Cleveland Indians: Jose Ramirez trade rumors are sickening

A trade rumor has the Cleveland Indians moving Jose Ramirez to the Braves.

A Twitter rumor has the Cleveland Indians talking about a Jose Ramirez trade to the Atlanta Braves.

The rumor comes from Dan Clark, who Tweets @DanClarkSports. I learned about the Tweet from 92.3 The Fan reporter Daryl Ruiter, who commented via retweet on Ramirez’s contract status. For Ruiter to comment, gives validity to Clark’s words.

If it’s true, it’s sickening. Tribe fans just watched the team deal one of the top five players in its history. Trading Francisco Lindor was a tough pill to swallow, but it’s something all of us knew would eventually happen.

However, trading Ramirez, a player who’s finished in the top four of the AL MVP vote for three of the last four years, and who happens to be one of the best bargains in baseball? If it’s true, The Dolans are telling the fan base that 2021 doesn’t matter.

Yet, they’ll try to spin it the other way around, as they did after dealing Lindor. They’ll send Chris Antonetti back out there to say they plan to contend behind a pitching staff fronted by Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale and Triston McKenzie.

Ramirez is due to earn $9 million next season. This isn’t an aren’t exorbitant sums for a major professional sports franchise to pay in 21st century. The club also has options for 2022 and 2023, with J-Ram set to earn $12 and $14 million, respectively. The Indians already have the lowest payroll in baseball–how low do they want to go?

Perhaps they think they can do what the A’s and Rays seem to do on a yearly basis. Pay no one, yet somehow make the postseason. These teams develop their own talent and spend wisely in free agency.

Losing Ramirez and and Lindor in the same offseason by trade would trump trading C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee in back-to-back seasons (2008 and 2009). Frankly, I don’t know how the Dolans would come back from it.

Ownership is in tough spot. Running a sports franchise without being able to host customers? They were hemorrhaging cash daily, losing “tens of millions” during the truncated 2020 campaign.

That said, other teams are scaling back, but they aren’t out there blowing themselves into pieces. I’ve tried to defend the Dolans fiscal prudence, because they’ve put together a stellar front office that’s delivered a playoff team in in five of the last eight seasons.

The same can’t be said bout the Browns, who had the town’s undying loyalty for 20 years without coming close to winning a championship, let alone a division title. Meanwhile, the Cavs aren’t revenant unless the once-in-a-generation talent who was born 30 miles away decides he wants to play for them.

If the Dolans do seriously consider this trade, they should look to sell. Collect their $1 billion in the sale and enjoy the view of Lake Erie and sip mojitos at the Shoreby Club.

I know: Don’t expect the new owner top spend like the Yankees. Most diehards are realistic about the market. That said, do expect the next owner to support a contender by not wasting what could be the game’s next great pitching rotation. Additionally, don’t look for them to trade an MVP candidate in his prime who makes peanuts compared to other MVP contenders.

If this trade did come to fruition, the Indians better return stud prospects Christian Pache and pitcher Ian Anderson for three years of Ramirez. The Braves probably don’t want to do it, which means the Indians will get the short end of the stick, which they always seem to do when they trade a player.

Hopefully, this rumor goes the way of a lot of others rumors: Here today, gone tomorrow, and downright crazy to even consider it a week from now.