After suffering through an incredibly quiet offseason, the Cleveland Guardians gave their fans some of the best news they could have hoped for. Franchise cornerstone Jose Ramirez agreed to a contract extension that should keep him with the team through the end of his career.
The reported seven-year, $175 million deal runs through the 2032 season, when Ramirez will turn 40 years old. The $25 million annual value may be shockingly low, especially when compared to some of the exorbitant contracts given to free agents this offseason, but it proves that there are just some things that money can’t buy.
Former MLB player Erik Kratz recently gushed about the Guardians extending Ramirez, who does not need the acclaim that comes with playing in a bigger market.
“If you really look into what [Jose Ramirez] has done and how tough he is, the fact that he is possibly, the last three years, he’s had a shot at being a 40-40 guy, the numbers are just astronomical. For him not to get more love is OK, because I think that’s why he re-signed with the Guardians. Familiarity and the opportunity to stay in a place really does mean more than a certain amount of money to people. Good for [Jose] and great for the Guardians organization because he will go in as a Hall of Famer as a Cleveland Guardian,” Kratz said.
"He'll go in the Hall of Fame as a Cleveland Guardian."@FlavaFraz21 and @ErikKratz31 love José Ramírez's extension with the Guardians. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/UlaXtVYvVQ
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) January 26, 2026
Kratz is more like most major leaguers, who bounce from city to city, as the catcher played for nine teams in an 11-year career. He may envy Ramirez, who will likely become one of the few superstars of his era to play his entire career and enter the Hall of Fame connected to one team only.
The third baseman is certainly on the trajectory for a first-ballot induction whenever that time comes. He is a seven-time All-Star, a six-time Silver Slugger winner, and has finished in the top five of AL MVP voting six times. That includes last season, when he was third behind Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge.
At 33 years old, Ramirez has shown no signs of regression, and he was recently ranked among the top five players on MLB Network’s Top 100 list for 2026. He has put up back-to-back 30-30 seasons, and if he were to post a third straight, he would join Barry Bonds as the only players in history to do so.
Because of the Guardians’ frugal approach to their payroll, there was always the outside chance that even Ramirez would be deemed too expensive to keep, but those worries have been put away for good with this new deal.
NEXT: Guardians Announce 2026 Regular Season Schedule
