Cleveland Guardians: 3 reasons Cleveland won’t extend Jose Ramirez

3 reasons the Cleveland Guardians won’t extend Jose Ramirez

The Cleveland Guardians are a team that no one expects to spend money. Even when the ownerships says they will pay to make the inaugural season of the new moniker a success it becomes a “believe when we see it” statement. However, the team is sticking to their statement, at least so far.

We’re not at a point yet where the team has had a chance to prove that statement to be true, but when you look at the roster it starts to become clear that spending money is the only way to go. Whether it be keeping talent in Cleveland or filling gaps, the Guardians can’t be successful in 2022 and beyond unless the team can spend more money. One clear path to doing that is in-house extensions.

Plenty of players will be in the arbitration process for Cleveland during the upcoming season and that alone will cause payroll to increase. Shane Bieber, Franmil Reyes and others will start to warrant a higher price, but the one name that continuously is brought up in contract talks in fan circles is Jose Ramirez.

Following the Francisco Lindor trade, and perhaps even before, Ramirez has been the face of Cleveland baseball. The runner-up in the 2020 MVP voting, Ramirez has quietly become one of the top players in the game, and it’s been at a bargain price.

Ramirez’s original contract was a four-year deal worth just $26 million, averaging $6.5 million a season. Given his MVP production, that price will surely go up on his next deal. However, Cleveland’s history eludes to the idea that Ramirez’s next deal will be with a different team.

Whether or not Cleveland is set to spend money moving forward, Ramirez simply doesn’t fit the bill for what this organization typically extends or signs. Even with his high level of production, the long-term outlook for Jose Ramirez to remain in Cleveland might not be as bright as some might think.

Jose Ramirez age when current deal expires

As it currently stands, Jose Ramirez will be 31-years old when his next deals kicks in. With a September birthday, Ramirez will play majority of the 2022 season at 29 and 2023 at 30 before turning 31 just before the 2023 season concludes. History would tell us that Cleveland might shy away from extending Ramirez on that reason alone.

Large contracts for older veterans haven’t always worked out in Cleveland’s favor and those scars could make the team uneasy about a massive deal for Ramirez. Edwin Encarnacion saw a drop in production upon his arrival to Cleveland at the age of 34 on a deal worth $60 million. Encarnacion would later be traded before his deal expired.

Moving through history, Nick Swisher came to Cleveland at the age of 32 and also saw his production plummet while Cleveland signed checks that totaled $26 million over two years.

Our final example, Michael Bourn. Bourn signed with Cleveland at the age of 31 and made $20.5 million over two sub-par seasons.

Now, it would be one thing if I just pulled a few random contracts from history, but these are three of the club’s five largest contracts ever and were all offered to players over the age of 30. As previously stated, Ramirez will be 31 when his next deal is currently set to be signed.

Encarnacion, Swisher and Bourn were all solid players at the time of their contracts. Were they Ramirez level? I’m not sure, but the point is still valid. Cleveland rarely signs players over the age of 30 to big contracts, and when they do the results are hard to look at.

Cleveland Guardians have rising prospects for third base

If Cleveland had no options in the minors ready to take over third base, then extending Jose Ramirez would be a near no-brainer. However, that’s not the case. One of the club’s best prospects in Nolan Jones is a natural third baseman and he’s not the only player capable of playing the position.

Cleveland has a plethora of infield talent coming up through the system and while majority of talk has been about who will fill the middle infield spots, some of those players could shift over to third in a few seasons if Ramirez is no longer with the team.

Amed Rosario has shown his ability at the plate and his glove has improved, making the middle infield race even more complicated. That leaves top prospects Tyler Freeman and Gabriel Arias vying for one spot. Unless, third base opens up. If that were to happen, then there are just as many options to play third as there are for second right now, if not more.

That paired with the money the club would save from not extending Ramirez and pushing that money towards younger players like Bieber and Reyes and Jose Ramirez is all of a sudden an expendable asset in Cleveland, at least in terms of a contract extension.