Earlier this summer, the Guardians were dealt a gut punch when Emmanuel Clase was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave at the end of July as a part of a sports betting investigation that already included Guardians starter Luis Ortiz.
The blows have kept coming in the months after, as both Clase and Ortiz were indicted by prosecutors in Brooklyn on a variety of sports betting charges but are still on the Guardians’ payroll (for now) for 2026 as MLB conducts its own investigation.
And while Clase’s involvement in the sports betting scheme was a surprise for almost everyone in baseball since there hadn’t been any prior indication of any wrongdoing, a new report from The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and Zack Meisel shined a new light on some of Clase’s previous wrongdoings.