Story byAkron Beacon JournalRyan Lewis, Akron Beacon JournalThu, December 4, 2025 at 11:02 AM UTC·11 min readCLEVELAND — The Guardians enter this winter yet again as a potential contender in the American League, although the conversation about them primarily concerns their payroll. That is nothing new in Cleveland, but one element has added fuel to the fire — Jose Ramirez, and his career clock that is beginning to tick a bit louder. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNo matter what you call it — a sweetheart deal, a hometown discount — when Ramirez signed a seven-year, $141 million extension before the 2022 season, there's no doubt he gave Cleveland a gift in allowing its baseball franchise to keep a superstar talent in town much longer than would have been expected. Ramirez is, unquestionably, one of the top 10 position players in baseball. He just finished third in MVP voting in his age-32 season, and he's finished in the top six in MVP voting in seven of the last nine seasons. The list of all players with more fWAR since the beginning of the 2017 season than Ramirez's 51.0? Francisco Lindor, who is virtually in a neck-and-neck tie with Ramirez at 51.3 over nine seasons, and Aaron Judge at 61.6.
