José Ramírez continues to anchor the Cleveland Guardians in his 13th season, proving his value through consistent excellence at the plate. He finished third in American League MVP voting, a familiar position that underscores his status as the franchise’s most reliable performer.
This track record leaves the Guardians with little urgency to pursue upgrades at third base during the offseason. Recent speculation about Nolan Arenado’s potential availability from St. Louis has generated league-wide discussion.
However, analysts question whether Cleveland should even consider pursuing the Cardinals’ star given their current roster composition at the position.
“Is it plausible that one of the incumbents could move to 1B/DH or that Arenado could do the same? Maybe, but probably not. It’s also just not worth the effort if you’re this stocked at third base. You’re not going to bother trying to move Manny Machado or Matt Chapman or Austin Riley or José Ramírez, etc., etc., just to make this work,” MLB.com’s Mike Petriello wrote.
José Ramírez’s reliability is exactly why the Guardians don’t need to explore outside options. He played 158 games this season, the eighth time in nine full years that he’s logged more than 152 games for Cleveland.
His production was elite once again. Ramírez hit .283 with an .863 OPS, 30 home runs, 85 RBIs, 103 runs scored, and a career-high 44 stolen bases, a reminder of how complete his game continues to be.
Nolan Arenado’s trend line, however, looks very different. The 34-year-old struggled this season, hitting just .237 with a .289 on-base percentage and a .377 slugging percentage. His 87 OPS+ was his lowest in a full season since 2013.
It marks the third straight year of decline since his strong 2022 season, when he hit 30 homers and finished third in NL MVP voting.
Advanced metrics reinforce the slide. Arenado’s hard-hit rate has plummeted from the 75th percentile to the 12th percentile over the last two seasons.
As a result, projections now rank him as the 22nd-best third baseman for 2026, a slight drop from 24th this past year.
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