Guardians’ third baseman José Ramírez is committed to Cleveland.
Chris Antonetti, the Cleveland Guardians’ president of baseball operations, took care of club business early this winter. Earlier this week Ramírez agreed to a seven-year, $175 million contract extension. The deal will keep Ramírez, a seven-time MLB All-Star Game selection and six-time Silver Slugger Award winner, in Cleveland through the 2032 season.
Ramírez, 33, will have reached his 20th season with the Guardians at the end of his contract. One stipulation of the new contract agreed upon is that Ramírez is granted a full no-trade clause.
Cleveland, last appearing in the World Series in 2016 and before that in 1997, and coming out on the losing end in both seven-game matchups, hasn’t been an MLB championship team since 1948. Hopefully, with the 2026 season marking 88 years since the then-Cleveland Indians thumping the Boston Braves in six games, Ramírez will lead the charge to reversing the drought.
Last season’s Guardian’s club, at 88–74, captured their second consecutive American League Central title. Winning the division on the final day of the regular season was nothing less than spectacular. Trailing the division-leading Detroit Tigers by as many as 10 games in September, the Guardians won 15 of their last 16 games to eke out the title.
Losing to the Tigers in the Wild Card Series stung Cleveland. Any hopes of a repeat to the postseason in 2026, a healthy and happy Ramírez is vital for the Guardians. Although Ramírez was still under contract with Cleveland through the 2028 season, a deal he signed in 2022, the club, by extending Ramírez’s deal, sends a message to its fan base of not only remaining a contender for the pennant but a leader for a World Series championship.
A growing, friendly debate continues among current and veteran Cleveland baseball fans as to where Ramírez slides in among the franchise’s all-time greats.
Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller, for 18 seasons in the 1930s through the 1950s, is generally thought of as the greatest Cleveland baseball player in the organization’s more than 100 years. Along with Feller, Cleveland’s 1948 World Series winner posted five future hall of famers, plus Negro Leagues pitching sensation Satchel Page.
The Guardians acted quickly to keep Ramírez in the fold, to avoid any possibility of their superstar entertaining offers from other clubs after the 2028 season.
The team, which drew more then two million fans to home games at Progressive Field in 2025, clearly weren’t hesitant to offer the new contract to Ramírez, who will be 40 at the time of the seventh year. His game displays no signs of slowing. Last season, Ramírez led Cleveland’s offense in all but one category. He batted .283, clubbed 30 home runs, drove in 85 runs, swiped 44 bases, and accumulated a 6.3 WAR.
There are individual milestones for Ramírez to hunt in 2026. He is 15 home runs (285) from 300. Two more doubles and the Dominican Republic native reaches 400. With 51 RBIs, Ramírez tallies 1,000 for his career. Already, Ramírez has surpassed 1,000 runs scored. By swiping 13 bases in 2026, Ramirez nets his 300th stolen base.
Setting the tone for the rest of the lineup, Ramírez is as good of a contact hitter in the game as anyone. Last season, in 620 at-bats, Ramírez struck out only 82 times. However, for all his routine superiority between the basepaths, the American League MVP Award remains elusive. On four separate occasions, Ramírez has been a finalist for the American League’s top individual offensive award.
In 2025, Ramírez received the third number of points voted by the 30 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, winning his second consecutive MVP, belted 53 home runs and batted .355. Cal Raleigh, the second-place finisher of the Seattle Mariners, smashed 60 round-trippers.
With the financials out of the way, and his future secured with the Guardians, Ramírez should be able to lend his undivided attention to making his teammates work harder. Ramírez, a future hall of famer for sure, first inked his name to a Cleveland contract in 2009. Very few players in the history of the game have been able to remain with the club that signed them to their first professional contract. Select greats who chose to remain with one club throughout their MLB days, such as Derek Jeter, George Brett, Tony Gwynn, and Cal Ripken Jr., one day will include Ramírez to this exclusive group.
Having Ramírez in the lineup for the foreseeable future will make Cleveland skipper Stephen Vogt’s job that much easier. Seeing Ramírez patrolling third base and working wonders in the batter’s box should increase confidence in the rest of the Guardians’ hitters.
Solidifying Ramírez’s services for the remaining seasons of his career offers Guardians’ fans a regular repertoire of highlights, game in and game out. Cleveland baseball is in good hands, thanks to their home-grown hero remaining loyal to the city that has adopted him as one of their own.
