Call to the pen
Fansided

Why the Cleveland Guardians should (but won’t) trade José Ramírez

By Noah Yingling

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 03: Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Indians is greeted by teammates after scoring a run in the third inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on October 03, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 03: Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Indians is greeted by teammates after scoring a run in the third inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on October 03, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 3
Next
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 18: Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Indians in action against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on September 18, 2021 in New York City. The Indians defeated the Yankees 11-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 18: Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Indians in action against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on September 18, 2021 in New York City. The Indians defeated the Yankees 11-3. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez is one of, if not, the best third baseman in the American League.

In five of the last six seasons, he has garnered MVP votes and, in four of the last five seasons, he has come in at least sixth in AL MVP voting, including three top-three finishes.

He could get the Cleveland Guardians a haul in return, but they will not trade Ramírez this offseason for a number of different reasons.

Cleveland Guardians’ third baseman José Ramírez should be traded this offseason, but won’t.

There are a lot of reasons why the Cleveland Guardians should trade José Ramírez and there are a lot of reasons why they won’t. First, we’ll tackle why they should trade him.

In recent years, the Guardians have tried to be a competitive team. After all, since Ramírez first played 100+ games in an MLB season, the Guardians have been to a World Series once and made the playoffs three other times, and won 93 games another season.

But the Guardians are likely not going to be a competitive team in 2022. In 2021, they went 80-82, which was their worst record since 2012.

Part of that was because their pitching staff was so depleted for most of the summer as they did not have a single pitcher make more than 25 starts. The reigning Cy Young Award winner, Shane Bieber, missed half of the season, plus Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale missed extended time too.

The problem with the Cleveland starting rotation going forward is that they don’t have the depth that they used to and their pitching guru who was a big key to the success of these pitchers, Rueben Niebla, left the organization this offseason to become the pitching coach for the San Diego Padres.

Home/Cleveland Guardians