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Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez and the Cleveland Guardians have agreed to a third team-friendly extension to keep him with the club until he retires. (Photo by Jason Miller\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
In this thirteen-year career, Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez has been nothing but a team player. He has taken all of his MLB at-bats as a member of the Cleveland Indians\/Guardians, and has previously signed two team-friendly contract extensions along the way. Over the weekend, H\u00e9ctor G\u00f3mez of Z101 Digital reported<\/a> that he has done so for a third time, but this one<\/a> more in keeping with his value as a player and as the face of the franchise.<\/p>\n The first time, in March of 2017, Cleveland bought out Ram\u00edrez\u2019s arbitration years by agreeing to a four-year, $26 million deal that took him through 2021. That deal had options for 2022 ($11 million) and 2023 ($13 million). Over those first four years, all Ram\u00edrez did was put up 20 bWAR, slashing .284\/.367\/.549, for a 139 OPS+.<\/p>\n Accordingly, prior to the 2021 season, before the options could be exercised, the third baseman and the club agreed to a seven-year extension<\/a> for $141 million. There was considerably more money to be had on the open market, but Ram\u00edrez professed his desire to stay in Cleveland long-term, and both sides made it happen.<\/p>\n In a repeat performance, again with multiple years left to go, Ram\u00edrez and the team have agreed to yet another extension. This time, there were three years and $69 million still out there when everyone elected to make certain that Ram\u00edrez retired in northeast Ohio. The new deal<\/a> tacks on an additional four years, and $106 million of new money. In total, the final seven years (ostensibly) of his career will have Ram\u00edrez earn $175 million. The kicker for Cleveland is that $10 million is deferred each season, to be paid out between 2036 and 2045.<\/p>\n The new contract also doubles his previous awards bonuses. If Ram\u00edrez finally wins the MVP that is long overdue, he will get an additional $500,000. If he comes in second or third in MVP voting \u2013 which he has done four times already \u2013 he will get $300,000. Fourth or fifth place, which has happened twice, will earn him another $150,000.<\/p>\n Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that private jet travel one time per year, plus for travel to\/from the All-Star game, as well as a hotel room next to his suite on the road, were all thrown to make the star comfortable and happy.<\/p>\n The new contract also includes various bonuses for All-Star appearances, Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, and League Championship and World Series MVP awards. Because Ram\u00edrez has been in the league for more than 10 years, and at least five with Cleveland, there was no need to include a no-trade clause, as he has that as part of his \u201c10-and-5 Rights\u201d under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. <\/p>\n At $25 million per season, it is still fair to say that Ram\u00edrez has sold himself short, and yet again left money on the table (Alex Bregman<\/a> just signed for $175 million over five years, and Bo Bichette<\/a> for $42 million per annum). But, as a player who has always cared more about consistency and loyalty, and trying to bring Cleveland their first World Series championship since 1948, he has proven once again that there are some things more important than extracting every last dollar from your playing career. The sheer number of meals and beers that Ram\u00edrez will never have to buy in Cleveland may make up some of the difference in contract dollars. Either way, the Guardians and C-Town have their man through 2032.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez and the Cleveland Guardians have agreed to a third team-friendly extension to keep him with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2380],"tags":[72,5,88,135,51,2565,75,538,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-538961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-guardians","8":"tag-alex-bregman","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-bo-bichette","11":"tag-cleveland","12":"tag-cleveland-guardians","13":"tag-clevelandguardians","14":"tag-free-agency","15":"tag-guardians","16":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115962108871190764","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538961","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=538961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}