Guardians ownership officially on the clock after fan's viral José Ramírez defense

While José Ramírez tends to be the most-low maintenance superstar in baseball, the heat turns up underneath the Guardians’ front office with every wasted year of his prime. 

Earlier this week, all of Cleveland got a harsh reminder of that when a fan bought a full-page ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer urging owner Paul Dolan to sell if he can’t commit to building a winning team around Ramírez. 

And even if it may not do anything (fans have been complaining about the Dolan’s ownership for years), it’s another reminder of how much October failures sting for a fanbase with the sport’s longest World Series drought. 

Newspaper ad encourages Guardians ownership to spend or sell

And don’t get us wrong — there was a lot to celebrate about the Guardians this year. Ramírez put together another MVP-caliber season. The team’s young pitchers took a step forward. They erased a 15 1/2 game deficit to win the American League Central. 

But all of that ended in October failure after just three games in a Wild Card Series that put the Guardians’ roster deficiencies on full display.

And now the fan base is turning up the heat with an eye-catching advertisement. 

“That’s an interesting way to make your point. That’s an expensive way to make your point as well,” veteran Guardians beat reporter Paul Hoynes said on a recent episode of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast.

And, as Hoynes and co-host Joe Noga pointed out on their episode, the ad coincides with the resurfacing of a podcast clip from March where Ramírez talked about his disappointment with the Guardians’ front office’s inability to build a winner around him. 

While it was from before spring training, it was brought back into the zeitgeist on Twitter after Cleveland was eliminated, which made it seem as if the video had been filmed right after the Guardians were kicked out of October. 

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but all of a sudden this interview pops up and there’s a full page ad in The Plain Dealer. Interesting, you know, all very close together,” Hoynes said. 

But even if the video is from before March, there’s still no denying that the front office should (and does) feel pressure to maximize Ramírez’s prime. 

He changed the trajectory of the franchise by signing a seven-year, $141 million contract with franchise before the 2022 season, and, based on what he said in his podcast appearance, he did so with the understanding that the team would use the savings to help build a winner around him. 

And even if their trades of Andrés Giménez and Josh Naylor in the offseason were shrewd baseball moves, they also were moves that made the Guardians’ lineup worse. 

For what it’s worth, Chris Antonetti said in his postseason media availability that he wants to continue to build a winner around Ramírez. He’ll have another chance to prove it this offseason. And the fanbase will continue to let him know if he doesn’t.