Cleveland Guardians trade chatter, Toronto’s Jose Ramirez package

The Cleveland Guardians, and in particularly, third baseman Jose Ramirez have been the subject of trade rumors after the lockout ended.

The Athletic’s Jim Bowden handed out superlatives for teams condensing an entire offseason into a week and a half and gave the Guardians and Ramirez the following title: Player who should have been traded but wasn’t.

Bowden contends the “Guardians are going nowhere,” so if they can’t extend J-Ram, they’d be better off shipping him to a team like the Blue Jays, or another club that’s on the cusp of making the World Series.

"“…The Guardians could have taken advantage of them and dealt Ramírez for major leaguers such as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and/or Cavan Biggio, a top catching prospect (Alejandro Kirk), a top infield prospect (Jordan Groshans) and one of their best pitching prospects.”"

For what it’s worth, it was reported that Ramirez’s agent is in Arizona and meeting with the Guards about an extension. Not really earth shattering news, as the Guards tried to do the same with Francisco Lindor. Getting a deal done is another story.

Cleveland Guardians can play spoiler

This national perspective on Ramirez, where no one expects the Guardians to contend in the AL Central this season, is commonplace. These scribes believe the front office should get what they can for a player who really is one of the biggest bargains in baseball. Ramirez is under contract for this season and carries a team friendly club option for 2023.

Those paying closer attention know Cleveland may get to play the role of spoiler. If healthy, the pitching rotation may be,, pound-for-pound, as good as any starting five in the major leagues, If you can pitch, you’ve got a chance.

Additionally, with the Guardians re-branding, the organization really needs a face of the franchise and it’s Ramirez, for now anyways. On the bright side, it sounds like the Guardians are trying to swing a trade to bolster the lineup, according to ESPN Cleveland’s Bruce Drennan (Hour 2, 24:30, subscription required).

"“My sources tell me that [Chris] Antonetti and [Mike] Chernoff are working on a deal, with a couple of different clubs, putting together packages, because we certainly have the assets…to get a bat or two for the middle of that lineup.”"

While the Guardians have stood pat to this point, it sounds like the front office has some things in the hopper. Nothing may come of it, we’ll just have to wait and see.

As for a Ramirez trade, if the team is out of it by the All-Star break, the team will probably unload him if an extension can’t be reached. That’s just the business of baseball in Cleveland.