The Cleveland Guardians don’t know what it’s like to see Jose Ramirez in a different baseball uniform.
Most likely, they’ll never know. Since Ramirez arrived in the major leagues, he’s been a Cleveland ballplayer. He has signed a pair of contract extensions that have ensured that, barring something totally surprising, he’ll be a one-team player.
On the day that Ramirez is inducted into Cooperstown, he’ll wear a Cleveland hat on his plaque.
This, though, has been the oddest season of Ramirez’s career. A mid-summer injury to his hand sapped his power, and the whole run up to the playoffs has been filled with hoping that Ramirez can rediscover some of who he once was.
It’s fair to think that this was sort of due. Ramirez had been metronomically consistent for Cleveland for so long. He was allowed a down year.
And he could still rescue it all by shining in the playoffs and leading the Guardians on a deep October run.
It does raise the point, though, that the Guardians still owe Ramirez a lot of money. This isn’t a franchise that doles out big contracts often.
This season is what it is, but the Guardians will need Ramirez to take steps back in the right direction in the future.
It’s not that he doesn’t deserve every penny Cleveland has ever paid him and will pay him. The Guardians just have less wiggle room for the length of his expensive contract.
Jose Ramirez Contract
Ramirez signed a seven-year contract extension with the Guardians that took effect in the 2026 season and pays him $175 million.
The Guardians chose to defer a bunch of the contract to future payments.
Each year of the deal, Ramirez makes $18.35 million from Cleveland, and he’s got six seasons remaining. So from 2027 through 2032 (his age-39 season), Ramirez will make a total of $110.1 million in salary.
Then there are the deferrals. They begin in 2036, and it’s an escalating payment scale.
Ramirez makes $1 million, then $2 million, then $3 million, then $4 million, then $5 million, then $6 million, then $7 million in 2042 and again in 2043, 2044 and 2045.
It goes back down the scale $1 million at a time until he is given the final payment of $1 million in 2051, when he’s 58.
Overall, the Guardians still owe Ramirez more than $156 million ($156.65 million exactly) from this recent contract extension
Jose Ramirez Stats
Ramirez is a Guardians legend who ranks near the top of the franchise leaderboards in just about every category.
For his career, he’s a .276 hitter with 297 home runs and 324 steals.
This year, though, his average has dropped to .235, and he has just 12 homers. His wheels haven’t gone anywhere, as he’s swiped 37 bags, but Ramirez has a .688 OPS, which would be his lowest since 2015.
Ramirez has actually not been a massive postseason contributor in his career, with an OPS of just .681 on that stage, and coupled with his hamate bone injury from the summer, it could be tough for him to outdo that this month.
Still, this is Jose Ramirez. He’s committed himself to Cleveland, and no one in Cleveland is betting against him.
Guardians Still Owe Injured Star $156.65 Million