CLEVELAND — Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave through the end of August following a gambling investigation.
Clase, a three-time All-Star, becomes the second Guardians pitcher to be placed on leave in connection with a sports gambling probe.
The 27-year-old Clase is 5-3 with 24 saves in 48 games this year, but he also has a career-high 3.23 ERA. The right-hander led the AL in saves each of the previous three years and was believed to be on the market ahead of this week's MLB trade deadline.
Luis Ortiz is also on non-disciplinary leave through Aug. 31.
Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti took questions from reporters on Monday afternoon. He said he learned about Clase being put on leave on Sunday while driving back from Hall of Fame Weekend festivities in Cooperstown.
He says the organization is now focused on how to overcome the loss of two key pitchers.
"We understand what the reality is, and we figure out how to move forward from here," Antonetti said. "That's really the focus. It is what it is. Both guys won't be available to us for the near term, and we need to figure out a way to overcome that. It's not too dissimilar at the moment from when players are injured and they're not available to us. We have to find the next group to step up and shoulder the load and find a way to win games."
Later Monday afternoon, manager Steven Vogt talked about the situation.
"It stinks. It hurts," he said. "It's not something we saw coming."
It was unclear if the cases were related in any way.
The Guardians said in a statement that they “have been informed that no additional players or club personnel are expected to be impacted.”
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.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
