CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians received a thunderbolt of unexpected news Tuesday when Major League Baseball placed starting pitcher Luis Ortiz on paid leave through the All-Star break, pending an investigation that remains shrouded in mystery.
As detailed in the latest Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast, the Guardians found themselves scrambling to replace Ortiz just hours before his scheduled start against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
What makes this situation particularly intriguing is the specific classification of Ortiz’s absence. Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com Guardians beat writer, noted, “He was placed on a non-disciplinary leave through the All Star break. The Guardians found out about it just before game time last night.”
This designation means Ortiz “does not count on the 26 man or 40 man roster and he will continue to be paid and collect service time,” according to Hoynes, which ostensibly rules out a PED suspension or similar disciplinary action.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Cleveland. Ortiz had finally found his groove after struggling to adapt following his offseason acquisition from Pittsburgh. While his 4-9 record doesn’t tell the whole story, his consistency in providing innings had become a stabilizing force in a rotation dealing with injuries and inconsistency.
“This is a guy that was giving them consistently six innings,” Hoynes explained. “He gave them innings, he gave them strikeouts. He’d have one bad start, one good start. But he was part of that young rotation that they were developing, that they thought was together, making progress.”
The mystery surrounding the investigation has naturally sparked speculation. Joe Noga, cleveland.com Guardians beat writer, even raised some fascinating questions about the circumstances of Ortiz’s acquisition: “Did the Pirates know about this? Did the Guardians know about this before they acquired him? And that’s why they signed John Means and Shane Bieber and traded for Slade Cecconi to bolster the rotation?”
These questions gain additional weight considering the Guardians’ recent roster moves, including stretching out Joey Cantillo from a bullpen role to starting duties. Was this preparation for an absence they knew might be coming?
The immediate impact is clear: Cantillo takes Ortiz’s spot in the rotation while Cleveland faces questions about how to climb back into the wild card race despite mounting pitching challenges. The longer-term questions are more troubling: When will Ortiz return? What condition will he be in mentally after this interruption? And did Cleveland know what they were getting into when they acquired him?
As the Guardians navigate this unexpected development, fans and analysts alike will be watching closely to see how the team responds to yet another challenge in what has already been a tumultuous season.
Want to hear Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes break down all the angles of this developing story? Listen to the full episode of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast for their expert insights and the latest updates from Chicago.
Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast by cleveland.com. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions.
Podcast transcript
Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes from Chicago where the Guardians got some unexpected news this morning from Major League Baseball. Luis Ortiz, who is scheduled to start tonight against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, has been placed on the inactive list by Major League Baseball pending an investigation that that suspension should run through at least the All Star break while MLB conducts the investigation. Hoynsie we, we didn’t hear in any of this language from the league anything about PEDs or drug violations or anything like that. So it leads us to believe that it might be something off the field other than maybe necessarily PEDs or STE or anything like that.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, he was placed on a non disciplinary leave through the All Star break. The Guardians found out about it just before game time last night. That’s what I’ve been told. Ortiz left the team, he returned to Cleveland and Joey Cantillo will come up and take his spot in a rotation tonight. But as far as Ortiz goes, you know, with the way I understand being placed on a non disciplinary leave, you know, he does not count on the 26 man or 40 man roster and he will continue to be paid and collect service time.
Joe Noga: So that means that there’s an open spot on the 40 man roster right now and the, the spot that Ortiz occupied on the 26 man active roster will be taken by Cantillo who was already on the 40 man himself. So that leads you to believe that at some point there could be another move coming up. Regarding the bullpen. You’ve got guys who are on the, the 60 day injured list like Trevor who’s recovering from an elbow injury. He could be ready to come back and, and be activated. Or you know, there’s Paul Seewald who’s also been rehabbing a shoulder injury. Those guys both pitched and are sort of ready to come off the list and there might be a place for one or both of them in the bullpen for a team that you know, again, needs, needs an arm, needs somebody to, to go out there because Tanner Bibey went short in his outing yesterday. Only four innings in the Guardians, what, 5, 4 loss to the Cubs last night.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Sewald and Trevor Steffen both pitched a scoreless inning for Columbus last night in Toledo. A 13 to nothing win by the way. So I think those guys are getting close. Joe, I would think Stefan has probably had more rehab appearances than Sewald. He’s probably closer to being recalled. You know, he’s been rehabbing that Tommy John surgery on his right Elbow since last spring training and what I would not be surprised to see him in the clubhouse tonight.
Joe Noga: So your opinion on, you know, how this Luis Ortiz suspension, you know, is going to play out or could play out, and the timing of it just couldn’t be worse for this Guardians club struggling on offense. Ortiz is one of the only guys who can get you, you know, on a regular basis at least five to six innings per start. He’s been going deeper into games. You know, all things had looked like they had had sort of started to click and he had been found that consistency that was sort of missing at the beginning of the year. Just how devastating is this blow to the Guardians rotation with Ortiz knock not being able to make any starts between now and potentially beyond the All Star game?
Paul Hoynes: It definitely puts a crimp in their style, Joe. I mean, you know, this was a guy, like you said, that was giving them consistently six innings. You know, the overall record was not good, 4 and 9, 4.36 ERA, but he posted 16 times, made 16 starts. You know, he gave them innings, he gave them strikeouts. He was inconsistent. You know, he had one bad start, one good start. But he was part of that young rotation that they were developing, that they thought was together, making progress. And now that progress is delayed and who knows what’s going to happen at how that what reveal what is revealed through this MLB investigation. Will he be back after the All Star break? Will, will he be able to pitch? Will he have to go down on a rehab assignment? There’s a lot of questions to be answered here.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And you know, if he does come back, how does this play on him mentally? This is a young guy. This is. He was adjusting to coming to a new team and he struggled with that, you know, in, in spring training and into the start of the season, you know, but, you know, you’d finally gotten to the point where you felt really comfortable when Luis Ortiz went out there, you know, on a regular basis to start games. And now, you know, how’s he going to come back from that if there’s a suspension involved, if there’s any sort of mistime what it’s going to look like? So, yeah, this is, this is a big blow. And you wonder when, when the Guardians sent Joey Cantillo out, you know, about a month ago and, and said, hey, we’re going to stretch him out. If he was in the bullpen, we’re going to stretch him out to be a starter. Did they have any indication at that time that they knew this, this might be coming down the road, you know, go back even further to when they acquired him from Pittsburgh. You know, how’s a guy like Luis Ortiz, who’s got all the measurables and looked like a guy who could be a piece in your, your starting rotation, you know, how’s he available in the off season for trade? Did the, did the Pirates know about this? Did the, the Guardians know about this before they acquired him? And that’s why they, you know, they signed John Means and Shane Bieber and traded for Slade Cecconi to, to bolster the, the rotation. You know, all, all of the conspiracy theories start working at some point. My tinfoil hat is over in the corner over here, but you know, your brain just starts to work in that regard. You know, how much did they know? What did they know and when? And you know, how does that play into their decision to bring Luis Ortiz into this rotation?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, I mean, the one thing we know is he’s healthy. You know, they did not trade. He wasn’t damaged goods, at least physically. You know, a trade is always, what do they say? Buyer beware on the trade. You don’t have to, you don’t have to reveal everything when you make a trade. You can’t do, you know, the, the teams exchange, you know, physicals, you know, medical reports. But you know, who else. If the investigation was going on way back when he was with the Pirates, who knows what the Pirates knew and what they were willing to reveal to Cleveland or even if, even if either team knows. But I know MLB investigates when, when steroids are involved. You know, the team doesn’t. They, they don’t hear anything until usually the, the vert, you know, the suspension is handed down. And I’ve got to believe that this is probably handled along the same lines.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And the Guardians will not comment that we won’t find anything out from the team. They won’t reveal anything to us. They know what’s going on, but they’re under. No, you know, they’re not being compelled at all to sort of reveal that right now. So we’ll just have to wait and see with Ortiz and how the investigation plays out and whether or not he’s going to be a part of this 2025 team moving forward. And right now the 2025 team is, is not. The direction of the 2025 team is, is, you know, a little bit in doubt as well. We talked about Tanner Bibby last night. Staked to a three run lead early in the game. Bibee just goes out and can’t protect the lead and, you know, disaster strikes there in the fourth inning. Just take us through Tanner Bibby’s night and just his reaction to it afterwards.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe. And nobody takes a loss harder than Tanner Bibee, man. It’s. When he loses, it is, you know, it’s written on his face. You can tell this is a guy, you know, so, you know, in the second inning, Santana and Thomas hit consecutive home runs, give him a two nothing lead. Then in the third, David Fry hits his second home run since returning, gives him a three nothing lead. And by the end of the fifth inning or the end of the fourth inning, you know, Chicago is winning five to three. And Bobby just kind of just told, said, told the reporters. It was pathetic. You know, it didn’t matter if they gave me a lead. I couldn’t hold it, you know, I blew it. He was, he was beating himself up after the game. You know, he only went four innings, Joe took him 96 pitches to go four innings. Five runs, six hits. And the thing that hurt him, really hurt him was four walks. And that was, you know, he had, he had kind of, you know, found the strike zone lately. But the four walks really hurt him.
Joe Noga: The.
Paul Hoynes: And you couple that with five strikeouts, you throw a lot of pitches, you give up six hits. Just, you know, just a. Not a really good performance by Bobby. And he was, you know, he was his. As usual, he was his own worst enemy.
Joe Noga: Yeah, worst critic, I should say. His own worst critic, for sure. Afterwards. And I kind of like the candor that he has afterwards, when he has a bad outing, he’ll tell you he had a bad outing and he knows it. But right now he hasn’t won a game since, what, May 22nd.
Paul Hoynes: May 22nd. Yeah.
Joe Noga: He’s more than a month, four in.
Paul Hoynes: His last five starts. Just, you know, last six starts, I should say. Just he’s really struggling.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And it’s more of a struggle to, to figure out how to win games and how to. How to put opponents away as opposed to having the stuff. Because that’s there. We saw him with two runners in scoring position last night, strike out three. Three guys in a row. I mean, that’s something that, you know, ace kind of stuff that, that he has, he has that ability. He just hasn’t, you know, it’s somewhere, it’s. It’s lost out there in the ether. I think for him, the ability to go out there and, you know, just get through an inning efficiently and, and give your team, you know, the offense isn’t doing him any favors by by being as, as, as slow as it is, as inconsistent as it is. But, you know, he, he compounds it by not being able to put an opponent away from.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, no doubt about it. And he’s, you know, he has really, his numbers have been, have been better. You know, he’s pitched better than his record, I should say. What is he now, four and nine? Joe, they’ve got a lot of guys with nine losses, pushing the 10 losses and. But Bobby has pitched better than that. He’s only. Zra is 4.20. You know, that means he’s, you know, he’s not giving up. You know, he’s, he’s still, you know, pitching well. And we were talking about this before the game. You know, this is, this is a guy that’s really in his third full season. You, you, you kind of, you know, really, you forget how young he is and how inexperienced he is. He hasn’t been in the big leagues that long. He’s had a lot put on his shoulders. You know, following Shane Bieber’s injury, he kind of became the ace. And, you know, he kind of relished that role. He relishes the role. But there’s some pressure that comes with that as well.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And, you know, signing the contract in the off season, you know, probably added to that pressure internally. You know, I know the, the organization isn’t sort of necessarily pressuring him in that way, but you know that he wears it every time he goes out there. He feels the, the, the weight of maybe that contract and the expectation that comes with it.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, no doubt about it. You know, he was, you know, he did sign the extension in spring training. And like you said, Joe, a lot comes with that, you know, yes, it’s great to have a, your future taken care of, but along with that becomes the, okay, you’re the number, you’re the lead dog. You know, we, we, we need to win. When you go out to the mound, you’ve got to stop losing streaks. You’ve got to get us back on track, and I’m sure all those things are going through Bobby’s mind.
Joe Noga: Yeah. Speaking of the lead dog, lead dog for the Guardians, Jose Ramirez in a bit of a funk, in a bit of a slump ever since, you know, getting hit on the forearm and missing a game after the Toronto series. Just, you know, what have you seen lately out of Jose Ramirez? Are you worried at all about Jose?
Paul Hoynes: I am a little worried, Joe. Everyone says his right forearm is fine since he got hit by gas. Gosman, I think what, June 26th. But since he got hit, he missed the game, he came back, he’s 0 for 19, has not had a hit. And you know, he said that yesterday after he was named to the All Star team as an All Star starter. We should say, you know, he’s fine. Vogt told me he’s fine. But, you know, the swing doesn’t look fine to me, Joe. It looks a little slow, looks a little labored.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And I think he also talked about the possibility of if he was invited to compete in the Home Run Derby, he might want to do that again for the third straight year. And you know, that could compound things as well. Before we dive deeper into Jose and his All Star stats and everything, I want to go back to Tanner Bybey really quickly. I forgot to mention the, the controversial situation there with the runner missing first base in yesterday’s game. Just take us through that inning and what transpired and what Stephen Vogt said afterward and what could happen tonight.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, yeah, definitely a weird kind of bounce in the fourth inning, Joe. Matt Shaw, Chicago’s third baseman with one out. You know, Lee reaches on a single behind second base. You know, Angel Martinez ranged over behind a bag, had the ball, you know, backhanded the ball but, and then tried to flip it to, you know, Rocco so he could throw Shaw out at the, Shaw, Shaw at first. But you know, the, the, the ball never made, made it to Rocchio. So Shaw reaches first base over, runs through the bag, but doesn’t touch the bag. And Rocchio retrieves the ball, throws it to, throws it. Santana, Santana looks like he got, gets a tag down and as, as Shaw dives back to the bag. But by that time, you know, the play was slow. Developing ball kind of was rolling around behind second base for a while and by that time the plate umpire Jacob Metz had tossed a new ball into play to Bybee and you know, that killed the, the ball, you know, the, the play on the field. And you know, Volt came out. The umpire, the first base umpire, Vic Carapaza, the crew chief, hadn’t made a call at first base yet. And, but you know, but with the new ball being on the field, the play was dead. Vote went over to talk to both umpires and they said can we review this? Can we challenge this? And they said no, since the play was killed, you know, that’s it. The guys was safe. And it turns out to be a three run inning, crucial three run inning that gave him a five, five to two lead or five to three lead and was ended up being A difference in the game. And after, afterward, you know, vote said it was, you know, that a mistake was made, an unfortunate call was made that cost him three runs. Carlos Santana said it definitely cost him the game.
Joe Noga: Yeah, an umpire error, I guess. Umpire’s mistake, my bad. That kind of thing. Yeah, you don’t get a do over in the major leagues. It’s, it’s not like that. But that one definitely kind of stood out as kind of, kind of questionable. Vic Carapaza at first base was doing the right thing by not making a call, by letting the, the play develop the whole way. It’s the home plate umpire, Mets, who, who really screwed up by, you know, sort of jumping the gun and, and sort of the game speeding up on him. I think in a, in a little bit of a way like that. Behind the plate, his calls were excellent. His strike zone was, was really solid. He had a good game in that regard. It’s just the, the dead ball management and the, you know, while the play is going on sort of thing. It’s funny, I was at my kid’s 16U baseball game last night and a very similar thing happened where kid hit a pop up on the infield with runners on second and third and the umpire in the field called the infield fly rule. And so the shortstop from the other team let the ball drop on the infield and the, the runner went to first and he was safe and they had no recourse. They couldn’t do anything because the umpire made, made a mistake and said, you know, I shouldn’t have called the infield fly role. Which he, he did and they couldn’t change it. You can’t go back and, you know, have an oopsie do over. That’s like. So that was the same situation last night, only it wound up costing the guardians the game because like you said, it went for three runs.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. And you know, I think we’re seeing a slow boil inside Stephen Vogt here. You know, he’s a pretty even keeled guy, but he’s on. Been on the field three or four of the last games arguing with the umpires. I would not be surprised to see, you know, depending how, you know, this series goes and how the Detroit series goes this weekend, I would not be surprised to see him leave a game early. Joe.
Joe Noga: Yeah, maybe, maybe a early trip to the showers is in order just to get things going and stir the pot. And Stephen Vogt knows all the tricks when it comes to that kind of thing. So I think he’s, he’s been Kicked out of one game so far in his career? Yeah, yeah, one game last year. I believe it was in Minnesota. Usually this is a, a guy who has a really good relationship and rapport with the, the umpires, but might be time to set one off. If you’re Steven Vogt. Let’s get back to Jose Ramirez. The good news before the game. Jose Ramirez elected to his seventh All Star Game as a starter. He will be there for the fourth time starting at third base for the American League. This is historic for, for the, the Guardians franchise. No player in club history has been elected to start four times. He was tied with Sandy Alomar and Kenny Lofton in that regard. This is his seventh election as an All Star, I believe. What is Bob Feller? Eight. You know who’s the, the, the franchise.
Paul Hoynes: Fellow with eight is the franchise leader.
Joe Noga: So I mean he’s got one more to go to Ty Feller in that regard. This is forearm bruise or not. This is still one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball. I think since 2021. He has the most hits in, in All Star play as individually, you know, a guy you definitely want to see there in Atlanta. And a well deserved start for Jose Ramirez.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely, Joe. And it was really kind of cool. Jose thanked the fans for voting for him in phase one and phase two of the voting. And he said, you know, that’s, I really appreciate him this year because I don’t think I’ve really had that the year I want to have, the year I’ve been working toward, you know, so they really kind of picked him up. He said thank you to the fans. But Joe, he’s still, he’s still having a pretty good year on. He’s got 13 home runs, 38 RBIs, a bunch of stolen bases. You know, he’s, he’s been in a little bit of a funk right now, but he’s, you know, through the first two and a half months, three months of the season, you know, he’s been, he’s, he’s led the parade here for the Guardians. He’s, you know, he’s been a team leader on and off the field.
Joe Noga: Yeah, I think without Jose’s batting average factored in, I think the Guardians would be hitting something around the.200 mark with like a.620 OPS, something like that, without Jose’s numbers. So you talk about how much he means to a club. That’s, that’s what it is. Stephen Kwan was also a finalist. He did not make the cut. The final vote. But what’s your opinion when I tell you that Javi Baez is going to be a starter in the outfield for the American League?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, that’s, that’s a strange one, Joe. But I think the success the Tigers are having helped Javi there and obviously he’s played pretty well too, Joe. You got to give him credit. Veteran guy that, you know, lost his shortstop job and was willing to move around to show his versatility. These guys are all baseball players. They can, you know, I think they can. Most of these guys get. You could shake them up and put them, put them anywhere on the diamond and they could do a pretty good job.
Joe Noga: Javi Baez couldn’t cut it as a shortstop. They moved him to the outfield and now some. Because Detroit’s in first place, they voted him in and. Come on, come on.
Paul Hoynes: That’s the way it goes. You know, look at the. Even guardians had five All Stars last year.
Joe Noga: Stephen Kwan is not going to be your starter in the All Star game because Javi Baez couldn’t find a place on the field and they stuck him in the outfield. Come on. All right.
Paul Hoynes: He still got a shot, right? He still got a shot as right.
Joe Noga: Yeah. Obviously Stephen Kwan’s going to make. He’s going to be there. In Atlanta, we talked about Jose Ramirez All Star. I’m. Am I going to get in trouble?
Paul Hoynes: Sherman’s march to the seat.
Joe Noga: There we go. As far as our daily mention of Chase DeLauter and all of those reinforcements that are someday coming from Columbus. The Big Three had a big night for the Clippers against Toledo and a huge win. I think they won 13, nothing. Something like that.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah.
Joe Noga: In Toledo, a Chase DeLauter, a two run double. Juan Brito, a grand slam. CJ Kayfus, a three run home run. If, if Luis Ortiz and. And the. The ship is, is sinking fast. How soon before we see one, two or all three of those guys on the major league roster?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I think that that’s coming fast, Joe. I would imagine. Who knows, maybe when they get, you know, when they come back from maybe Friday night, who knows? But I think definitely after the All Star break, we start seeing some movement.
Joe Noga: Yeah. I would ask you for today’s reason why Chase DeLauter isn’t already on the roster, but anything you’re going to tell me, I’m just going to laugh at. So there really isn’t a reason right now. He’s proven that he can hit and needs that to take that next step to finish his development at the major league level.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I was thinking, Joe, maybe one of the reasons he’s not here right now. You know, Chicago started two lefties in the first two games of this series, so that might have something to do with it.
Joe Noga: Yeah, we saw that. I believe Reese Olson is going to come off the injured list and start Friday for the for The Tigers on July 4th at Progressive Field. So maybe it’s time for Chase the Lauder at that point. We’ve got a lot. We got a long way to go between now and then, Hoynsie. That’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. We will check in with you again on Monday. Have a happy 4th of July and a safe trip back from Chicago.
Paul Hoynes: All right, Joe. Thanks, man.
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