CLEVELAND — For weeks, the Cleveland Guardians had fielded trade inquiries about closer Emmanuel Clase.
Now, there will be no trade.
Clase will not don a major-league uniform until at least September, as Major League Baseball placed him on non-disciplinary paid leave through at least Aug. 31, as the league continues a sports betting investigation that began with fellow Cleveland pitcher Luis L. Ortiz.
The development delivers a crushing blow to a Guardians team that was hanging around the periphery of the Wild Card race, but had played its best baseball of the season in recent weeks. Instead, they’re without one of their top young starters and the most prolific closer in franchise history, and now they must wait to learn the fate of both pitchers.
Here’s what we know:
The timeline
On Sunday morning, as Guardians president Chris Antonetti drove back to Cleveland from Cooperstown, N.Y., where he attended the Hall of Fame induction ceremony for team broadcaster Tom Hamilton, he received a call from a league official who said Clase would be placed on leave on Monday.
Clase was informed of the decision before he would have headed to the ballpark ahead of the team’s series opener against the Colorado Rockies, a league source said. The Guardians were told there are no other players or team employees who are expected to be impacted.
The Guardians, however, suspected that this might be coming.
That did not prevent manager Stephen Vogt from turning to Clase in high-leverage situations.
Clase pitched in both ends of the club’s doubleheader against the Royals in Kansas City on Saturday. He surrendered a walk-off homer to Jonathan India in the first tilt and sealed a victory in the nightcap. He was warming in the bullpen again in the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon, despite the Guardians trailing by three, though Vogt contended that it was in case Cleveland evened the score.
With 181 saves to his name, Clase stands far and above as the Guardians’ all-time leader in saves. (Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
Why pitch someone who might be involved in a gambling investigation, especially since the league is already examining whether Ortiz was pre-determining the outcome of certain pitches, based on betting patterns that a betting integrity firm had flagged? ESPN reported in early July that two of Ortiz’s pitches from June are in question. In both instances, Ortiz missed the strike zone with a first-pitch slider.
“I managed each game to win the game,” Vogt said. “We didn’t know. We didn’t know if or when or how or why. I was aware that it could happen. So I managed each game accordingly.”
As one team source noted prior to Saturday, Clase had logged a 1.10 ERA since May 1, so without knowing if or how he was involved, they trusted his recent track record.
Vogt and Antonetti said Monday afternoon they have not communicated with Clase since he was placed on leave. He and Ortiz are permitted to have contact with the team, but are prohibited from visiting Progressive Field or any other Guardians complex. Ortiz has been training at a facility on the west side of Cleveland.
They did speak with Guardians coaches at the ballpark at 1 p.m. on Monday and with the players about an hour later.
“It stinks. It hurts,” Vogt said. “It’s OK to be upset. It’s OK to be hurting. But we’re in this together and it’s just another reminder that this game is fragile, this game is special and it’s a reminder that we have to do this together. We’re going to get through it, but it’s going to be hard.”
From popular trade candidate to un-tradable
The Guardians had expressed to teams that they preferred not to trade Clase or fellow reliever Cade Smith, since both come with years of inexpensive team control.
When the team learned in recent days that Clase might be involved in the investigation, they dug even deeper into their no-trade stance, multiple league sources told The Athletic. They knew how it might look if they dealt Clase and then he, too, was placed on leave. When the league’s decision became official on Monday, that meant Clase was ineligible to be traded.
A host of contenders are seeking reinforcements for their bullpen ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, and Clase is as accomplished as anyone who might have been made available. The three-time All-Star led the American League in saves each of the last three years, and he finished third in the AL Cy Young Award balloting in 2024, thanks to a 0.61 ERA.
Perhaps most appealing about Clase is that he’s under team control through 2028 and at an attractive price. He’s earning $4.9 million this year, $6.4 million next year and has a pair of $10 million club options for 2027 and 2028. Of course, that’s also a reason for the Guardians — who regularly rank toward the bottom of the league in payroll — to hang onto their all-time leader in saves. Clase boasts a 1.88 ERA across six big-league seasons.
This leaves the Guardians limping toward the trade deadline. Teams were already calling about All-Star left fielder Steven Kwan, and that likely won’t stop. The Guardians and Kwan have been unable to strike a long-term deal in recent years, but he is under team control for two more seasons after 2025.
Lane Thomas and Paul Sewald, a couple of rentals, would be obvious trade candidates, but are injured and not close to returning, likely ruling them out. Carlos Santana, the club’s 39-year-old first baseman, has struggled so profoundly at the plate that the Guardians wouldn’t be able to fetch much, if anything, for him.
Bieber, the winner of the 2020 American League Cy Young Award, has yet to pitch in a game since April 2024. (AP / Lindsey Wasson)
The Guardians do have Shane Bieber making a rehab start at Double-A Akron on Tuesday night, a four-inning stint that should garner tons of attention from scouts. He has a $16 million player option for next season, or he can opt out and collect a $4 million buyout. With the market starved for quality starting pitchers, teams have been calling the Guardians about Bieber’s availability, even though he has made only four starts in the last 24 months.
Bieber said he’s too focused on his rehab to pay attention to trade chatter, though he admitted he sometimes got caught up in the rumor mill in the past.
“It’s a lot of information to process,” Antonetti said. “What we know is that two very good pitchers aren’t going to be available to pitch for us in the near term. We have to assess how that impacts our thinking of things.”
The integrity of the game
When asked if anyone, aside from the two pitchers, is to blame, Antonetti said, while it’s “a great question,” it’d be better to wait until the investigation is complete to answer.
“I want to be careful that we don’t get too far ahead of things and pre-judge the outcome of the investigation,” he said.
The two pitchers occupied adjacent lockers in the Guardians’ clubhouse in spring training and bonded over their passion for chickens and horses on their farms in the Dominican Republic.
When asked if Guardians teammates can still believe in the integrity of the game after this, Vogt said, “It makes it hard. I’m not happy. This stinks. It’s a different part of our game that we’re now dealing with because it’s legal. You don’t know what’s going on. There have been a number of stories over the last year and a half related to this. Two of our guys are being investigated. And that hurts.”
Rule 21d(2) in the MLB handbook states: “Any player, umpire or club or league official or employee who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”
Rule 21d(3) states: “Any player, umpire or club or league official or employee who places bets with illegal bookmakers or agents for illegal bookmakers, shall be subject to such penalty as the Commissioner deems appropriate in light of the facts and circumstances of the conduct.”
“I think we do a great job of informing,” Vogt said. “As a player, you know exactly what the parameters are.”
Added Antonetti: “I don’t think it’s a question of people not knowing the rules.”
Still, the loss of two key pitchers leaves the Guardians in a mess.
“What’s important,” Antonetti said, “is that we understand what the reality is and figure out, ‘How do we move forward from here?’”
(Photo: Scott Marshall / Getty Images)
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