Rooting our angel on to new heights
With Jose Ramirez putting himself in future Hall of Famer conversations, what should Cleveland fans root for him to produce in 2025?
In his age 31-32 season, Jose Ramirez came just one home run short of producing only the second 40 homers, 40 steals and 40 doubles season in MLB history, adding 6.5 fWAR to his total of 51.5 fWAR. In MLB history, he is 30th in fWAR already, while having, on average, 6,600 plate appearances than the 29 players in front of him. Almost every player in front of Jose on this list who played the majority of his career at third is either in the Hall of Fame or on the path to make it. So, if we assume some modicum of health for Jose, he should be in line to make the Hall of Fame as the first Cleveland “Guardian” to do so someday.
So, what marks should we root for from Jose in 2025 to make his Hall of Fame case an open and closed case? What accomplishments should be monitor in terms of his place in the history of the Cleveland franchise? Below is a list of five Jose numbers/situations to watch:
1. Jose Needs 23.6 fWAR to be the Franchise’s All-Time fWAR Leader
Ramirez is under team-control with a no-trade clause through the 2028 season, during which time he will turn 36 years old. To eclipse Nap Lajoie’s all-time franchise fWAR total, Jose needs to average 6 fWAR per year. I’d guess to hit that number, Jose will have to have a real burst of energy for 2025 and 2026 and get some throwback 2017-2018 numbers to push him to 15 fWAR, leaving him only needing 8.6 fWAR for his final two years. A much better bet would be IF the team can extend Jose for two more years, letting him play to the age of 38 in Cleveland, and allowing him to average just under 4 fWAR for these last (then) six years. I can’t tell you which of these scenarios is more likely, but I surely hope that if Jose still wants to play baseball, the team will do whatever it takes to make sure he plays only in Cleveland.
2. Jose Needs 83 Home Runs to be the Franchise’s All-Time Home Run Leader
So, quick math tells us that Jose needs to average 21 home runs over the next four years to eclipse Jim Thome’s mark. Another season of close to 40 home runs would make this accomplishment look like almost a formality given his proclivity to smack pulled fly balls on those short porches at Progressive Field. Let’s just take a moment and marvel that this 5’8” spark plug could realistically hit the most home runs in Cleveland history.
3. Jose Needs 37 Steals to be the Franchise’s Second-Place All-Time in Steals
I don’t put limits on Jose, but it seems he’ll likely have to discover the literal fountain of youth to catch Kenny Lofton who is 209 steals in front of him, but if he repeats last year’s performance, he will catch Omar Vizquel who is currently second on this list. If you’re interested in some other counting stats, Jose needs 256 runs to be the all-time leader in runs scored, 123 doubles to be the all-time leader in doubles, and 221 RBI to be the all-time RBI leader.
4. A World Series Title
Well, we know this is the one Jose wants the most. We know this is the one the fans want the most. Honestly, even if the aging cliff hit hard, if Jose had a great playoffs to lead this team to a title, it would secure his Hall of Fame and greatest player in franchise history case at the same time.
5. An AL MVP
He should have had one in 2020, short season or no, but securing an AL MVP would be a tremendously helpful accomplishment to point to on his Hall of Fame resume. If he were to win one, Jose would also be the first Cleveland player to do so since Al Rosen in 1953. That’s 72 years ago, but who’s counting?
Jose Ramirez is a miracle and a delight of a baseball player. While it’s fun to monitor these chases for greatness, I’m just looking forward to seeing how he will surprise and thrill us as another season begins.