We are watching another tremendous season from the Cleveland Guardians’ resident superstar, Jose Ramirez. He will likely make his seventh All-Star Game appearance, which will tie him for second place (with Ken Keltner and Larry Doby) in franchise history, one behind franchise icon Bob Feller.
He’s currently hitting a career high .333 and still providing the power, with 12 home runs and 32 runs batted in. He’s now 32-year-old and still one of the games’ best, although way overlooked players.
We have all heard the story. Ramirez was likely to be traded before the 2022 season, before he and his agent sat down with the Guardians’ brass and ink a seven-year deal with the team. His highest salary in those years will be $25 million, a tremendous bargain for Cleveland, seeing he was and still is one of baseball’s top ten players.
We remind everyone again. It was Ramirez and his agent that made the deal happen, it wasn’t Paul Dolan trying to get the deal finished, although he did sign off on it.
The Guardians went on to win the division in 2022, bolstered by the return from the Francisco Lindor deal in Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario, and the pitching of Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, and Emmanuel Clase. Their payroll was estimated at $66 million (using figures from baseballreference.com)
That off-season, the front office really didn’t make any moves, they did deal Nolan Jones and Will Benson for minor league prospects, and the payroll only increased by $4 million, and the Guardians finished third in 2023 with a 76-86 record.
They were sellers at the deadline that season, moving Rosario, Aaron Civale (for Kyle Manzardo) and Josh Bell with the team just a game out of first place on July 31st. When the team was still in contention, just five out at the end of August, the Guardians picked up Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Matt Moore from the Angels, but it didn’t work out.
The payroll increased prior to the ’24 campaign going up to $94.2 million due to raises for Myles Straw, Gimenez, Ramirez, and the signings of Austin Hedges and reliever Scott Barlow.
And the Guardians won the division and advanced to the American League Championship Series, losing to the Yankees in five games.
After the season, the front office dealt the bloated contracts of Straw and Gimenez, the latter was never going to perform up to the level the team was going to have to pay him, but they didn’t really reinvest those savings, and the payroll started the 2025 season less than the prior year.
Remember, we said Ramirez is now 32 and you have to wonder how much longer he will be one of the top players in the game. Meanwhile, the Guardians payroll still ranks in the bottom five in the sport.
Yes, we understand market size, and we will say again we understand the Guardians can’t spend with the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, etc. However, why can’t they have the same payroll as the Twins ($135.6M), Brewers ($97.4M), Royals ($110.6M), and Tigers ($132.9M)?
They have the great franchise player. Not surrounding him with enough talent to try to win a World Series, a goal of Ramirez, is a shame and the ownership should be held accountable.
It is incredible that Jose Ramirez seems to continue to get better after the age of 30, when most players start to decline. It would be great if the franchise gave him some help.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 