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Emmanuel Clase Placed On Administrative Leave Amid MLB’s Sports-Betting Investigation

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Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave through Aug. 31 as part of Major League Baseball’s ongoing investigation into sports betting, per a league announcement. Clase’s teammate, Luis Ortiz, was the first (and thus far only other) player placed on leave under the ongoing investigation. Clase will continue to be paid while the league looks into any alleged wrongdoing. He will not count against the team’s 40-man roster while on leave. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that Clase was being placed on leave shortly prior to MLB’s formal announcement.

“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.”

Clase’s name had surfaced as a potential trade candidate this summer, as several contenders around the league have been weighing a run at impact relievers with multiple years of club control remaining. A trade wasn’t seen as likely, given Clase’s below-market contract and general track record of excellence.

The 27-year-old Clase has pitched 47 1/3 innings of 3.23 ERA ball this year — a “down” season relative to his lofty standards. The right-hander boasts a superlative 1.84 ERA in 336 2/3 innings over the past five seasons. He’s saved 181 games, fanned just under one-quarter of his opponents, issued walks at a tiny 4.8% clip and piled up grounders at an elite 58.5% rate along the way.

Clase signed a five-year, $20MM extension back in April 2022. He’s being paid just $4.5MM this year and has a $6MM guarantee for the 2026 season under the terms of that contract. His extension included a pair of $10MM club options for the 2027-28 seasons, though he’s already maxed out a series of escalators that have pushed the value of each of those options up to $13MM apiece.

The news comes as a notable blow to the Guardians’ already-thin postseason hopes. Cleveland is eight games back of the division-leading Tigers and 3.5 games out of an AL Wild Card spot (with three teams to leapfrog). They were already without Ortiz, their fourth starter, due to this ongoing investigation and had lost another rotation member, Ben Lively, to Tommy John surgery. Former AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber was targeting a June return but has yet to pitch in the majors after a setback in recovery from his own Tommy John procedure — though he’s on a rehab assignment and on the cusp of a return to the majors.

[Related: Cleveland Guardians Trade Deadline Outlook]

Clase’s bullpen-mate, Cade Smith, figures to take over closing duties for the time being. He’s arguably an even better reliever at this point than Clase is, and Smith himself has received plenty of attention on the summer trade market. As with Clase, a deal has been seen as unlikely, given the 26-year-old righty’s four-plus seasons of remaining club control.

Depending on how one chooses to view the Clase suspension, it could make a Smith trade more or less likely. Smith now becomes an even more focal point in the bullpen and all the more critical to whatever playoff hopes Cleveland has left. At the same time, losing Clase further dampens those postseason odds and could make the Guards more willing to turn the page on the 2025 season and focus more on the future. Smith should be an integral part of that future, but he could also net a legitimate prospect haul if moved in the next three days, potentially adding multiple long-term contributors to the Guards in 2026 and beyond.

Guardians Listening To Offers On Emmanuel Clase, Cade Smith

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The Guardians are listening to offers on their relievers, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. That includes a willingness to discuss their star back-end duo of Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith, Heyman adds, though he unsurprisingly notes that the asking price is high enough that a trade of either pitcher remains a long shot.

Teams are generally willing to field offers on almost every player. That’s particularly true for small-market clubs that are constantly trying to balance the short term and the future. It’s only sensible the Guards would hear other teams out on Clase and Smith. Teams are willing to pay a premium for relievers at the deadline. That’d be all the more true for late-game arms who are cheaply controllable for multiple seasons.

Clase is playing on a $4.5MM salary and will make $6MM next year. Cleveland has a pair of club options covering the 2027-28 seasons. Those respectively came with $10MM base salaries, though Clase has since escalated their value to $11.5MM annually by twice winning the American League Reliever of the Year award and by surpassing 200 appearances over the past three-plus seasons. He’d also receive a $1MM assignment bonus if he’s traded.

That’s well below market value for a pitcher of Clase’s caliber. He’s a much better pitcher than Tanner Scott, who signed for four years and a little over $60MM in net present value as last winter’s top free agent reliever. Clase is controllable for his age 27-30 seasons. There’s a chance he’d get into nine figures if he were a free agent.

Clase was MLB’s best reliever in 2024. He surrendered just five earned runs in 74 1/3 innings and went 47-50 in save opportunities. He had an ugly postseason performance but that came in a total of eight innings. Clase is putting together another excellent regular season this year. He has fired 44 innings of 2.86 ERA ball while going 21-25 in save chances. His 23.4% strikeout rate is essentially league average, but he has never been a huge strikeout artist. Clase excels with plus command and movement on his 99 MPH cutter, which hitters very rarely square up.

[Related: Cleveland Guardians Deadline Outlook]

Smith, 26, had a breakout rookie season to emerge as Cleveland’s top setup man. He turned in a 1.91 ERA with a near-36% strikeout rate through 75 1/3 innings a year ago. Smith’s ERA has backed up to a less impressive (though still strong) 3.07 mark across 41 frames this season. He’s striking out 35% of opponents behind a gaudy 15.1% swinging strike rate. The 6’5″ righty has a 96 MPH heater and a plus splitter. Smith is still a season and a half from reaching arbitration and is under club control for four and a half seasons.

There’s virtually no chance the Guardians would trade both relievers. If they were to move Clase, it’d be largely driven by the belief that Smith would be an elite closer in his own right. It’s even tougher to see them pulling the trigger on a Smith deal when he’ll play for barely above the league minimum for the next year and a half. The Guardians have a few lower-profile relievers (e.g. Hunter Gaddis, Erik Sabrowski) who could also draw some attention. They’d certainly listen on veteran righty and impending free agent Paul Sewald, but he just landed on the injured list with a shoulder strain that could keep him out beyond the deadline.

An openness to discussing Clase and Smith doesn’t signify that Cleveland is a guaranteed seller. They’re 4.5 games back of the American League’s last Wild Card spot. They have one of the easiest second-half schedules of any team, including four series against clubs with losing records (A’s, Orioles, Royals and Rockies) up to the deadline. There’s a path to getting back in the race and hoping that an excellent back of the bullpen can return them to the ALCS and beyond.

The Guardians’ Bullpen Has Been Transformative

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Coming into 2024, the expectations for the Guardians were modest. They finished 76-86 last year and didn’t do much in the offseason. They made a few small trades, and their largest free agent signing was giving catcher Austin Hedges $4MM to be a glove-first backup to Bo Naylor.

Many in the baseball world expected the Twins to repeat as champions in the Central, since they ran away with it last year. Others suggested the Tigers or Royals as potential upstarts, as both of those clubs made some intriguing offseason moves to supplement their young cores. However, more than two months into the seasons, the Guardians are up top with a 43-23 record, five games ahead of the second-place Royals. That hot start is largely due to the Cleveland bullpen.

The club has sometimes found surprise success in the past based on strong starting pitching, but that hasn’t been the case this time. Shane Bieber required Tommy John surgery after just two starts. Gavin Williams has been on the injured list all year due to his own elbow issues. They’ve gotten some decent results from Tanner Bibee and Ben Lively, but Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen, Carlos Carrasco and Xzavion Curry have been mediocre or just bad. The rotation has a collective 4.23 earned run average that places them 18th out of the 30 clubs in MLB.

The offense has undoubtedly played a role in the club’s success this year, certainly more than last year. The team hit .250/.313/.381 overall for a wRC+ of 92 last year, 22nd in the league. After their quiet offseason, not much was expected out of the lineup in 2024, but they are currently hitting .239/.318/.398. That line isn’t markedly different from last year’s, but with offense down around the league, it actually translates to a 107 wRC+. That puts them eighth in the league, pretty good but not elite.

The bullpen, however, has been in a class of its own. Cleveland’s relief core has an ERA of 2.33, easily the best mark in the majors. The Dodgers are second at 2.92, a gap of more than half a run. The Brewers are in fifth place at 3.34, more than a full run behind. Here’s how it breaks down individually, sorted by innings pitched…

  • Emmanuel Clase: 32 1/3 innings pitched, 0.84 ERA, 28.6% strikeout rate, 2.5% walk rate, 54.4% ground ball rate
  • Hunter Gaddis: 31 1/3 IP, 1.72 ERA, 23.7 K%, 4.2 BB%, 36.1 GB%
  • Cade Smith: 30 1/3 IP, 1.78 ERA, 34.5 K%, 6 BB%, 47.8 GB%
  • Nick Sandlin: 28 1/3 IP, 2.54 ERA, 26.5 K%, 8.8 BB%, 35.3 GB%
  • Scott Barlow: 27 IP, 3.67 ERA, 30.8 K%, 12 BB%, 51.5 GB%
  • Tim Herrin: 27 IP, 1.00 ERA, 25.5 K%, 10.8 BB%, 43.5 GB%
  • Pedro Avila: 23 1/3 IP, 3.09 ERA, 29.2 K%, 5.2 BB%, 48.4 GB%
  • Sam Hentges: 13 1/3 IP, 2.70 ERA, 33.3 K%, 2.1 BB%, 44.8 GB%

They also got some poor results from Tyler Beede as well as some small contributions from Eli Morgan, Peter Strzelecki and Wes Parsons, though none of those four are on the active roster at the moment. Of the eight guys currently in the mix, none of them has an ERA higher than Barlow’s 3.67. The league-average strikeout rate for relievers in the majors this year is 22.8%, meaning everyone in this group is ahead of the curve. Only Barlow and Herrin have walk rates worse than the 9.3% league average. The 43.4% league-wide ground ball rate is bested by everyone except Gaddis and Sandlin.

Relievers are notoriously volatile, and it’s fair to assume the entire group can’t stay this dominant forever. Most of the group have really low batting averages on balls in play, which could be related to the club’s strong defense, but there’s likely still some luck-based correction coming. League-average BABIP is .286 this year, but Gaddis, Clase, Herrin, Hentges and Sandlin are respectively at .232, .228, .203, .200 and .164.

But even if regression is coming, there’s still lots of good stuff going on and there are plenty of wins in the bank. The Guardians have gone 11-8 in one-run games and 6-2 in extra innings, no doubt thanks to this group of relievers.

The strong bullpen vaulting them to the top of the standings surely impacts their upcoming deadline plans. Last year, as the club was hovering around .500, they tried to walk the buy-sell line. They traded Aaron Civale to the Rays for Kyle Manzardo, a move that clearly downgraded the club at that time but could eventually work out in the long run if Manzardo clicks. They also made a couple of change-of-scenery swaps, sending Amed Rosario to the Dodgers for Noah Syndergaard in addition to flipping Josh Bell to the Marlins for Jean Segura and Kahlil Watson. Segura was released immediately and Syndergaard about a month later.

This year, they should be more firmly in the buyers’ camp and should have plenty of flexibility in what they can do. Relievers are generally cheaper than other players in terms of salary but can be pricey trade acquisitions at the deadline. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer put it this way at last year’s deadline, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune: “The price to go get a rental reliever or even a controllable reliever this time of year is often cost prohibitive. And so, to me, it just underscores the value of developing those guys yourself.”

With the results so far this year, the Guardians should have less need than any other club to shop in that aisle, freeing them up to focus on starting pitching or the lineup. Acquiring those kinds of players can also be pricey, but the Guards should have lots of wiggle room to make things work. Their tepid offseason means their payroll is relatively light, certainly by league standards but even by their own. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, they had an Opening Day payroll of $98MM. They were in the $120-135MM range in the three pre-pandemic years, so perhaps there’s an ability to take on a notable contract from another club with minimal prospect cost.

In the longer term, Bieber and Barlow are coming off the books this winter, subtracting respective salaries of $13.125MM and $6.7MM. Lesser contracts for Hedges, Carrasco and Ramón Laureano will also be expiring. Some of those savings will be needed for arbitration raises to McKenzie and Josh Naylor, but there’s only $45MM on the books for next year as of right now, mostly for José Ramírez and Andrés Giménez.

At least part of the reason the budget is so low is that the bullpen has largely been built on the cheap. Clase was acquired as a prospect and signed a team-friendly extension while still in his pre-arb years, making just $2.5MM this year. Gaddis, Hentges, Sandlin and Herrin are all Cleveland draftees making less than $1.2MM. Smith went undrafted in 2020, when the pandemic reduced the draft to just five rounds, and is still pre-arb. Avila is also pre-arb, acquired from the Padres in a cash deal after being designated for assignment in April. Barlow, an offseason trade acquisition, is in his final arbitration season and making the highest salary of the bunch at $6.7MM.

But even if they don’t want to be taking on significant money, the Guardians could make deals happen with prospect capital. Their farm system isn’t especially strong, with evaluators generally putting in the middle of the pack. FanGraphs puts them 13th, Baseball America and MLB Pipeline both put them 19th, while Keith Law of The Athletic puts them in the 22nd spot.

However, they are about to get a huge boost in a month’s time when the 2024 draft takes place. The Guardians can always count on a strong draft since they’re a small-market club and get competitive balance picks, but they also won the draft lottery in December, meaning they get the No. 1 overall pick despite having the ninth-best odds of doing so. That should allow them to bump their farm system up in those rankings when the draft takes place from July 14 to 16. And while they can’t trade the players they draft until after the season (nor can they use the player-to-be-named-later loophole to do so), a fresh influx of high-end talent will lessen the sting of dealing some prospects they already have in-house.

All of these factors will put them in a very interesting position when the deadline approaches on July 30. Even if they hit a slump in the next month or so, falling back a bit in the standings would still have them not just in playoff position but in contention for the division. The Central has been weak in the past, leaving those clubs to either win the division or not make the playoffs at all. But they are stronger this year with the Royals and Twins both currently holding Wild Card spots. Even if one of those two can gain ground on Cleveland, it wouldn’t significantly dampen their buyer position.

When the Guardians do start lining up deals, they should have plenty of options thanks to their financial position and the infusion of young talent that the farm system is about to receive from the draft. Adding to the rotation and the lineup will likely be the priorities and they should have every ability to do just that, with a big thanks to their elite bullpen.

Guardians Designate Cal Quantrill For Assignment

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The Guardians have designated right-handers Cal Quantrill and Michael Kelly for assignment, per a team announcement. Their spots on the 40-man roster go to fellow righties Cade Smith and Daniel Espino, whose contracts have been selected in order to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

Quantrill is the most notable name designated for assignment so far today — a veteran of four-plus big league seasons who was locked into a rotation spot in Cleveland heading into the 2023 season. He struggled badly in an injury-shortened year, however, and the Guards will designate him for assignment rather than pay him a raise in arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected a $6.6MM salary for the former first-round pick.

Prior to the 2023 season, a DFA of Quantrill would have seemed far-fetched. While it might’ve been easy to envision a scenario where Cleveland ultimately traded the righty — as they frequently do with pitchers late in their arbitration years — a straight jettison from the roster for a righty who pitched 336 innings of 3.16 ERA ball from 2021-22 speaks to the magnitude of his struggles in 2023.

Granted, Quantrill enjoyed that success despite a well below-average 18% strikeout rate, but he at least partially offset that lack of whiffs and punchouts with strong command (6.8% walk rate) and a knack for inducing weak contact (87.6 mph average exit velocity, 35% hard-hit rate).

The 2023 campaign couldn’t have gone much more poorly for Quantrill. Shoulder inflammation wiped out more than two months of season, and when he was healthy enough to take the mound he limped to a 5.24 ERA with fielding-independent metrics to match. His fastball, which averaged a career-high 95.3 mph back in 2020, was down to 94.1 mph in 2023, and he posted career-worst strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates of 13.1%, 7.9% and 40.8%. Of the 141 pitchers who tossed at least 90 innings in 2023, Quantrill’s strikeout rate ranked 140th, leading only 40-year-old Adam Wainwright, who retired at season’s end.

The Guardians are known for their ability to regularly churn out quality arms, and their second-to-none pitching development was on full display in ’23, with top prospects Tanner Bibee (the AL Rookie of the Year runner-up), Gavin Williams and Logan Allen all not only making their MLB debuts but almost immediately stepping up as MLB-caliber rotation options. That trio, combined with Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie, gives Cleveland a strong starting five even without Quantrill. Of course, since Bieber has just one year of club control remaining, he’s a trade candidate himself this winter, but the Guards could potentially receive a viable rotation replacement in moving him, sign one in free agency or simply turn to their farm system for yet another rotation candidate.

Cleveland will have a week to trade Quantrill or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. Presumably, the Guards explored trade possibilities before making today’s move to DFA him. That doesn’t mean a deal can’t yet be reached, but there’s now a clock on any dealings. Quantrill would certainly be a candidate to be claimed, and he’d have the right to elect free agency if he clears. One way or another, this DFA all but closes the door on his time with the organization. Any team that claims Quantrill could control him for two more years via arbitration, but they’d have to be willing to pay him something in the vicinity of that projected $6.6MM salary next year.

The rest of Cleveland’s moves are less surprising. Kelly is a 31-year-old journeyman who pitched a career-high 16 2/3 innings in the Cleveland bullpen this year. He held his own with a 3.78 ERA and average 22.5% strikeout rate, but he also walked more than 12% of his opponents and had similar command issues in Triple-A. Like Quantrill, he’ll be traded or potentially passed through waivers within a week’s time. He can elect free agency if he clears.

Espino entered the season ranked as one of the sport’s five best pitching prospects despite a lengthy list of injuries already on his resume. He wound up missing the entire year due to a shoulder procedure performed in early May. The talent is still there for Espino to be a coveted prospect, but with a mounting number of injuries under his belt, he’s fallen well down (or entirely off) most prospect rankings.

Smith, 24, was a 16th-round pick by the Twins back in 2017 but didn’t sign, instead opting for college. He subsequently went undrafted because of the shortened nature of the 2020 draft and signed as a free agent with the Guardians thereafter. He worked exclusively out of the bullpen in 2023, pitching 62 2/3 innings of 4.02 ERA ball between Double-A and Triple-A. It was a pedestrian earned run average, but Smith also fanned a sky-high 35.2% of his opponents. Given his ability to miss bats and his proximity to the Majors, he’d quite likely have been selected in the Rule 5 Draft had Cleveland not protected him. He’ll now have a chance to earn his first big league look this coming season.

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