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Cleveland Guardians Closer Placed on Paid Leave Amid Sports Betting Investigation

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Publish Date: Jul 28, 2025

Fact checked by: Sara Jane Gamelli

According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave due to his involvement in a sports betting investigation by Major League Baseball.

This is the second Guardians pitcher tied to the investigation. Now, Clase and Luis Ortiz are involved.

Ortiz's leave will last until August 31.

Clase won't count toward the 40-man roster.

luis L ortiz cleveland guardians vs philadelphia phillies

Cleveland Guardians Release Statement

“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,” the team said Monday in a statement. “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.”

Before this, Clase was considered a possible trade candidate by the team.

However, he's played well and has an inexpensive contract, so a deal seemed unlikely before the July 31 deadline.

Now, with this looming, it certainly won't happen.

Team Alerted After Unusual Activity

The investigation began on June 27 when IC360, a firm that monitors betting markets for abnormalities, notified MLB. However, Clase's current involvement is unclear.

It began after legal sportsbooks and operators noticed a spike in action related to Ortiz's first pitch in the bottom of the second inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners on June 15 and in the top of the third inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 27.

In these cases, there were wagers placed on whether the pitch would be a ball or a hit batsman. The wagers were placed in New York, New Jersey, and Ohio.

Both pitches thrown were outside the strike zone.

MLB Commissioner Still Supports Sports Betting

"There are certain types of bets that strike me as unnecessary and particularly vulnerable," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said at the All-Star Game earlier this month. "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."

Clase's Season Thus Far

Clase, 27, has logged 47 1/3 innings pitched. He has a 3.23 ERA for Cleveland this season.

Over his career, the reliever is 21-26 with a 1.88 ERA over 366 games. He's thrown 360 innings and has 182 career saves. He recorded 42 or more saves each season from 2022 to 2024. To this point, he has 24 over 48 games.

Clase signed a five-year deal worth $20 million in April 2022.

He's making $4.5 million this season and was due $6 million for next season.

There are also two $10 million club options for 2027 and 2028.

This comes at a time when the Guardians are eight games back in the division and 3 1/2 back in the American League Wild Card.

Now, the Guardians are without their closer, a starting pitcher in Ortiz, and they also lost Ben Lively to Tommy John surgery.

Shane Bieber, a starting pitcher, was targeting a June return, but has suffered setbacks.

Check out our Ballislife Play section for the latest updates.

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