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Guardians announce Jose Ramirez contract extension as official
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- Guardians announce Jose Ramirez contract extension as official
CLEVELAND — In all likelihood, Jose Ramirez will finish his career as a Cleveland Guardian .
That possibility took a major step toward being realized Jan. 29 when the Guardians officially announced a seven-year, $175 million contract extension at Progressive Field. It'll keep Ramirez in Cleveland through the 2032 season, around the time he's turning 40 years old.
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That dream potentially came to fruition with this extension, signed just a few weeks before spring camp will begin in Goodyear, Ariz. But it's something Ramirez has viewed as one of his top goals for a long, long time.
"Since I signed that first contract [in 2009], I felt that was something that came to my mind that would be my goal, to try to complete my career here," Ramirez said through a team translator, sitting next to president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and team owner Paul Dolan. "Let's not forget I was rejected plenty of times when I was a [young] player [before signing with any team]. So whenever this team gave me the opportunity, that's the way I was able to give back for that opportunity they gave me when I was a lot younger."
That goal was born when Ramirez was still a kid from the Dominican Republic. Now he considers the frozen shores of Lake Erie as half of his home.
"I feel the same sense of pride from Cleveland than I have from the DR," Ramirez said. "I [say that] I'm 50-50, 50 percent Dominican, 50 percent Cleveland. My sons were born here, so I take that pride of the city and what that represents to me."
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Jose Ramirez contract the biggest extension in franchise history
Ramirez and his agent first began approaching the team about signing a new contract extension roughly a year ago, even though he still had several years left on his most recent extension, which was signed in 2022 . Still, despite being nowhere close to free agency, Ramirez wanted to end any doubt about his future as early as possible. Negotiations picked up in November, and the entire deal — which includes deferred money and some additional travel considerations — was completed in late January.
"I think we've been talking about this for a year, almost a year, when I was on the case with my agent, and my agent was holding me back a little bit, trying to get some time," Ramirez said. "But there's a point where those things come to your mind and you want to just get 'em out of your head and discuss them, and we were able to get that going this offseason."
Ramirez's deal will be vastly dwarfed by contracts signed by other players of his caliber, both in the recent past or immediate future. But Cleveland is where he wanted to be, and that prevailing thought won out over any argument for negotiating for more money.
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"Yeah, those comparisons went through my mind," Ramirez said, referencing deals signed by Juan Soto and others. "I mean, whoever earns those contracts, congratulations to them, kudos. But, for me, it's just what I can control and what matters to me. And, for me, it's my desire, and my desire is to be here."
For the Guardians, the extension announcement was effectively a celebration of one of the largest success stories in franchise history. Ramirez is easily on a projected path to one day be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame , and he'll almost assuredly have a statue outside Progressive Field at some point. But it didn't start that way.
"I mean, early on, my career wasn't as easy as many may think," Ramirez said. "I had my sort of struggles and I had to learn how to struggle with that. So for me it was continuing working and having hope that things will turn out better. And luckily things have turned out for the better for my career, and I just continue doing what I'm able to be today without forgetting at the beginning, it was really difficult for me."
Jose Ramirez career stats
Ramirez was largely a pinch-runner when he broke through to the majors in 2013. He shuffled back and forth between the majors and minors through 2014 and 2015, until he finally earned a starting job in 2016 and never looked back. He's been one of the league's premier position players for a decade, earning seven All-Star nods, six Silver Sluggers and four MVP-finalist seasons (top three).
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"It's been incredible to retrace Jose's career," Antonetti said. "He came up the minor leagues as a second baseman. In our great wisdom, we played him at shortstop and left field and, to Jose's credit, he didn't blink. All he cared about was getting opportunities to play and try to help the team win.
"And despite the fact he hadn't played those positions, he embraced it and took it as a challenge. And as he said, it was hard for him, he found a way to overcome that."
The deal is unlike any other in a few ways, considering both the timing and the dollar amount compared to Ramirez's projected value on the market. It doesn't fit the mold, which is why it was possible for the Guardians, regardless of of the unorthodox timing.
"This is a unique contract. It's rare that you look with three years left on the contract, that you would look to restructure things, but we're talking about a very unique player with Jose Ramirez," Antonetti said. "There's no one else like him in our organization's recent history. And so when Jose made it clear what his priorities were, we wanted to try to find a way to make it work."
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And by the time the deal is complete, it's entirely possible Ramirez will be considered the greatest player in Cleveland baseball history, with his name all over the club's record books .
"We've seen some great players come and go, and we don't begrudge them and what they did in terms of moving on inter career," Dolan said. "But when we have someone of Jose's stature, who is [in all likelihood] going to send his entire career here, that is so unique and I think really special for the franchise.
"I think he will be — there may be a few Bob Feller fans who might argue differently — but I think Jose will [go] down as the greatest player in the history of our franchise."
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jose Ramirez contract official, Guardians discuss deal
