The Blue Jays discussed deals with the Guardians related to Jose Ramirezwith the idea of using him as a second baseman, tweets from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. IN follow-up tweetRosenthal adds that it’s unclear whether the Toronto acquisition was Matt Chapman will change those discussions by suggesting that the Jays don’t want to keep depleting their pool of leads with another big deal.
The fact that the Jays are interested in Ramirez is not surprising for several reasons. Team president and general manager Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins have both been with Cleveland since signing Ramirez during his first few seasons in MLB. There’s also the fact that Ramirez is incredibly talented and approachable. Over the past six seasons, he’s hit 155 home runs, stole 134 bases, and hit .286/.364/.531 for 135 wRC+ and 32.7 fWAR. He will earn $11 million this season and will have a $13 million club option next season. He is also a striker, which will benefit the Blue Jays roster, which heavily skews right-handers. In addition, it was previously reported that the Jays unsuccessfully attempted to acquire Ramirez in the last year of the deal.
While Ramirez would certainly be an offensive upgrade from Cavan Biggio–Santiago Espinal The pairing of the Jays is currently projected at second base, the plan will come with some complications. First, Ramirez’s experience at second base is limited. He played there sporadically in the first few years of his career until 2017 when he played 71 games in cornerstone. That dropped to 16 games in 2018 and he hasn’t played there since.
There’s also the fact that the Guardians don’t really have the financial motivation to move Ramirez. According to Jason Martinez of Roster Resource, their opening day payroll is currently only $52 million. Even for a low-spending team like them, that’s incredibly low, giving them little incentive to deduct the $11 million owed to Ramirez.
Also, there is the question of whether Cleveland would be willing to do so in terms of public relations. The fanbase already had to deal with the franchise’s face swap a year ago when Francisco Lindor was transferred to Metz. This was followed by the team dropping the nickname they had used for over a century, a move that was clearly quite unpopular with some sections of the club’s loyalists. Turning around again and trading the best player on the team will only cause more damage to the relationship between the franchise and its customers.
Finally, there’s also the fact that Cleveland can still compete in the AL Central. Despite many injuries in the starting rotation last season, the team still finished 80-82. Even with a bit more luck on the health front, they should be able to push themselves off .500 and into the playoff race, especially with the extra playoff spot available this year. Given their incredibly low wage commitments, they should be able to add to their roster rather than subtract, especially in the outfield.