'Unpopular' trade idea suggests Guardians should trade José Ramírez to familiar foe

We’ve officially reached the “silly season” portion of the MLB offseason. While the 2025 season is less than two weeks old, all of the MLB calendar has shifted its focus toward building to the 2026 season. 

And, as a part of that, writers from across the baseball landscape have begun to stake their claim to potential moves they want to see happen (we’re no different). But not all hypothetical moves are built the same. 

Last week, Bleacher Report’s Zach Rymer put out a story pitching potential unpopular trade ideas, where he wrote the Guardians should José Ramírez to the Toronto Blue Jays.

An unpopular idea indeed. 

While the Guardians and Blue Jays have plenty of shared history when it comes to trades, sending Ramírez north of the border would be a confusing and fatal misstep for the Guardians’ front office. 

Hypothetical trade has the Guardians dealing José Ramírez to the Blue Jays

But just because the trade would be horrible for the Guardians doesn’t mean that it doesn’t make sense from the outside looking in, as Rymer wrote. 

“Cleveland was indeed a seller at the trade deadline, and there's already speculation Steven Kwan could be next to go this winter. But dare we say it would be better off trading José Ramírez instead? "You may not" is a valid answer, given his baseline for the last nine seasons includes 30 homers, 30 steals and 5-6 WAR. But he also turned 33 years old in September, with $69 million still coming his way through 2028.Basically, this may be the Guardians' last best chance to sell high on Ramírez in a blockbuster that accomplishes two things: Clear payroll space and net a return of players who can help now and later,” he wrote. 

After that, Rymer proposed the Guardians’ proposed return for Ramírez from the Blue Jays would be 3B/OF Addison Barger, SS JoJo Parker and SS Arjun Nimmala. Parker and Nimmala are the Blue Jays’ No. 2 and 3 prospects, respectively, per MLB Pipeline.

It’s still a trade the Guardians shouldn’t make, even if that’s a return befitting of a player of  Ramírez’s caliber. The Blue Jays were reportedly a suitor for Ramírez in 2022 before he inked his extension with the Guardians, and they just came within a game of upsetting the Dodgers in the World Series. 

They already have an abundance of former Guardians on their roster and are led by two former Guardians alumni in Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro, but Chris Antonetti linking up with them for a trade of Myles Straw is one thing. Trading Ramírez would be a bridge too far. 

Even if the front office’s inability to build a powerful lineup around Ramírez is incredibly frustrating, he has gone on the record multiple times talking about how Cleveland is his home and he wants to spend the rest of his career with the Guardians. 

That’s part of the reason why he worked so hard to ink such a team-friendly extension ahead of the 2022 season; had that not happened, he’s likely playing for the Blue Jays or Padres. 

As Rymer wrote, trading Ramírez would be an unpopular idea (kind of an understatement). It’s also an idea that won’t become reality any time soon.