Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been put on paid leave until August 31 while Major League Baseball continues looking into a sports betting investigation, the league said in a statement on Monday (July 28).
In a press release, the MLB said: “Per an agreement with the MLBPA, Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave through games on August 31st while MLB continues its sports betting investigation.
“We will not comment further until the investigation has been completed.”
EMMANUEL CLASE
STRAIGHT GAS
#ALDS pic.twitter.com/WVMucZ6izw
— MLB (@MLB) October 11, 2024
Left-handed reliever Tim Herrin was called up from Triple-A Columbus to take Emmanuel Clase’s spot on the roster while he’s on leave.
Earlier this month, ReadWrite reported that Guardians starter Luis Ortiz was also placed on non-disciplinary paid leave starting July 3 through the All-Star break. The leave was later extended through August 31.
After the announcement about Clase, the Guardians released a statement of their own: “The Guardians have been notified by Major League Baseball that as part of their sports betting investigation Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave per an agreement with the Players Association.
“We have been informed that no additional players or Club personnel are expected to be impacted. The Guardians are not permitted to comment further at this time and will respect the league’s confidential investigative process as we continue to fully cooperate.”
While they’re on leave, both Clase and Ortiz are allowed to stay in contact with the team, but they can’t use any of the club’s facilities.
Clase is in his fifth season with Cleveland and has put up a 3.23 ERA over 47 1/3 innings in 48 appearances so far this year.
What is going on with Emmanuel Clase?
For weeks, teams had been calling the Cleveland Guardians to ask about the Dominican pitcher, Clase. But now, any talk of a trade is off the table.
With Clase on non-disciplinary paid leave, he won’t be back in a major-league uniform until at least September.
It’s a tough break for a Guardians team that had been hanging around the edge of the Wild Card race and recently started playing some of its best baseball of the season. Now, they’re without one of their top young starters and the most dominant closer in franchise history. All they can do is wait to see what happens next with both pitchers.
This comes just over a year after the league suspended five players for gambling. All of them have since been reinstated to MLB, including Athletics reliever Michael Kelly, Arizona’s Andrew Saalfrank, Philadelphia infielder José Rodríguez, and San Diego starter Jay Groome.
Featured image: Erik Drost via Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
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