Guardians hire Chris Valaika as hitting coach; pick up option on Jose Ramirez

The soon-to-be-Guardians on Friday announced that they exercised Jose Ramirez's 2020 club option, declined Roberto Perez's 2022 club option and hired Chris Valaika as the team's major league hitting coach.

Valaika spent last season with the Chicago Cubs as an assistant hitting coach, his first on a major-league staff. He was the Cubs' minor-league hitting coordinator from 2019-2020 and spent 2018 as Triple-A Iowa's hitting coach.

Valaika will be added to the staff in place of Ty Van Burkleo, who was informed shortly after the conclusion of the regular season that he wouldn't be a part of the 2022 coaching staff in Cleveland. The Guardians' hitting department also consists of assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez and hitting analyst Justin Toole.

Construction begins:Script 'Indians' sign above scoreboard kicks off Progressive Field renovations

Manager Terry Francona remains on track to head the staff in 2022, barring any setbacks as he continues his recovery from two procedures that forced his early exit from the 2021 season.

The Cubs in October hired away Carter Hawkins to be Chicago's general manager.

Jose Ramirez option picked up

In the most obvious of roster moves in the baseball world this winter, Ramirez's $12 million club option for 2022 is being exercised.

Cleveland has club options with Ramirez for both the 2022 and 2023 ($14 million) seasons. Ramirez remains one of the best values in the game after putting together another All-Star-level season, hitting .265 with 36 home runs, 32 doubles, 103 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. He accrued 6.3 fWAR, which ranked fourth among all AL position players (if Shohei Ohtani's pitching fWAR is included in his total). He was recently named a finalist for an American League Silver Slugger Award at third base.

Ramirez entered 2021 with three MVP-finalist (top three) seasons in the previous four years and could be in line for No. 4 in the last five depending on the voting results. Awards finalists will be announced on Monday at 6 p.m. on MLB Network.

Guardians decline Roberto Perez's 2022 club option

The 2022 option with Perez wasn't as clear-cut of a decision, but it was evident that things were trending that way.

In the spring of 2019, Perez said he wanted to 'prove some people wrong' following the Yan Gomes trade that gave Perez the primary catching duties for the first time. He did, hitting 24 home runs with a .774 OPS (along with his elite defensive abilities).

But the 2020 and 2021 seasons told a much different story, one of Perez battling both offensive regression and injuries. He hit .165 and .149 the past two years, respectively, and played in only 76 combined games. Perez, who has been known to play through injuries, was sidelined at other times and never found the kind of offensive rhythm that he did in 2019.

His 2022 club option was for $7 million with a $450,000 buyout. The Guardians save $6.55 million and Perez becomes a free agent and could theoretically still return to Cleveland on a smaller deal.

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Indians at www.beaconjournal.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.