Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase on Monday was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave through Aug. 31 as part of Major League Baseball’s investigation into sports gambling, the second Guardians pitcher to be caught up in the inquiry.
Guardians right-hander Luis Ortiz remains on non-disciplinary paid leave after originally being placed there July 3 after unusual gambling activity on two pitches he threw for balls, sources told ESPN. Ortiz’s leave was later extended to Aug. 31.
In a statement, the Guardians said “no additional players or club personnel are expected to be impacted” by the investigation. The investigation, a source confirmed, has not turned up information tying other players with the team to sports gambling.
“I’m not happy. This stinks,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said before Monday night’s 8-6 loss to lowly Colorado. “It’s a different part of our game now because it’s legal. Two of our guys are being investigated and it hurts. It’s an unfortunate situation.”
A spokeswoman for the Major League Baseball Players Association declined comment Monday night.
Clase, 27, is a three-time All-Star and two-time winner of the Mariano Rivera Award as the best relief pitcher in the American League. He finished third in AL Cy Young voting last year when he posted a 0.61 ERA over 74⅓ innings. In 47⅓ innings this season, Clase has a 3.23 ERA and has already allowed more hits this year (46) than last (39) while striking out 47 and walking 12.
His ties to the investigation that started following a June 27 alert from IC360, a firm that monitors betting markets for abnormalities, are unclear. Sportsbooks and gambling operators were alerted after a spike in action on Ortiz’s first pitch in the bottom of the second inning against the Seattle Mariners on June 15 and in the top of the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 27, according to sources. In both cases, unusual amounts of money were wagered on the pitches being a ball or hit batsman from betting accounts in New York, New Jersey and Ohio, according to a copy of the IC360 alert obtained by ESPN. Both pitches wound up well outside the strike zone.
Chris Antonetti, the president of baseball operations for the Guardians, said he was informed of the situation involving Clase on Sunday. He met with his coaching staff and the players before the series opener against the Rockies.
“You’re shocked, you’re upset, you’re frustrated. But I thought our guys, they did fine,” Vogt said. “It was a long day for our guys, for everybody. So we’re ready to get here tomorrow and get back after it.”
Cleveland dropped to 52-54 with the loss to Colorado. Cade Smith blew a save opportunity when the Rockies scored four times in the ninth inning.
Vogt said the plan is to go with a closer-by-committee approach for now.
“He’s a part of the team,” Smith said of Clase before the game. “It sucks for him to be not here today.”
At the All-Star Game in mid-July, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said while he still supports legal gambling because of the transparency regulation offers, he was concerned about so-called microbets, such as ones that offer action on individual pitches.
“There are certain types of bets that strike me as unnecessary and particularly vulnerable,” Manfred said. “I know there was a lot of sports betting, tons of it that went on illegally, and we had no idea, no idea what threats there were to the integrity of the play because it was all not transparent,” he added. “I firmly believe that the transparency and monitoring that we have in place now, as a result of the legalization and the partnerships that we’ve made, puts us in a better position to protect baseball than we were in before.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
