CLEVELAND \u2014 The most challenging part of designing the Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez statue will be figuring out how to suspend his helmet in air, gravity be damned.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the prevailing image of the face of the Cleveland Guardians franchise, the perennial MVP candidate zipping from one base to another, his helmet abandoned somewhere along his dash<\/a>. He has time to create more iconic poses and memories, though \u2014 Ram\u00edrez and the club are finalizing a contract extension<\/a> that will keep him in Cleveland through the 2032 season, when he\u2019ll be 40 years old and sitting comfortably atop just about every worthwhile category on the franchise leaderboard.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no need to wait until Ram\u00edrez retires to gift him a statue at Progressive Field, greeting the fans passing through the turnstiles in their replica No. 11 jerseys. If it wasn\u2019t already clear, this is Ram\u00edrez\u2019s team, his franchise, his city. His approval rating is too high to compute.<\/p>\n This is Ram\u00edrez\u2019s third below-market extension to stay in the only big-league place he\u2019s ever known. Who does that? He\u2019s almost certainly bound for Cooperstown one day and the cap the Hall of Fame artists sketch onto his bust will have a Diamond C. That\u2019s how he\u2019s long envisioned it.<\/p>\n But it almost didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n If not for his insistence on consummating a deal in the hours before Opening Day in 2022, Ram\u00edrez would have been a Toronto Blue Jay or a San Diego Padre. Those teams were on hold as Ram\u00edrez, team president Chris Antonetti, assistant GM Matt Forman and staff assistant and interpreter Agust\u00edn Rivero (who was still in full spring training uniform) crammed into the visiting manager\u2019s office at Chase Field to hash out the particulars on which, for weeks, they hadn\u2019t aligned. They joined a call with owner Paul Dolan, who was in Cleveland, GM Mike Chernoff, who was in an Uber after flying home from Phoenix, and Ram\u00edrez\u2019s agent, Rafa Nieves, who was in California.<\/p>\n That conference call spurred a franchise-altering extension, and Ram\u00edrez later voiced how he wanted to remain in Cleveland for the duration of his career. This time, Ram\u00edrez and Nieves met with team brass \u2014 including owner Paul Dolan and prospective owner David Blitzer \u2014 in Cleveland, and with another long-term pact near the finish line, that hope is being realized.<\/p>\n Before long, Ram\u00edrez will be Cleveland\u2019s all-time leader in games played, hits, runs, home runs, doubles and RBIs \u2014 just as everyone projected as he was climbing the minor-league ranks, right? Hardly.<\/p>\n Even when Ram\u00edrez was tormenting teenage pitchers in A-ball, evaluators both inside and outside of the organization considered him an eventual utility infielder, with only the most optimistic scouting experts willing to ponder whether he could lock down some team\u2019s second base job. In Cleveland, he was deemed the replacement for versatile veteran Mike Aviles. Instead, he might one day be more aptly compared to Mike Schmidt.<\/p>\n The contract, an industry source told The Athletic, would tack on an additional $106 million over four years to the $69 million Ram\u00edrez is already owed over the next three seasons. In all, $70 million of his future salary will be deferred, or $10 million per season. Each $10 million sum will be paid out in 10 increments of $1 million per year, starting 10 years after the original date.<\/p>\n That means Ram\u00edrez will have signed three extensions totaling 16 seasons and $271 million. His first extension, completed just before the 2017 opener, guaranteed him $24 million over five years. His second extension covered seven years and was worth $141 million. This deal will ultimately be worth $175 million and cover the final three years of the previous extension, plus the additional four years.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a lifetime of below-market commitments from a player who never wanted to leave a franchise with stingy spending habits. It\u2019s a perfect union, and a rare one in today\u2019s game.<\/p>\n Even at his bargain rate, Ram\u00edrez was set to represent more than a quarter of Cleveland\u2019s payroll in 2026. The Guardians, who have won the AL Central three of the past four years, have neglected to bolster a lineup that ranked near the bottom of the league in just about every worthwhile category this winter.<\/p>\n That places much of the onus on Ram\u00edrez to keep churning out All-Star seasons, but to this point, even as he approaches his age-33 season, he has exhibited no signs of decline. In 2025, he finished third in the AL MVP balloting behind Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh, as Ram\u00edrez totaled 30 homers, 34 doubles and 44 stolen bases. He joined Alfonso Soriano as the only players in league history with multiple seasons of 30-plus homers, 30-plus doubles and 40-plus steals. It was his seventh top-six finish in the MVP voting in the past nine years. With 15 homers and 13 stolen bases this season, he\u2019ll become the ninth player in major-league history with 300 or more home runs and 300 or more steals.<\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez’s franchise ranks<\/p>\n StatisticRam\u00edrez’s rankRam\u00edrez’s totalFirst-place totalLeader<\/p>\n Games played<\/p>\n 3rd<\/p>\n 1,609<\/p>\n 1,619<\/p>\n Terry Turner<\/p>\n Hits<\/p>\n 7th<\/p>\n 1,668<\/p>\n 2,052<\/p>\n Nap Lajoie<\/p>\n Runs<\/p>\n 3rd<\/p>\n 1,001<\/p>\n 1,154<\/p>\n Earl Averill<\/p>\n Home runs<\/p>\n 2nd<\/p>\n 285<\/p>\n 337<\/p>\n Jim Thome<\/p>\n RBIs<\/p>\n 2nd<\/p>\n 949<\/p>\n 1,084<\/p>\n Earl Averill<\/p>\n Stolen bases<\/p>\n 2nd<\/p>\n 287<\/p>\n 452<\/p>\n Kenny Lofton<\/p>\n Ram\u00edrez has long been the cornerstone of Cleveland\u2019s lineup, but he has also grown into a leader behind the scenes \u2014 the most surprising development to those who watched a reticent young player try to find his big-league footing early in his career. Mike Napoli helped Ram\u00edrez grow comfortable in a big-league clubhouse in 2016, and now Ram\u00edrez forges bonds with every teammate, regardless of one\u2019s language or major-league status. He has mentored Brayan Rocchio, George Valera, Angel Mart\u00ednez, and even those who didn\u2019t stick around Cleveland for long, such as Estevan Florial and Deyvison De Los Santos.<\/p>\n