After an offseason of uncertainty and trade rumors, José Ramírez is staying put for the foreseeable future.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported on Wednesday that Ramirez and the Cleveland Guardians have agreed to a five-year contract extension.
BREAKING: Star third baseman José Ramirez and the Cleveland Guardians are in agreement on a five-year, $124M contract extension, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN. Deal includes full no-trade clause. With this year and pickup of a 2023 option, Ramirez is guaranteed $150M.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 6, 2022
Ramirez is a three-time All-Star, a three-time Silver Slugger Award winner, finished second in American League MVP voting in 2020, third in both 2017 and 2018 and sixth in 2021.
Beyond Ramirez’s talents, this deal is notable for two reasons.
One, as new San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson noted on Twitter, the Guardians have one of the lowest payrolls in the majors. To that end, Passan reported that, until this extension, Cleveland “had $0 committed to players beyond the 2022 season.” This is a fairly sizeable deviation from that — something MLB fans reacted strongly to.
HOLY COW THEY ACTUALLY PAID A PLAYER!!! WHAT A REVELATION!!! https://t.co/3fmAjgL9O3
— Adam(#RunItBack) #FireManfred(he/him)(אדם)🏴🌹✡️🍍 (@AdamDodgers) April 6, 2022
I can’t believe they actually did it. José in a Cleveland uniform forever sounds good to me. https://t.co/90cxpnn3aj
— Brendan Bittner (@BrendanPB) April 6, 2022
There are now only 4 teams to have never given a player a $100 million contract.
The Royals, Pirates, A's and White Sox. https://t.co/MklV1HL0Gq
— Bennett Karoll (@TheBennettK) April 6, 2022
This is what the #Guardians need to do. This is what they’re supposed to do.
Not gonna go out and sign big name free agents? Fine.
Make sure you keep your homegrown stars. Shouldn’t even be a discussion.
Great news for #Guardians fans today. https://t.co/wjfhX5pUlp
— Michael Keefe (@GarageBeersMike) April 6, 2022
The second reason is that while other players are in contract extension talks with their teams, Ramirez’s talks had a different kind of pressure. As Passan also said, the expectation was that if the Guardians and Ramirez didn’t reach an extension, a trade was likely.
That is obviously now not going to happen. MLB fans reacted in a big way to that, as well, though exactly how they reacted depended a lot on which team they cheered for.
For Cleveland fans, the news was great. For fans of the San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays — who were both rumored destinations for Ramirez — not so much.
I’m almost shedding tears. https://t.co/BQpit9BkLS
— Fuzzy (@fuzzyfromyt) April 6, 2022
LETS GOOOO https://t.co/iYIEy7xi5B
— Depressed Guardians Fan (@guards_of_CLE) April 6, 2022
Rude. But hey, if a man wants to win 75 games a year in Cleveland, for that price, who are we to stop him? https://t.co/zCIgwhRTNz
— Andrew Stoeten (@AndrewStoeten) April 6, 2022
Great deal for both sides. Does this set the benchmark for a Devers extension? https://t.co/EssgySlj82
— Big Sox Guy (@bigsoxguy) April 6, 2022
Recently, the #padres always think they have a real shot of getting someone until they don’t. https://t.co/Mz88D3k7iq
— Brian Kiesling (@bkverona) April 6, 2022
*AJ Preller, the official clown of the MLB*
— Lιzᥱth ⚾₂₃ ᥫ᭡📖🪴🎐 (@daekjd_921) April 6, 2022
From 2016-2020, the Guardians were one of the best teams in baseball. They averaged 95 wins a season from 2016-2019 and had a .583 winning percentage during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, which translates to 94 wins over 162 games. But in 2021, Cleveland was nowhere near as good, going 80-82.
The next goal for the Guardians will be to restock the rest of the team to give Ramirez a championship-worthy supporting cast.