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

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.