Jose Stepped Up And Stayed. Why Doesn’t Ownership Help Him?

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.

Retired Numbers Should Be For The Elite.

With Tristan Thompson perhaps (probably) playing his last game as a Cleveland Cavalier because the NBA season for the wine and gold is over, the subject of retired numbers came up regarding the franchise, and we wanted to weigh in with our thoughts.

First, let’s clarify a few rules. Much like Hall of Fame debates, you cannot use the fact that someone’s number has been retired and shouldn’t have as an argument to retire a number.

For example, Nate Thurmond’ s number was retired by Cleveland even though the big man played a shade of a season (114 games total) with the Cavs. That shouldn’t justify anyone else who played that short of time with the team having their number hanging from the rafters.

Second, a player should play the majority of his career with the team who is retiring his number. So, people who want the Indians to retire C.C. Sabathia’s number would be on the wrong side of this argument.

The lefty pitched here for eight seasons, but spent 11 seasons in pinstripes.

In our opinion, retiring a players’ number should be reserved for the elitist of players, the crème de la crème if you will.

So, Thompson will likely fit the longevity factor, but although he was a key piece of the squads that went to four straight NBA Finals, he’s never been an elite player. Heck, he’s never made an All Star team.

One of the reason’s the Cavs have so many uniform numbers retired was to draw people to games when they had bad records.

Austin Carr? He deserves the honor. He’s 6th all time in games played and still ranks 4th in points scored, and he was the franchise’s first marquee player. He’s called Mr. Cavalier, and with good reason.

Mark Price was the first Cleveland player to make first team All-NBA, and made four all star appearances, his teammate, Brad Daugherty, made five all star appearances.

We will agree to them, and of course, LeBron James’ #23 will be honored when his playing days end.

Larry Nance? Played more games with the Suns than with the Cavs (and we loved Nance as a player). And it pains us to say it, because his jersey retirement started bridging the gap between the team and James, but Zydrunas Ilgauskas’s number shouldn’t be retired either.

As for the future, the second clause would keep Kyrie Irving’s number in play, because he likely will play more games for another team than the Cavs.

The Indians got caught in the same attendance driven trap as well, so they started retiring too many numbers.

Obviously, Bob Feller’s #19 should get the honor. He’s the greatest player in the history of the franchise. And we would also agree with Lou Boudreau’s #5, Bob Lemon’s #21, and Jim Thome’s #25 never being worn again.

And Larry Doby’s historical significance, even though he’s ignored nationally, merit’s his #14 being taken out of circulation. The fact he was also a great player makes him even more worthy.

But Earl Averill? Most people outside of Cleveland don’t know who he is, even though he’s in Cooperstown. Mel Harder pitched here a long time, and was very good, but…

Frank Robinson deserves the statue commemorating him as the major league’s first African-American manager, but his number should not be retired in Cleveland. In Baltimore? Absolutely, but not here.

The Browns have retired five jerseys, although the number retirement is less prevalent in the NFL. Iconic players Otto Graham (#14), Lou Groza (#76), and the great Jim Brown (#32) will never have their numbers worn again, and we can understand retiring #45, commemorating the tragic story of Ernie Davis, who passed from leukemia before ever playing with the Browns.

The other retired number is another tragic story, that of Don Fleming (#46), who was a starting safety for Cleveland from 1960-62, and was electrocuted working construction during the off-season in June, 1963.

Our guess is the Browns will be retiring another number soon, when Joe Thomas is elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his #73 will not be worn again.

To us, the jersey retirement should be a very special thing, reserved for the greats of the great for each franchise.

Adding players who aren’t worthy cheapens the honor for those special players.

In Praise Of Cookie Carrasco

Virtually every major league baseball team has one. That player who is identified with the franchise. They played in that town for their entire career, and they are that franchise’s Mr. ________.

And it’s not just restricted to large market cities. Kansas City has George Brett. Milwaukee has Robin Yount. Cincinnati has Johnny Bench and likely Joey Votto as well.

Minnesota has Joe Mauer and Kirby Puckett. Baltimore has Cal Ripken Jr. Atlanta? Chipper Jones.

Some cities have had these type of players, but unfortunately, they have passed away. We mentioned Puckett, and the Pirates had Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The Cubs had Ernie Banks.

Currently, St. Louis has Yadier Molina and Washington has Ryan Zimmerman.

The Indians had Bob Feller, arguably the best Tribesman ever. However, what did those other players do that Feller didn’t? The all played within the last 50 years.

Feller retired in 1956. That’s 64 years ago.

Could the Indians have such a player on their roster right now? Well, as a matter of fact, they may. He may not be a superstar or a Hall of Famer, but they have a player who may play his entire career in northeast Ohio. It’s Carlos Carrasco.

Carrasco is beginning his 11th season with the organization, coming over in the trade that sent Cliff Lee to Philadelphia.

The other players who came with him were infielder Jason Donald, who was moved in the deal that brought Trevor Bauer to Cleveland after the 2012 season, Lou Marson, who left as a free agent in 2013, and never played in the bigs again, and Jason Knapp, who developed arm trouble.

Carrasco came up to the Tribe late in ’09 for five starts, and spent most of ’10 in the minors as well, making seven starts and finishing with a 3.83 ERA in 45 innings.

Cookie opened with the big club in 2011, and was a mainstay in the rotation, making 21 starts before he injured his elbow, necessitating Tommy John surgery, which kept him out through the 2012 season.

He made one April start in ’13, but spent much of the first half of that season in AAA, before coming up in July. He struggled in six starts after coming back and finished the year in the bullpen.

In 2014, he again struggled opening the year as a starter, allowing 17 runs in 19 innings in four starts, and was again moved to relief.

It was in the bullpen that he revitalized his career.

The right-hander made 26 appearances out of the bullpen, going 3-1 with a save and a 2.30 ERA, striking out 39 batters in 43 innings.

On August 10th of that year, the Indians needed a starter in a game at Yankee Stadium, and Terry Francona and then pitching coach Mickey Callaway went with Carrasco, telling him to use the same aggressiveness he used in the ‘pen.

Carrasco allowed two hits over five shutout innings, striking out four. He made nine more starts the rest of the season, pitching to a 1.30 ERA, and fanning 78 hitters. Included was a two hit shutout against Houston.

From there, Carrasco became one of the American League’s most reliable starting pitchers, going 60-36 with a 3.40 ERA from 2015 to 2019.

Last year, as everyone knows, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and missed three months before coming back to pitch in relief in September.

This season, he will be back in the starting rotation, and should be back to being one of the premier starters in the American League.

He’s also under contract with a club option through 2023, meaning he likely will finish his career here, and likely will wear just one team’s uniform, the Cleveland Indians.

He’s been underrated by fans here, mostly because he’s pitched on the same staff as Corey Kluber, but people around baseball know how good of a pitcher Carlos Carrasco is.

That’s one of the best in the game.