Obviously, a contending baseball team losing its best player for an extended period of time isn’t a good thing. On the other hand, professional athletes and managers do not think like fans do, so no doubt the Cleveland Guardians’ players aren’t going to just quit because Jose Ramirez will miss approximately the next two months with a broken hamate bone.

Ramirez is the heart and soul of the Guards, the way he plays rubs off on the entire team. Look at how players like Brayan Rocchio and Angel Martinez emulate him.

If there is a silver lining, it’s that Ramirez wasn’t carrying the Cleveland offense this season. Yes, he leads the team in doubles with 18 and no one in the American League has stolen more bases, but Martinez has more home runs, 11 to Ramirez’ 10 and Chase DeLauter has more RBIs with 34.

He does lead the Guardians in OPS at 757, but is just barely ahead of Rocchio, who sits at 752.

However, Cleveland is now third last in the AL in scoring runs, ahead of just Kansas City and Texas, so losing a key offensive piece is not a good thing.

We guarantee you the people who aren’t hanging their heads and saying “woe is us” are Steven Vogt, Austin Hedges, and the rest of the players in that clubhouse. We will bet their mantra will be to keep winning so when Ramirez is back, they are in position to win their third straight AL Central title.

Besides a Ramirez hot streak, what the Guardians may miss the most is his baserunning. As we noted before, he leads the league in stolen bases and his ability to take the extra base is beyond compare.

He also leads the team in walks with 41 and the player who may get the bulk of the playing time in his place, Gabriel Arias, almost never takes a free pass. You are going from a player with a career on base percentage of .352 to one with a .273 mark. That’s a lot of outs.

To make up for his absence, the Guardians will need Steven Kwan to find his stroke and get back to the player who can get on base 35% of the time. They will need Martinez to stop swinging at everything that comes out of the pitcher’s hand and be more patient.

And they will need DeLauter and Bazzana to shake themselves out of their recent slumps and start getting some extra base hits.

In short, it will take a team effort. The Guardians pride themselves on their culture, how everyone pulls for one another. That attitude will be on full display with Ramirez out of the lineup.

Most of all, they will continue to need great pitching. Tanner Bibee has put together two straight very good starts. Gavin Williams is pitching like an ace, and Slade Cecconi has been much better as of late.

No one can replace Ramirez, but if everyone can do just a little more, Vogt will get this group to tread water until Ramirez is back for the stretch drive.

That won’t be easy though.