Blue Jays Have Discussed Jose Ramirez Trade With Guardians

The Blue Jays have had discussions with the Guardians about trades involving Jose Ramirez, with the idea of using him as a second baseman, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. In a subsequent tweet, Rosenthal adds that it’s unclear if Toronto’s acquisition of Matt Chapman will alter these discussions, hypothesizing that the Jays don’t want to continue depleting their prospect stock with yet another huge deal.

The fact that the Jays are interested in Ramirez is not surprising for multiple reasons. The team’s president and general manager, Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins, were both with Cleveland from the time of Ramirez’s signing through his first few MLB seasons. There’s also the fact that Ramirez is incredibly talented and affordable. Over the past six seasons, he’s hit 155 home runs, stolen 134 bases and hit .286/.364/.531, for a wRC+ of 135 and 32.7 fWAR. He’ll make $11MM this season and has a $13MM club option for next season. He’s also a switch-hitter, which would benefit a Blue Jays lineup that skews heavily right-handed. Furthermore, it has been previously reported that the Jays unsuccessfully tried to acquire Ramirez at last year’s trade deadline.

While Ramirez would certainly be an offensive upgrade over the Cavan Biggio–Santiago Espinal pairing the Jays currently have projected at second base, the plan would come with some complications. For one, Ramirez’s experience at second base is limited. He played there sporadically in the first few years of his career until 2017, when he got into 71 games at the keystone. 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. They’re currently projected for an Opening Day payroll of just $52MM, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. Even for a typically low-spending team like them, that’s incredibly low, giving them little incentive to subtract the $11MM owed to Ramirez.

Also, there’s the question of whether Cleveland would want to do this from a public relations standpoint. The fanbase already had to endure a trade of a face-of-the-franchise player one year ago when Francisco Lindor was dealt to the Mets. That was followed up by the team abandoning the nickname they had used for over a century, a move that was clearly quite unpopular with certain sections of the club’s diehards. To turn around and trade the team’s best player yet again would only do further damage to the relationship between the franchise and their customers.

Finally, there’s also the fact that Cleveland can still compete in the AL Central. Despite a litany of injuries to their starting rotation last season, the team still finished 80-82. Even with marginally better luck on the health front, they should be able to push themselves back over .500 and into a playoff race, especially with an extra playoff spot being available this year. Given their incredibly low payroll commitments, they should be able to add to their roster rather than subtract, particularly in the outfield.