Emmanuel Clase had made over $12 million as a relief pitcher and was set to pocket an additional $6.4 million next season from the Cleveland Guardians. At just 27 years old with the ability to throw a 95 mph cutter, there were likely many more millions to come.
You'd think that would be enough to avoid possibly throwing it all away in a sports betting scandal.
Yet federal prosecutors allege that Clase, over the past few years, routinely conspired with a couple of as-yet-unnamed gamblers to throw certain pitches in certain ways so they could successfully bet on the outcome -- below a specific speed, for example.