Tag: robin yount

The Cleveland Franchise Icon: Jose Ramirez

We have always looked wistfully at baseball teams that have a franchise icon. Kansas City has George Brett and Milwaukee has Robin Yount. Pittsburgh, of course, has Roberto Clemente. A fan of the Cleveland Indians/Guardians never had that.

When Jim Thome was elected to the Hall of Fame, the team erected a statue of him in Heritage Park at Progressive Field. But as we all know, Thome left Cleveland to sign with the Phillies as a free agent, then was traded to the White Sox, and played for several other teams, and did come back here for a cup of coffee in 2011.

There have been a lot of great players here especially in the Jacobs/Progressive Field years: Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, C.C. Sabathia, Francisco Lindor. None of them stayed.

We think the last position player to play 10 years in Cleveland and never play for another team was Al Rosen. He retired in 1956.

That will change thanks to Jose Ramirez, who signed an extension with the Guardians over the weekend through the 2032 season. Unless something drastic happens, Ramirez will retire here and will never wear another big-league team’s uniform.

Everyone around baseball should be aware of Ramirez’ six top five finishes in the MVP voting, the most by any player who has never won the award. It will be difficult for him to win now because the voting seems to be based on WAR, and the nuance of how much impact he has in the clubhouse won’t be figured in.

By the time he retires, Ramirez will likely be the greatest position player in the history of the franchise. Soon after the season starts, he will take the field for his 1620th game, breaking Terry Turner’s franchise record.

He is just 65 at bats shy of breaking Napoleon Lajoie’s record for at bats. He is currently 7th in hits with 1668 and could be 4th behind Lajoie, Tris Speaker, and Earl Averill by the end of the season.

He is third in runs scored and will likely be second behind Averill by season’s end. He is 53 home runs away from passing Thome as the franchise home run leader and is second in RBIs and should pass Averill in that category in 2027 (if there is a season).

Oh yeah, he’s also second all-time in stolen bases behind Kenny Lofton.

And for the sabermetric crowd, Ramirez is 5th in WAR behind Lajoie, Speaker, Feller, and Lou Boudreau and it isn’t out of the realm of possibility he will pass all four by the time he is ready to hang up his #11 jersey, which we don’t think it is going out on a limb to suggest he will be the last player to wear that number with Cleveland.

And although we are frequent critics of the Dolan ownership, hats off to them for making sure Ramirez will not play someplace else. However, it also takes two to tango, and no doubt Ramirez’ desire to be in Cleveland is a huge factor in getting this extension done.

What would really be great is improving the current roster so Ramirez can continue to play for winning teams and what would even be better, have a chance to compete for a championship, which he had said he wants to bring to this city.

Perhaps the biggest testament to that is the number of intentional walks issued to Ramirez over the last four seasons. He been given over 20 free passes in three of those seasons, leading the American League in 2022 and 2023.

Hopefully, the front office can get him some help. He deserves that for all he has done for the Cleveland franchise.

Credit For The Ramirez Deal Should Go Only To Jose

They have been a lot of stories written about the negotiations between the Cleveland Guardians and Jose Ramirez as spring training was ending, and the resulting contract extension for the all-star third baseman, which will keep him in town through the 2028 season.

First, let us say we are thrilled Ramirez is staying. He is one of the top ten players in the game, with a trio of top three finishes in the AL MVP voting over the last five seasons. Baseball fans around northeast Ohio deserve to see someone play the majority of a great career in a Cleveland uniform.

We have brought this up before, but the last player to spend 10 seasons in the big leagues and only wear an Indians/Guardian jersey was Al Rosen, and he retired in 1956.

Other smaller market teams have their icons: Milwaukee has Robin Yount, Kansas City has George Brett. Colorado has Todd Helton.

Jose Ramirez can be that guy for northeast Ohio baseball fans.

And the credit for this is all on one person, and that is Jose Ramirez.

There is no question in our mind Ramirez could have received much more on the open market, figure between $25 and $30 million per year for seven or eight seasons. Texas gave Marcus Semien, who is two years older and not as good as a player, $175 million over seven years. You have to estimate Ramirez would have received over $200 million on the open market.

But he wanted to stay.

According to the stories by national writers, had Ramirez wanted to be paid commensurate with other players with his resume, he would have returned to Progressive Field this past week as a member of either the San Diego Padres or Toronto Blue Jays. The front office was fully prepared to trade him now in order to get the best return.

The Guardians management learned from the Francisco Lindor situation that moving a potential free agent prior to his walk year doesn’t yield the same market value.

However, Ramirez took a “discount” and wanted to remain in a Cleveland uniform, stating he wanted to retire here, go into the Hall of Fame as a Guardian, and win a World Series with the organization.

That’s the perfect news fans want to hear.

Mark Shapiro’s father, Ron Shapiro, who was an agent, said he told the athletes he represented there was a value in playing your entire career in one city. You become a part of that city and can tie yourself into that community.

Even though Bernie Kosar finished up in Dallas and Miami, look at how many local businesses want Bernie speaking on their behalf.

It seems like Ramirez felt the same, and we would bet we will start seeing Ramirez used in advertisements around this area soon.

Unfortunately, this signing isn’t going to make us feel any better about the ownership of the team. They simply did what any owner would do, keep a great player who made it very clear he wanted to stay, even taking less money to do so.

If you can’t do that as an owner, why are you even involved in professional sports.

Fans here should be thankful for Jose Ramirez. He is the reason this deal got done. No one else.