The Cleveland Guardians are usually very careful with how they spend their money.
This often results in some missed opportunities to add talent to the roster, but also in some very good deals.
When they extended Jose Ramirez a couple of years ago, they might have secured one of MLB’s biggest bargains.
“God Bless Jose Ramirez. Please extend/sign people around him to make it all worth it,” Guardians fan @c0ry024 tweeted, with a picture of Ramirez’s contract details.
God Bless Jose Ramirez.
Please extend/sign people around him to make it all worth it🙏🏻 https://t.co/q3Y415ypkb pic.twitter.com/XB1OkhMaZl
— C0RY (@c0ry024) February 5, 2024
It’s a seven-year, $141 million commitment that pays him, on average, a little over $20 million per season.
We can list some players making more money than him that are objectively worse, but we don’t have that much space.
He is basically performing like a star under the salary of a very good player.
For years before signing that contract, he was an even bigger star playing for pennies on the dollar.
Ramirez has always been willing to give the Guardians a hometown discount in negotiations, and has stated that it’s the place he wants to be.
There might come a time in which his performance declines, but the Guardians still pay him big bucks.
If that scenario presents itself, it will be very much deserved: that’s how long-term contracts work.
With a career .854 OPS, 216 home runs, and 202 stolen bases at 31 years old, Ramirez still has a lot left in the tank.
He is still elite, and the Guardians are lucky to have him.
With some of the savings they got on his deal, they extended Andres Gimenez.
If they can get another power hitter or two, they would greatly enhance Ramirez’s chances of making the playoffs and, why not, the World Series.
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