncertainties. Now he has peace from that noise and financial comfort. Good for him.
Some teams have overpaid for FA. The motto for Agents and MLBPA is always “Find a bad precedent and make it worse”.
The Cleveland team has a cornerstone going forward. They did save some cash. Maybe they will invest in another using some of that savings. Maybe on Bieber for example.
Maybe Bieber doesn’t want to stay in Cleveland. Maybe he wants arbitration to give him raises then take to the open market. Maybe. Cleveland sure needs hitters to help Jose’