Cleveland Indians make Jose Ramirez deal official and it’s perfect for club’s future

The Cleveland Indians continue to come through with extensions for their young stars, this time signing Jose Ramirez for at least the next five seasons.

While news of an extension broke last week, the Cleveland Indians have officially announced the Jose Ramirez extension today and it’s a five-year deal worth $26 million in guaranteed money, with a pair of options and escalators that could ultimately take it to $50 million over seven years.

Deal is great for the Indians going forward

On the surface this deal may not seem all that significant to some, as prior to signing this deal Ramirez was still under team control through the year 2020. He was already signed for 2017 (for $571,400) plus he had three arbitration years from 2018 to 2020. In a way, this deal may only have extended Ramirez’s time with the Indians by one season, so why is it such a big deal?

For one thing, this deal gives the Indians some cost certainty going forward in their future payrolls. Consider that the Indians will open the 2017 season with the highest payroll in team history, currently at about $127-128 million. That’s more than $35 million higher than any other season in club history!

And how about 2018? Without adding a single player, the Indians 2018 payroll looks like it could be around $131 million without a single addition and a similar theme can be seen in 2019 and 2020.

It should be noted that there is a lot of uncertainty in those payroll numbers; as there are several arbitration-eligible players who we don’t know exact figures on and player options that may or not be picked up. However, the point is, the Indians will be spending a ton of money the next three-plus seasons.

With this Ramirez deal, the Indians will still be spending a ton, but they know exactly how much they will be spending on Ramirez, and don’t have to worry about a potential huge spike in arbitration one year, potentially affecting their plans.

The Indians decided it best to reward Ramirez in 2017 as this deal will actually pay him $2,571,400 this season as he’ll get all of his $2 million signing bonus in addition to the $571,400 base salary he agreed to earlier this spring. This allows the Indians to spend less on Ramirez in 2018-2020, which as mentioned above, could be huge and give the club some extra flexibility to make moves in the future.

Fitting that deal is nearly same as Brantley’s

The first thing I thought of when I saw the Ramirez extension numbers was how similar it was to the one Michael Brantley got a few years ago. While not exactly the same, the Indians signed Brantley before the 2014 season for four years and $25 million dollars with a club option for a fifth year in 2018.

One of the only differences between the two deals is that Brantley signed his deal as he was entering his first year of arbitration eligibility, while Ramirez was entering his final pre-arbitration year.

However, Ramirez was already signed for 2017 and his deal is essentially a four-year extension on top of the deal he had. Ramirez does get an extra $1 million guaranteed (over half of which was his 2017 salary) and an extra option year (the other big difference).

Despite the small differences, the Indians employed the same cost-certainty tactic mentioned above in the Brantley deal. They signed Brantley when he was arbitration-eligible the first time, and he was asking for $3.8 million that year.

The Indians, however, were able to get him to agree to a deal that saved them money on future years while also getting additional years of control in 2017 and potentially 2018 by giving him even more money in 2014 than he was asking for ($5 million).

It was a bit of a risk, but given Brantley’s breakout, MVP-caliber season in 2014, I think it’s safe to assume the Indians did the right thing too.

It’s also very fitting that these two deals are so similar given how Jose Ramirez essentially stepped in and filled Michael Brantley’s spot in the lineup for the Indians in 2016. While Ramirez eventually ended up at third base, he played a lot of left field early in the year and was huge in hitting with runners in scoring position all season for the Tribe, something the Indians were afraid they’d miss with Brantley out.

While the Indians of course still missed Brantley, Ramirez was every bit as good as Brantley was the previous season, and the Tribe doesn’t get to the World Series with him.

Ramirez deal will be a win for the Tribe

Some people may look at the Ramirez deal and worry that it’s a risk given that he only has one full season with the club and was up and down the previous two seasons. I understand why people could be concerned but in reality, it’s almost impossible for this deal not to work out for the Indians.

In fact, nearly every deal the Indians have done like this one has worked out for the club, with the lone exception possibly being Roberto Hernandez, aka Fausto Carmona.

Even injury can’t really keep this deal from working out for the Indians. Don’t believe me? Just look at Michael Brantley once more. Had the Indians not signed Brantley, he would have gotten well over the $5 million he made in 2015 as part of his new extension. He probably gets close to $9 or $10 million in 2015, his second arbitration-eligible year (that’s what Jacoby Ellsbury got when he nearly won the MVP award).

Even though he took a step back in 2015, he was still very good and would have gotten another substantial raise, probably to around $12 million in 2016, in what would have been his final year of arbitration (and team control).

Now consider that $12 million is nearly as much as the Tribe will pay him in 2016 and 2017 combined under the deal they got him to sign in 2014 ($14 million). Even with Brantley missing virtually all of 2016, I don’t think many Tribe fans are upset that the Indians still have Brantley under team control this season and for a still modest $7.5 million.

Brantley doesn’t even have to be an MVP-caliber player in 2017 for his deal to be worth it. In a way, as long as Brantley is worth $2 million of this deal, his deal worked out for the Indians.

Related: 10 bold predictions for the 2017 Indians season

Ramirez could struggle in 2017 and still have been in line for a substantial raise in 2018 through arbitration. I had him getting at least $3.5 million in 2018 and likely around $17 million in total over his three arbitration years (2018-2020), and that’s assuming Ramirez didn’t become even better at any point over the next three years.

Instead, the Tribe will pay Ramirez just $15 million through his arbitration years plus they get one-to-three years of additional control. Honestly, it’s almost highway robbery that the Tribe got Ramirez to agree to this deal.

Deal ultimately good for Ramirez too

It may sound crazy to say after all that has been written, but this deal is still very good for Ramirez as well. Sure he almost certainly left money on the table to sign this deal, but while the Indians get the cost certainty and extra year of control they wanted, Ramirez also gets what he likely wants: cost certainty of his own and more money up front.

Ramirez was never the highest paid minor leaguer the Indians had and he’s never made more than the league minimum in the big leagues. With this deal, Ramirez sets himself up for life and protects himself and family going forward. He gets to also remain in a place that he seems to feel comfortable, the place he’s been since he was 17 years old.

He clearly seems happy and comfortable in Cleveland so staying here makes all the sense in the world. Plus, it’s not like Ramirez has doomed himself from every signing a huge deal in the future.

He’s only 24 years old now, meaning even if both his team options are picked up by the Indians, Ramirez would only be 31 when he enters free agency after the 2023 season. He’d still be in the prime of his career and he could still cash in on a long-term, big-money free agent deal.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to say who truly is the biggest winner of this deal: the Indians, Ramirez, or the fans in Cleveland. Everyone should be thrilled with this deal and it’s just one more sign that the Cleveland Indians are committed to not only winning it all this season but building a sustainable club that can win for years to come.

Next: 5 most important players in 2017

Next up, a Francisco Lindor extension possibly?