CLEVELAND, Ohio — An impassioned plea erupted on the latest Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast as hosts Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes addressed what they consider one of baseball’s great injustices — José Ramírez has never won the Heart and Hustle Award presented by the Major League Baseball Players’ Alumni Association despite embodying everything the honor represents.

The discussion began when a listener suggested creating a new award category to recognize Ramírez’s unique contributions to baseball. Noga immediately pointed out that the perfect award already exists — Ramírez just hasn’t won it yet.

“It’s 10 years old now. It’s called the Heart and Hustle Award, and José has been the Guardians nominee for that award pretty much since it’s existed. He hasn’t won it yet, and it’s a complete outrage,” Noga declared on the podcast. “This is the award that sort of captures what Ramírez is all about.”

The Heart and Hustle Award, established by the MLBPAA, specifically honors players who demonstrate passion for baseball and best embody the values, spirit, and traditions of the game. Recipients are recognized for their hard work both on the field and in their communities.

What makes Ramírez’s omission particularly frustrating for the podcast hosts is how perfectly his playing style matches the award’s criteria. Noga elaborated: “This is the award that honors the guy who plays for his teammates, who runs the bases like his hair is on fire, who will do anything to get a win. And if that’s not José Ramírez, I don’t know who is.”

Ramírez has been the Guardians’ nominee multiple times but has yet to claim the overall award. His hustle-first approach to the game — from his aggressive baserunning to his willingness to play through injuries — has made him a fan favorite in Cleveland while earning respect across baseball.

The frustration reached a crescendo when Noga recalled his reaction to Bobby Witt Jr. winning the award last year over Ramírez, and he issued a passionate warning about what might happen if history repeats itself: “This year, if they don’t give this award to José Ramírez, if they don’t find it in their hearts to give this award to José this year, we ride at dawn. We riot. It’s an outrage.”

Hoynes fully supported his colleague’s position: “I totally agree with you. I can’t believe he hasn’t won it.”

The conversation also touched on Ramírez’s MVP candidacy, with both hosts acknowledging that playing in the same era as Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, and other statistical powerhouses has likely cost Ramírez hardware he might have won in a different generation.

“If José played in a different era and his peers weren’t Judge, Ohtani and the guys that can put up the numbers and do it in the markets that they do it in, I think José might already have an MVP or two under his belt,” Noga explained.

The Heart and Hustle Award winner is typically announced in November after the MVP award is determined. For Cleveland fans and these passionate beat reporters, anything other than Ramírez finally receiving his due recognition would be, in Noga’s words, “a complete outrage.”

Want to hear the full impassioned discussion about Ramírez’s candidacy for the Heart and Hustle Award? Check out the latest Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast for this and other compelling Guardians discussions as the offseason begins.

Podcast transcript

Joe Noga: Welcome back to another edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynsie, the Guardians are into the off season. We’re looking for some topics to discuss here. We reached out and we got some great Hey Hoynsie questions from our subtext subscribers on cleveland.com’s Guardian subtext. We we’re going to get to those in a minute. First we want to talk about the games last night. All four division series were in action for Major League Baseball and unfortunately off the we have to talk about the mad rush for Yankees fans who immediately left the end of their game against the Toronto Blue Jays and ran to their closets to change into their Dallas Cowboys jerseys because their season is over. The the Yankees lose three games to one as the Blue Jays outscored them what, five one in the in in the series clincher. Oh yes, I, I, I did forget about that late run that Aaron Judge drove in On a what, 114 mile an hour double off the wall. Can’t forget about that because that’s all Yankees fans are going to be talking about is how, how incredible that at bat was. Yeah, really, the, the Yankees losing, always a sad day for all the New York media who are just going to have to make excuses for them all year. So you can really tell how I feel about that. Hoynsie, what’d you think about the, the Guardians north beating the Yankees last night in Yankee Stadium?

Paul Hoynes: I mean Joe, there are more Guardians, former Guardians on that field than I think than were in Stephen Vogt’s lineup in the ALDS or the wild card, I should say. Ernie Clement had sick finishes the series hitting.646, 43. Miles Straw 400. Nathan Lucas.333. Andres Jimenez.267. Anthony Santander hits 200. I mean and then Shane Bieber started one of the games. Didn’t go well for Shane, but still, I mean there was a lot of Cleveland influence up north and they brought it home. Joe.

Joe Noga: Yeah, great to see you know, a team with Bieber and Straw and Jimenez on the roster finally get over in, in the Bronx in Yankee Stadium. If you recall, Miles Straw had the, the ugly incident with the Yankees fans a couple seasons back where he climbed the wall and they were cursing at each other. And Jimenez of course on a team that lost to the Yankees in the ALCS last season and you know, I’m sure it kind of stung at the time for him but he wound up playing shortstop for the, the Blue Jays and, and really they as much as they, they lost a game there and in the series they, they were in complete control of that series I think from the beginning.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Toronto was the better team all the way around from the first game through the last. Just they beat them with a base. You know, they beat them. They showed that you can beat the Yankees without hitting home runs. You know they draw, they move hit, they put the ball in play. I mean saw had an RBI last night. You know, two strikes, two outs. He blooped a little single into right field, scored a run. You know Ernie Clement was unbelievable. He went four for four last night. They beat him by playing baseball, Joe. Obviously their pitching kept the Yankees attack under control, kept them in the ballpark for the most part. But they beat him. They beat him almost like playing guards.

Joe Noga: Ball almost a little bit. Yeah. Just really recap really quickly looking at the other series that are still going on. The Tigers rallied and came back and beat the Mariners earlier in the day. They put up nine runs on them. So they forced a game five in the other American League Division series back in Seattle. The Phillies and Dodgers are going to go to a another game there because the Phillies managed to win their first game out in LA. Kyle Schwaber hit two home runs snapped out of an over 23 funk hit one that you know, I think left the ballpark there in, in at Dodger Stadium. And then the brewers finally faltered against the the Cubs. So the Cubs take the first game there at Wrigley and and they’ll go to a fourth game there in that National League Division Series. The only, the only division series that’s resolved right now is that Yankees Toronto series. The Blue Jays will be able to sit back and, and await the winner in in Seattle and and they go forward from there. So we’ll continue to watch the playoffs and and monitor that. But first you know we’re going to get to some some Hey Hoynsie questions. These are our reader submitted listener submitted questions via our subtext subscription service. You can go to cleveland.com subtext to sign up. It’s 3.99amonth to subscribe and you can send text messages directly back and forth with with me and with Hoynsy regarding the guardians. All season long, especially in the off season when you have questions we come through with answers. There’s how about we get into some some hey Hoinsies.

Paul Hoynes: Definitely Joe. Let’s go man.

Joe Noga: All right, off the top we’ve got to discuss the elephant in the room. I I don’t want to say it was a, a big story yesterday, but it was something that a lot of people noticed. It was something that we necessari have much of an idea about because the two sides of our operation really didn’t communicate. I don’t think in terms of the advertising side and the newsroom side. Nobody reached out and said that a fan had purchased a full length, a full page color ad basically calling on Paul Dolan to spend some money on in free agency and, you know, calling out Paul Dolan for what in this fan’s mind was a lack of spending to support Jose Ramirez, who he says had given the team a hometown discount and expected the money to be spent on free agents to build up the club. Roger Amoroso from Macedonia writes, read that Jose feels the Guardians have not honored their promise to invest in the roster if he signed a hometown discount. They need to back up their deal and bring in an experienced power hitter to support him. Bill in Tennessee writes, is Jose going to be the next to join the Ernie Banks club of great players without a World Series ring? If he does, then it’s another reason why players shouldn’t sign long term with one team. Even Austin Hedges has a ring after bouncing around back and forth for a couple of seasons there. So, Hoynsey, what do you think about these two, you know, submissions from the readers and especially about the, the situation with the ad that was purchased by the, the Fan in the Plane dealer yesterday?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, that’s a, that’s an interesting, interesting way to make your point. That’s an inexpensive way to make your point as well. I’d like to know how much that full page ad cost. They used to run around ten grand. I don’t know if it’s, it’s, you know, if it’s gone down a little, but this was in Kohler and you know, a lot of other. So, you know, some work went into that. You know, I, Yes. You know, it reminds me of, you know, the early 90s when the Guardians, when the Indians were putting together that team with Lofton and Bayerga. They had Albert Bell, they had Ramirez and you know, they had all these young, really talented players, but they didn’t have pitching. It was seemed like there was like two or three years in a row there where they wasted a lot of, a lot of good production from those guys because they couldn’t pitch. Then, you know, Jacobs Field opened, they added, they started, added veteran pitchings Dennis, Dennis Martinez and Oral Hershiser and you got what you got. But you know, I don’t know if the same situation exists here. But you know, Jose can certainly use some help now. You know, I do not know if what, what promises were made when Jose signed his multi year deal and if he, he knew he was giving him a hometown discount. He said he wanted to stay here, he said he wanted to finish his career here. So I don’t know if he’s exactly what’s being said behind the scenes, but you know, Jose could, didn’t have to stay here. You know, he, you know, it was pretty much if they, if he didn’t sign, they were going to trade him and he could have gone on to free agency and made his millions. Everybody knows he left, you know, at least probably $200 million on the table, you know, when he signed his contract. But no one had a gun to his head.

Joe Noga: Now again, one of the things that we’ve seen on social media over the last couple of days here has been a resurfaced interview from back in March that people are looking at and claiming Jose’s upset. Jose’s not happy with the way things ended this season. But that was an interview that he gave to a Spanish speaking outlet back in March where he did actually come out and say, you know, promises were made when, you know, when I signed the contract and they were, they were supposed to reinvest in the team. Now it didn’t say, well, he didn’t say, well, I’m through in, in 2028. That’s when the contract ends and you know, I’m leaving or I’m not happy or I’m not going to play. He didn’t say any of that. So people are sort of extrapolating that out into something that it’s not. And plus that interview was given before this season, before the results of, you know, making it to the playoffs once again. And yeah, sure, a lot of what was said back in, in March sort of rings true and is, is still a point of contention right now. You know, you’ve got to look at it as fans are frustrated and I get that. But I don’t think pulling up an old interview and saying this is what Jose Ramirez thinks right now is necessarily the, the, the most reflective of what Jose is feeling. The only one who knows how he’s feeling about the way the season ended is Jose. And we haven’t heard from him directly about that since the last day of the season. And at which time he said, you know, he was looking forward to and hungry to come back and try and keep winning.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, it’s almost, you know, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but all of a sudden this, this interview pops up on X and there’s a full page ad in the Plain Dealer. Interesting, you know, all, you know, very close together. You know, maybe I’m, maybe I’ve, like you say, I’ve got my tinfoil hat on, you know, interesting, interesting, you know, that these two items surface so quickly. But you’re right, I mean, if Jose, you know, I’m sure, you know, probably if, when he gave that interview, if, if this, if, you know, I don’t speak Spanish, I’m not sure what he said, but if, you know, if there’s been some translations that said promises were made and stuff like that, you know, but, you know, and maybe he felt more comfortable, you know, speaking in his native tongue, as in, I would imagine that was in Dominican. When, when he spoke that. If, if you, if he felt that way, why didn’t he say something at the end of the season? We, because we were, we asked him, do you need more help? Do you need, did you want them to bring in another hitter? And he said, that’s up to the front office. That’s all he said.

Joe Noga: Yeah, Again, this is something we’ll, we’ll keep an eye on. But the, the full page ad that was, it’s something we’ve, we’ve not really seen something like that out of Cleveland fans before. You’ve never experienced anything like that. And in 40 plus years of covering this team, right?

Paul Hoynes: No, I mean, usually if somebody takes out a full page ad, they’re saying thanks, you know, on the way out of town. You know, some, you know, some players have done that, some players have done that online. But you know, some paid, some players have taken ads out in the paper, said thanks for the memories, enjoyed my stay in Cleveland and adios, you know, so, but I haven’t seen that. So that very interesting take, no matter where it came from.

Joe Noga: Now on to the next topic that’s going to upset a bunch of people. We can cover Stephen Kwan. Here’s a question from Andy Meese in Sandusky. Does Stephen Kwan coming out and saying he wants to stay in Cleveland to take care of unfinished business mean that he is willing to discuss and perhaps even get an extension done? Or is this song all too familiar with athletes stay stating that they want to stay in Cleveland only to end up departing for the top dollar? Question from Tim Johnson in Rockville, Indiana. Hey, Hoinsey, what are the odds of quan signing an 8 to 10 year extension? I can tell you off the top There, Tim. The odds are pretty low that Kwon’s going to sign an 8 to 10 year extension. But Hoinsey, what are your thoughts on the type of extension Stephen Kwan could sign or whether or not he’s even interested in signing one?

Paul Hoynes: You know, Joe, I’ve heard so many, you know, free agents in waiting wearing a Cleveland uniform say, you know, I love Cleveland, I want to stay here. You know, we’ll definitely, I’m definitely interested. And you know, a year later they’re gone. You know, maybe I’ve been doing this job too long, but, you know, I have a feeling, you know, that’s, that’s how this Quan thing is going to end up. No, but still, I mean, they’ve got two years of control left on him. When they didn’t trade him at the deadline, he looked relieved. He looked, he looked happy to, you know, to be where he was. But you know, these guys work all their careers to get to free agency to see what the, see what their market value is. He’s two years away. Unless the guardians just blow him out of the water. I would, I would imagine he’s going to test free agency. And yeah, you’re right. An 8 to 10 year extension, I mean, I guess if, you know, if It’s a Vladimir Guerrero 8 extension, that kind of extension, yeah, he would probably look at it, but I just don’t see that happen. Jimenez signed a seven year deal, right? A seven year extension and the guardians traded him three years into it. You know, they backloaded the deal and so they, they had an out. So if he, if he struggled or, you know, they wanted to get out from under, I don’t see Quan signing a contract.

Joe Noga: No, I, I would think that any kind of extension that Quan would sign in this off season would, would look like something like that would buy up his final two years of arbitration at about 8 to 10 million or more. Actually, probably more. Probably like 10 to 16 million each and then more after that. You’re talking about 20 million a season probably for him. And he’s probably only going to, going to give you one to two years of free agency beyond that with, with team options, if that’s possible. But like you said, that’s even considering that he would sit down at the table and want to negotiate for that because the closer you get, you know, he’s only two years away from that free agenc agency, the, the less likely you are to sign. But the, the paradox here is that the, the closer that he gets to that free agency, the lower the return in a trade would be. That’s why this off season or this past trade deadline were the ideal times to trade Stephen Kwan, because your asking price can be astronomically high. But as you get closer to that deadline, you’ve got to ask for less from a team because they’re getting less control of Stephen Kwon.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And you know, you want. If you’re a team that’s. That wants Kwon, you want. You want him for as long as you can get him because, you know, he’s so close to free agency. This would, you know, the deadline, what July 1 deadline would have been. That made sense, but they didn’t pull the trigger on that one. And this winter, it could make sense again. I mean, a team would get him for two more years. That’s a, That’s a long time to have a talented player like Stephen. So that makes sense, and I would not be surprised if that happens this winter.

Joe Noga: Yeah. Whoever you trade him to this off season has two years to try and sign him to an extension that, you know, if you’re Cleveland, you couldn’t get him to sign. So it all depends on where you send him. If you send him to Chicago, where he, he lives in the off season with his wife, or you send him to San Francisco or Oakland. I’m sorry, not Oakland. You can’t send Noakland anymore. Anywhere on the West Coast. The Dodgers, the Angels, the Padres, you know, where he could be closer to family. It’s all part of the equation, I think, for him. And, you know, as far as. I don’t want to say these questions are about, you know, what do you think the odds are that he signs an extension? I think right now, if you, if you go with like a, a confidence meter in terms of how I’m feeling about what Stephen Kwan, what’s going to happen with Stephen Kwan? My confidence meter on them signing him to an extension is pretty low. My, my confidence meter on them trading him, if not before, you know, during the winter meetings, you know, sometime before the, the trade deadline this year are in 2026, is. Is pretty high right now. So we’ll, we’ll see how that goes and hope that that shed some light on some of those questions. And now we have free agency questions to talk about. Hey, Hoinsey, who are some of the prominent guardians free agents to keep an eye on this winter who will not be back? Pat Gritchick sent that question in. Hey, Hoinsey, what’s one addition you would make to the roster for next year in free agency? The pickings appear slim in our budget range. That’s from Carl in Las Vegas. So what about free agents? Who, who were the guardians? Free agents that, that we need to keep an eye on.

Paul Hoynes: Joe, you know, Austin Hedges, Lane Thomas, John Means, and Jacob Junas, I think, are probably the main free agents that you want to keep an eye on. You know, a guy like Tristan McKenzie will become a free agent if they don’t add them to the 40 man roster. The guys that are on the 40 man right now, Hedges, Lane Thomas, you know, John Means.

Joe Noga: Yeah.

Paul Hoynes: Means and, and Junas are probably the main guys, the main free agents from a Cleveland point of view.

Joe Noga: Well, Means has a, a player option or a team option, right?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah. Right.

Joe Noga: Yeah, yeah, they can, they can pick that up and keep him from being a free agent, but if they, if they decline that option, and I think they have until five days after the end of the World Series to do that. So they’ll make a decision on Means right after the end of the World Series and announce whether or not they’ve picked up his option. If not, he becomes a free agent. Yeah, I think the, the chief name among any of those is Austin Hedges. And we’ve seen what his influence and what his standing in the clubhouse is, and we’ve talked about it ad nauseam here on the podcast. So they, they have a decision to make. Do they, do they bring back Austin Hedges? What does that look like? If they do? And are they, are they willing? You know, with David Fry being back and ostensibly being an option as the backup catcher, is that direction that they want to go and go without Hedges influence?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, and I think, I would think right now, I would think he’s. It’s a safe bet that he’s back, Joe, but, you know, you don’t know. You know, they. A couple years ago, they couldn’t, you know, get together on a, on a number. He ended up in Pittsburgh and then Texas, you know, but I would think Hedges is back and they can, you know, they can. I think both sides want him back. I think it’s. It’s an ideal situation for him.

Joe Noga: Trade speculation, always a big rumor during the off season last season, the Guardians were willing to make a lot of trades and willing to, to part with a lot of guys who you didn’t think they would be parting with. Particularly like we mentioned, Andres Jimenez, but you know, that, that trade worked out because they brought back pitching and they addressed an area where there was a big concern last off season. Hey, Hoinsey guard, quality depth at starting pitching. Do you think they would trade a starter for a major league quality hitter? That’s from Steve Buzan in Alexandria, Virginia. Another question Larry Wilson and Massillon asks, what do you rate percentage wise, the possibility that we trade a starting pitcher, which is at a premium for a right handed out or outfield bat? Or are we just going to sign Lane Thomas on a prove me contract? And one more, Jim from Durham North New Hampshire, he says. Hey, Hoinsey, I’ve seen several stories about the Guardians maybe exploring a trade for Adley Rutchman. That doesn’t make a lot of sense for many obvious reasons, but what do you think? So let’s start there. Adley Ruchman, what do you think of the chances he would be a guy that the Guardians could target in a trade?

Paul Hoynes: It’s interesting. I have not, I have not really heard that. I mean, I guess it makes sense when you look at the production the Guardians receive from the catching position. But you know, and Rushman, you know, struggled for a, you know, good part of this past season with Baltimore, but he was like, wasn’t he like the top pick in the draft or the number two pick in the draft?

Joe Noga: And, and don’t forget, and don’t forget a college teammate of Stephen Kwan.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah. I can’t believe the Orioles.

Joe Noga: The Orioles have a hot shot up and coming prospect at catcher who played there a lot this year and really showed some promise. Well, while Richmond struggled mightily at the plate and they even moved him I think a little bit over to first base. So if you’re not getting the, the all star caliber. Adley Rushman, is that still a deal you want to make?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, it’s interesting. I, I, you know, I don’t know. I, I don’t see that happening. But who knows, maybe they’ll kick the tires on it. Maybe they think they, they see something in Rushmond that the Orioles don’t and that, that they, that they could revive that catching position. They put a lot of time and effort into Bo Naylor and boa. You know, as you know, except for that hot streak at the end of the season, we’re still waiting to see the real Bo Nailer. So, you know, it happened.

Joe Noga: Yeah, I think the Guardians have invested a lot in the development of Bo Nailer and I think the month of September really went to showed their, their commitment that they think could pay off. And what they like about him. Sam Basallo is the, the rookie that the Orioles called up when Adley Ruchman got hurt this year. He signed a $67 million, eight year contract with the Orioles in September. He’s the future of the catching position I think there in Baltimore and I think they might be exploring ways to part with with Adley Rutchman, but I don’t necessarily know that the Cleveland would be a fit. And like we were just talking about Austin Hedges. If you bring in an Adley Ruthman, you’re, you’re definitely not bringing back a, an Austin Hedges.

Paul Hoynes: That, that makes sense. And yeah, I mean you know, you know the Guardians look to upgrade. You know they don’t, they may not upgrade in the in positions you think they, they should normally upgrade in. And that could, that could be one of them. Catching could certainly be one of them.

Joe Noga: And the other two questions there that we, we started with trading the idea of trading starting pitching which at this time last year would have been completely outrageous to think of but you know they did go to a six man rotation in September. We talk about that in a minute. But you know, these readers want to want to see the Guardians possibly trade a starting pitcher for a premium right handed outfield bat. Not a lot of those available out there on the market and necessarily in free agency to sign. You know, what do you think the chances are that the Guardians part with one of those precious few starting pitchers and starting options that they really sort of seem to step forward down the stretch?

Paul Hoynes: Well, we all know they’ve traded pitching before starting pitching, especially outside of Tanner Bybey and Gavin Williams who’s going to get you the kind of outfielder you want. And are you really going to trade Bybey after you just sign him to a multi year deal and Williams who looks like maybe a Cy Young contender next year? I don’t see that happening. What do you would Parker Messick, what are you going to get for Parker Messick? I mean as well as he pitched down the stretch for you. And do you really want to trade a rookie, a talented rookie like that? So you know, I think that’s a tough, those are tough trades to make to me.

Joe Noga: Yeah. And you could deal a less proven guy like a Joey Cantillo, but you run the risk of, of him, you know, sort of taking off and becoming the, the kind of pitcher that you’ve, you’ve sort of been waiting patiently for him to be. Yeah, I don’t see them parting ways with anybody in that, that made up that group of, of of six that finished the season so strong for them in dominating fashion. I, I see that happening maybe in the, in the depth of your farm system, somebody coming up as a prospect. But Definitely nobody who’s, who’s made a mark at the, the major league level is, is going anywhere between now and then. We didn’t even mention Logan Allen in any of that. But, you know, he might be, he might be the biggest gamer of them all. That was a guy who always sort of gutted out some outings for you, and any team would be happy to have Logan Allen on there in their rotation. I think think let’s, we’re gonna, we’re gonna skip to the finisher here because this is the question that I saw that I wanted to address this entire show. Bill Stratton from Fairport, New York, he sent a message, he said defining a new award category to fit Jose Ramirez’s unique contribution to baseball is baffling. Yet above all else, he says he plays to contribute to his team and demonstrates it every game. Do you think such an award can be created to capture this? And, you know, we talked the other day about Jose’s chances of winning an American League MVP as long as Aaron Judge is putting up video game numbers as a, as a hitter. My, my answer to Bill here in this, this question is that they have an award already established. It’s 10 years old now. It’s called the Heart and Hustle Award. And Jose has been the, the Guardians nominee for that award pretty much since it’s been in exist. He hasn’t won it yet. And it’s a complete outrage that Jose Ramirez has not yet won the Heart and Hustle Award because this is the award that sort of captures what Jose is all about. And it doesn’t mean the, you know, the guy who hits 50 home runs and drives in 100 always gets this award. This is the award that honors the guy who plays for his teammates, who runs the bases like his hair is on fire, who will do anything to get a win. And if that’s not Jose Ramirez, I don’t know who is. And they announced this award at the end of November. Hoynsey. Usually after the MVP is given out, and Bobby Witt won it last year, and I almost lost my mind last year when Bobby Witt won it over Jose Ramirez. This year, if they don’t give this award to Jose Ramirez, it’s voted on by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni association. And if they don’t find, find it in their hearts to get to, to give this award to Jose this year, we ride it dawn. We, we. We riot. It’s an outrage.

Paul Hoynes: It is, Joe. But, you know, I, you know, I, I totally agree with you. I can’t believe he hasn’t won it. I know he gets nominated. He’s nominated every year. Candidate every year. I just, you know, in reading, you know, Bill Stratton’s question, you know, the things he asks, there’s a lot of that are the requirements for the MVP award. You know, your contribution to your team, your, your, you know, your dedication to the team, the ability to play every day, just the overall way you handle yourself. Those are the, some of the requirements, requirements of the MVP award. So, like you, I think they already have that, that award for, for, you know, an award that covers Jose, and that’s the MVP award. Unfortunately, he hasn’t won it. But, and we’ve talked about that, but, but I mean, he shows all the qualities of that. I think it would be, you know, it would be tough to make another award that covers all of the stuff that Jose does because you’ve got two of them. You’ve got the Heart and Hustle award and you’ve got the mvp.

Joe Noga: Yeah. And I think if Jose played in a different era and, you know, and his peers weren’t Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and the guys that can, can put up the numbers and do it in the, in the markets that they do it in, I think Jose might already have an MVP or two under his belt. But, you know, he plays in the time when, when he’s playing. And that means you’re, you’re behind Aaron Judge, you’re behind Shohei Ohtani, you’re behind Mike Trout and guys like that, and that’s going to be the position. It’s no saving grace, but I think Jose has the inside track on the BBWAA Cleveland Chapter man of the Year award, which we’ll be voting on at some point here in the coming weeks. No small consolation, but everything that that award embodies, I think Jose, who’s won it a couple of times already, but we could probably, the argument is made every year that we could probably give that award to him every year. And we, we sort of look for other guys to honor with that award as as much as possible, but pretty much every season, Jose is the Cleveland Guardians BBWA Cleveland Chapter man of the Year. And I think again, he proved it this year.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, no doubt about it, Joe. No doubt about it.

Joe Noga: Yeah, it, it’s good. It’s going to be an interesting off season in terms of we can do entire podcasts on award season, but we got to get through these playoffs first. Hoynsy that’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast, another hey Hoinsey in the books. We’ll we’ll look to do more of these throughout the off season and bring up some more topics that the readers want to discuss. Until the next time. We’ll talk to you then. Good deal.

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