Just prior to the 2025 MLB trade deadline Major League Baseball launched a gambling investigation into Emmanuel Clase. The Cleveland Guardians’ All-Star reliever and teammate Luis Ortiz were placed on non-disciplinary paid leave while MLB’s inquiry played out.
The investigation, which is still ongoing, sidelined both pitchers for the remainder of the 2025 season. Clase, a native of the Dominican Republic, planned to pitch for Estrellas Orientales in the team’s winter season. But the Dominican baseball league banned Clase and Ortiz from joining the team.
Clase then pivoted, choosing to pitch for the Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan winter league instead. But, because the two-time AL Reliever of the Year is not a Venezuelan native and is under an MLB contract, he needed Cleveland’s approval to join Venezuela’s winter league. On Wednesday, the Guardians denied Clase permission to pitch for Tiburones de La Guaira, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic.
Emmanuel Clase won't pitch during gambling probe
Clase had established himself as one of baseball’s best closers in his first four seasons with the Guardians. He led the majors in saves in 2022 and 2023 and was tops in the American League in 2024.
Last season was Clase’s strongest. He finished with a 0.61 ERA, 0.659 WHIP and a mind-blowing 667 ERA+. He recorded 47 saves for Cleveland and racked up 4.4 bWAR in 74.1 innings, finishing third in Cy Young voting.
Clase’s ERA jumped to 3.23 in 47.1 innings during his abbreviated 2025 season. He saved 24 games for a Guardians team that appeared unlikely to reach the postseason. Cleveland considered trading the 27-year-old reliever but those plans were derailed when Clase became the target of a gambling investigation.
The Guardians, at the behest of Major League Baseball, moved swiftly. Clase’s locker was cleared out days after the inquiry was announced. He would spend the rest of the season on paid leave as the league looked into reports from the Ohio Casino Control Commission of suspicious wagers.
Cleveland was nine games back in the AL Central and four games out of a Wild Card berth when Clase and Ortiz were removed from the team at the end of July. However an epic collapse by the Tigers allowed the Guardians to overtake Detroit and win the division. Cleveland then lost in the Wild Card round to the Tigers 2-1.
