NEW YORK \u2014 It\u2019s good that the Guardians are nearing an extension with Jose Ramirez that will keep him in Cleveland for the rest of his career.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s face it, Ramirez still needs help in a lineup that somehow won the AL Central last year despite having one of the least productive offenses in the big leagues.<\/p>\n
Right now, that help is coming only from within the Guardians\u2019 organization. In a quiet winter, they have not made one significant move to bring in outside help for the offense. There\u2019s still time between now and opening day, but Cleveland\u2019s front office believes that their young core of position players offers more promise than any second or third tier free agent can. <\/p>\n
Before Saturday\u2019s news, Ramirez\u2019s future in Cleveland was not as secure as it once appeared. He had three years left on his seven-year $141 million deal. Was the countdown to the organization parting ways with another face of the franchise gaining momentum?<\/p>\n
Ramirez\u2019s new extension, worth $175 million over the next seven years, answers that question with a definite no. The extension includes $70 million in deferred money \u2014 including $10 million a year \u2014 which will give executives Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff some flexibility if they ever decide to add a bat through trade or free agency.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not Shohei Ohtani deferring $68 million of his annual $70 million deal for the Dodgers, but it\u2019s an indication of Ramirez\u2019s willingness to do everything he can to make the Guardians a better team.<\/p>\n
The switch-hitter Ramirez, who left at least $200 million on the table when he signed his last extension in 2022, is 33. The new extension doesn\u2019t expire until 2032 when Ramirez will be 39. If Ramirez continues to carry the brunt of this offense, he\u2019s not going to have much left at the end of this deal. But that\u2019s how these contracts usually work.<\/p>\n
Until then, Ramirez just keeps producing.<\/p>\n
He hit .283 (168 for 593) with 34 doubles, 30 homers and 85 RBI. For the second straight season, he went 30-30, 30 homers and 40 or more steals. Overall, he\u2019s had three 30-30 seasons, the most in franchise history.<\/p>\n
If nothing else, the extension gives Ramirez seven more chances to win the AL MVP award as a Cleveland player. He has finished in the Top 10 of the MVP voting eight times, including one second place finish and three third place finishes. This past season, when the Guardians rallied from a 15 1\/2 game deficit in July to win the Central, he finished third.<\/p>\n
When Ramirez signed his extension in 2022, he said he had four goals. He wanted to play his whole career in Cleveland, have his No. 11 retired, win a World Series and make the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.<\/p>\n
Cleveland hasn\u2019t won a World Series since 1948, but three out of four isn\u2019t bad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 It\u2019s good that the Guardians are nearing an extension with Jose Ramirez that will keep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2380],"tags":[5,135,51,3188,2565,538,9902,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-537247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-guardians","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-guardians","11":"tag-cleveland-guardians-2025","12":"tag-clevelandguardians","13":"tag-guardians","14":"tag-milwaukee-brewers-2025","15":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115954235728725708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}