Apparently the Cleveland Guardians are working to get Jose Ramirez signed to a contract extension before Opening Day

Here’s a wrench in the Jose Ramirez to Toronto story.

According to Mike Rodriguez, a Spanish reporter and analyst with Univision, the Cleveland Guardians and Ramirez are on the verge of agreeing to a contract extension. Hector Gomez, a more well-known source within the world of Spanish baseball, jumped on the rumour and said that Cleveland will do “whatever it takes to keep Ramirez with the team for the bulk of his career.”

Gomez also reached out to Ramirez on Instagram with a screenshot of the contract extension rumour, to which Ramirez replied with the shifty eyes emoji, which likely means that there’s smoke to the whole situation.

It’s probably best to take an ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ approach to a cheap-ass franchise like Cleveland dumping a truckload of money on a player, but Gomez is a pretty reliable reporter who has been right about quite a few things, especially in regards to Spanish players, in the past. This off-season, for example, Gomez broke news on Wander Franco’s extension and Nelson Cruz signing with the Washington Nationals.

There’s been speculation for quite some time that Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins would be interested in acquiring Ramirez, a player they know well from their days in Cleveland. Even after the Matt Chapman trade was made earlier this month, Carlos Baerga and Ken Rosenthal were pumping the idea that the Blue Jays could still trade for Ramirez to play second base.

Given Cleveland’s asking price, which, according to Buck Martinez was Alek Manoah and top prospect Gabriel Moreno, it isn’t surprising the Blue Jays didn’t pull the trigger. Despite that, there was still speculation that Toronto could circle back to Ramirez ahead of the trade deadline.

Ramirez signing a long-term deal with Cleveland would obviously put an end to the dream of him becoming a Blue Jay. But, again, Cleveland is cheap, so I’ll believe it when I see it.

He’s paid $12 million in 2022 and has a team option for $13 million for 2023 and then is eligible to hit free agency for the first time in his career.