Jim Ingraham: Jose Ramirez could go down in history as Cleveland's best ever

Let's just throw this out there right now: When it's all said and done, will Jose Ramirez go down as the greatest Guardians player ever? Think about this: in the history of the franchise, which dates to the National League Cleveland Blues in 1879, only one player — one! — is in the top 10 in career home runs and career stolen bases: Jose Enrique Ramirez. Going into a game Wednesday in Colorado, Ramirez ranked fourth in franchise history with 232 home runs, but he only needed 11 more to pass No. 3 Manny Ramirez (236) and No. 2 Albert Belle (242). Jim Thome's franchise record of 337 home runs is further on up the road, but who's to say Jose won't be able to knock 106 more over the wall to pass Thome as the club's all-time leader in the game's most glamorous statistic? At 31, Ramirez is squarely in the prime of his career, and should be for roughly three or four more years. He has been grossly underpaid, starting in 2022 when he agreed to a seven-year, $141 million contract that was laughably below market. Had he entered free agency, Ramirez could have gotten twice, if not three times the amount he got from the Guardians. But the low-maintenance Ramirez wanted to stay with the low-budget Guardians, even if it meant leaving millions of dollars on the table, which it did. Two and a half years into that contract, Ramirez is delivering all that he has always delivered, including, and especially, being the most driven, productive and dependable leader that any team in any sport would gladly be willing to call its own, even if it meant paying Ramirez what he's truly worth. Which raises the question: How much is Jose Ramirez truly worth? The answer to that question is that there is no answer. Ramirez chose to stay in Cleveland not for the money, but, it seems, for everything but the money. He just likes it here. That, of course, is music to the ears of one of the most cautious spending teams in Major League Baseball. Jose isn't in this for the money, and Cleveland's ownership isn't in this for the chance to offer large piles of it. In other words, it's a match made in heaven! So, in exchange for a relatively modest salary for a player of spectacular skills, the Guardians are getting the seven prime years of a career that is eventually going to be enshrined in a little town in upstate New York called Cooperstown. Until then, Guardians fans, and Guardians officials, can sit back and enjoy the work of a supremely talented baseball artisan who is in the game for all the right reasons, and is that rarest of athletic heroes for whom the game — not the money — is the thing. Let us count the ways. Jose Ramirez is the Guardians' best hitter, best power hitter, best baserunner, best base stealer, best leader, smartest player, most dependable player and, let's see, what else is there? My guess is he could pitch a couple of innings, if necessary. He probably would make a good manager, too, if the spirit ever moves him. I've never seen him play basketball, but I wouldn't rule that out, either. He looks like a good point guard to me. Physically, he doesn't exactly have a neatly chiseled body, but that doesn't seem to hold him back. However, what he is most of all is a baseball player. He does baseball things on baseball fields that other baseball players can't do. His baseball IQ is off the charts. He sees things before others do, he anticipates action before it happens and he reacts to whatever happens appropriately. He is, in every sense, a baseball player. Nothing surprises him, but he surprises others, especially while running the bases. His instincts are impeccable. Most important of all, he is a leader. Young players follow him. They learn from him. He's also durable. He's played 152 games or more in six of the last eight years, and he has gotten MVP votes in seven of the last eight years, including a second-place finish in 2020, and thirds in 2017 and 2018. He's been an All-Star selection in five of the last seven years, and in one of the years he wasn't an All-Star selection he finished second in the MVP voting. Don't ask. Jose's first major league at-bat came on Sept. 9, 2013, a single off Kansas City's Ervin Santana. The 20-year-old Ramirez hit eighth in the lineup that day, between catcher Yan Gomes and right fielder Drew Stubbs. Eleven years later, Ramirez is hitting in the middle of Stephen Vogt's lineup, and he's doing more damage than ever before. Every year he continues to stuff his own ballot box with more proof that, as an all-around player, leader and star, he might be the best the franchise has ever had. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com.