José Ramírez's new contract extension reflects poorly on Tigers in more ways than one

The Cleveland Guardians are a pain. They haven't finished below third place in AL Central since 2013, and in fact have won it six times since then. Their payroll hasn't exceeded $151 million since then and usually runs closer to $110 million — if that much. They don't spend. Their prospects never get that much hype. And yet, they still keep winning.

Tigers fans have become accustomed to the Guardians' black magic, which almost got the better of Detroit as recently as the 2025 Wild Card. It felt like a miracle that the Tigers were able to get past them to go to the ALDS, especially after losing to them in the 2024 ALDS and then ceding first place in the AL Central to them in the last few games of the 2025 regular season.

Whatever black magic the Guardians have, they've used it on José Ramírez, a guy so lovable it's hard for even Tigers fans to dislike him.

Ramírez is called the most underrated player in baseball so much that it might not be true anymore, but there's no question that he would get a lot more attention if he didn't have his heart set on staying in Cleveland. But his loyalty clearly knows no bounds, because he reportedly signed a seven-year, $175 million extension over the weekend.

José Ramírez's wildly below-market contract extension with Guardians makes the Tigers look bad

Ramírez already signed a five-year, $124 million extension at the beginning of the 2022 season — a wildly below-market contract for a Hall of Fame-caliber player. In an interview this offseason, before the new deal was done, Ramírez made himself even more of a hero in Cleveland and even more of an enviable figure in Detroit when he explained that he had the opportunity to agree to a trade to a team that might be able to pay him what he's worth, but he was adamant about staying with the Guardians.

He loves Cleveland, he loves the fans. Even if it means not making the amount of money he could if he tested free agency, he's staying put.

That brings us to the Tigers and Tarik Skubal. Ramírez's comments on his contract didn't reflect well on Skubal, who has done a lot of posturing about loving Detroit but would never agree to a hometown discount.

But the Tigers have yet to do what the Guardians have done with Ramírez. They haven't put their best foot forward and even tried to offer Skubal anything that resembles a competitive offer. If they were to present him a number, the highest they can plausibly go, and he still says no — that's on Skubal. But reports suggest the Tigers haven't done anything of the kind.

The Tigers seem just as resigned to losing Skubal as the fans do. Everyone knows that the chances of them keeping him are slim-to-none, but they need to exhaust every single avenue before they can shut the door on this. Both Skubal and the fans deserve to see some level of effort, even if it's for naught.