Report: Indians, Ramirez finalizing 4-year extension
The Cleveland Indians are reportedly on the verge of locking up one of their breakout stars from a year ago, as the reigning American League champions are said to be finalizing a four-year extension worth a guaranteed $26 million with third baseman Jose Ramirez, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.
The deal, if completed, will kick in next season - Ramirez, not yet eligible for salary arbitration, is slated to earn close to the league minimum this year - and includes two team options that could keep him in Cleveland through the 2023 season (and, with escalators, bump the overall value of the contract to nearly $50 million).
Signed by Cleveland as an amateur free agent in 2009, Ramirez, 24, emerged as one of baseball's most underrated stars last year after struggling as a utility man for the previous two seasons, putting up 4.8 WAR while hitting .312/.363/.462 (122 wRC+) with 11 homers and 22 stolen bases in 152 games. By July, the versatile Dominican - who played mostly shortstop and second base for the Indians in 2014 and 2015 - had established himself as the club's everyday third baseman despite spending considerable time in left field prior to the All-Star break.
(With Jason Kipnis set to open the 2017 campaign on the disabled list due to a shoulder injury, however, Ramirez could serve as the club's interim second baseman early on this season.)
"What Jose was able to do given what we asked of him probably exceeded our expectations," president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told Zack Meisel of Cleveland.com in December. "To be able to go and play two positions that he didn't have a lot of experience playing and play them as well as he did and still contribute at such a high level offensively says a lot about him."
Ramirez, who finished 17th in AL MVP voting last year, is one of several players with less than three years of MLB service time - meaning, with the exception of Super Two players, they're not yet arbitration-eligible - to sign a long-term extension this winter. Earlier this week, Tim Anderson, still shy of a year's service time, signed a six-year extension with the Chicago White Sox; other pre-arb (or Super Two) players to agree to long-term contract extensions this offseason include Kevin Kiermaier, Ender Inciarte, and Odubel Herrera.