CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Emmanuel Clase pitch-fixing scandal took a dramatic turn Thursday, with new court documents revealing the Guardians closer allegedly fixed pitches in a staggering 48 games over two years – more than five times the number initially reported.
The bombshell revelation came in a federal court filing by co-defendant Luis Ortiz’s legal team, who are seeking to separate their client’s case from Clase’s increasingly toxic legal situation. As cleveland.com’s Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes discussed on the latest Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast, the scope of the allegations against Clase has expanded exponentially since the initial charges.
“Clase is accused of fixing pitches in 48 different games over the course of two years. Whereas back in November when the charges were originally unsealed, there were nine games that he had thrown fixed pitches in,” explained Noga during the podcast.
The court proceedings also contained another shocking detail: prosecutors have identified “at least 250 pitches on which bets were placed” according to Hoynes, who noted this is “an amazing number of pitches, especially for a closer and an efficient closer who kind of lives by the 10-13 pitch inning.”
Ortiz’s legal strategy hinges on the vast disparity between his alleged involvement and Clase’s. While Clase appeared in 197 games during the investigation period and is accused of fixing pitches in 48 of them, Ortiz made only 16 starts for Cleveland in 2025 and is accused in just two games.
The financial motive remains perplexing, as the total amount allegedly won through the scheme was around $460,000 – a fraction of Clase’s $6 million salary. As Noga points out, “It doesn’t make any sense to me why he was involved in this other than maybe the thrill of being able to do it.”
Perhaps most concerning for Cleveland fans is the possibility that some of those compromised games might have included playoff appearances. “If we find out that any of these now 48 games that he pitched in involved the fixed pitches. If any of those 48 games were postseason games, where does this put him on the list of all-time most vilified people in Cleveland?” Noga asked during the podcast.
Hoynes agreed with the gravity of such a scenario: “Oh, my goodness… Are we just waiting for the other shoe to drop? Anything is possible right now. This still may be the tip of the iceberg.”
With the case expanding so dramatically, nothing seems certain anymore.
Hoynes put Clase’s dramatic rise and fall into perspective: “Just think where this guy came from. They get him from Texas, for Corey Kluber. This is a guy that’s a million to one shot. All of a sudden this guy’s like a roman candle. He shoots off into space, he saves all these games and then he brings himself down.”
The trial is scheduled for May, though Ortiz’s legal team may seek a delay. Whatever the outcome of the criminal proceedings, MLB is almost certain to impose lifetime bans similar to those handed down in the Black Sox scandal, where eight players received baseball’s ultimate punishment despite varying degrees of involvement.
Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s an AI-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.
Podcast Transcript
Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynsie, the breaking news sort of hit us last night while we were at the Cleveland Sports Awards. The story that was released by ESPN. A filing in federal court from the defense team with Luis Ortiz in the pitch fixing case against Ortiz and his co defendant Emmanuel Clase. Basically Ortiz seeking to sever his case from Clase. The lawyers from Ortiz arguing that there’s, there’s different levels of culpability here. And in the court filing it was revealed that Emmanuel Clase is accused of fixing pitches in 48 different games over the course of two years. Whereas back in November when the, the in charges were originally filed, it was revealed at that time when the documents were unsealed that there were nine games that he had, you know, fixed pitches in and, and conspired with betters on. Now that, you know, we got the full scope of what the federal government’s case against both pitchers is. Ortiz’s camp is arguing there were only what, a handful of games that he was accused of fixing pitches in and therefore the, the two cases should be severed because a jury’s not going to be able to find Ortiz innocent if he’s got found guilty by association with Class A. Yeah, definitely.
Paul Hoynes: Really interesting, you know, turn of events here. You know, for Class A, just more bad news. 48 games as opposed to nine. This all started according to federal prosecutors in 2023 and has continued, you know, at a, at a much greater extent than the original indictment led, led us to believe apparently. And it seems like, you know, this was latest turn of events was brought on by Ortiz’s lawyer who petitioned the court with, you know, the, the further evidence, I guess that Class A was involved in a lot more pitch fixing than, than his teammate Ortiz. And as you stated, Joe Ortiz is saying hands off right now. He’s backing out the door and saying let’s try this separately if we’re going to do this. If there is, if this thing reaches a trial which is scheduled for May 4th.
Joe Noga: Yeah. What do you make of, of the argument that, you know, Ortiz wouldn’t be able to get a fair trial if the two are, if he’s sitting next to Class A as a defendant, you know, and they look at just the, the potential number of games that, you know, Class A appeared in between 2023 and, and July of 2025 is, is the stretch that they’re looking at. He appeared in 100, 197 games during that stretch and for him to have. Have been. For them, for the government to have evidence of him fixing pitches in 48 of those games, that. That’s a lot. That’s. That he’s. He appeared in and, you know, for, for Ortiz, who was only with the team in 2025, only made 16 starts, and I believe he’s only accused of, of fixing pitches in two of those games. A reasonable person, a reasonable observer of this would think that a jury’s going to be. Have a hard time separating the two.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I think that’s probably correct. You know, you’re. You’re guilty by association as well. So, you know, this is probably a good move or a desperation move by Ortiz’s lawyer legal team to, you know, get him as far away from Class A as possible. But these two guys, you know, they knew what they were getting into. Joe and Brush, I don’t know how, how big a. A brush. MLB used to go after both these guys, but in the Black Sox scandal, they. Eight players were banned for life and they, you know, and they all had different degrees of culpability. I don’t know how this is going to work in the legal. This might make a great legal defense, but when it comes to Major League Baseball and Commissioner Rob Manfred, it’s going to be interesting to see if he takes the same approach.
Joe Noga: Yeah, I think, you know, just in terms of the, the criminal aspect of it, they’re trying to take care of that first and saying, well, I only fixed pitches in two games as opposed to 48 games. You’re still admitting to fixing pitches in two games, and that’s going to get you banned for life once Major League Baseball gets their hands on you, if you make it through the criminal process. I guess my question is, or all these sort of questions. I’ve watched enough TV legal dramas to sort of pick up on a few things, and I guess that’s probably a dangerous thing to be putting out on a podcast here. But, you know, as far as, Would they try to get Ortiz to, to testify against Clase if Class A continues to put up a defense against this? Would they, you know, turn him and use him as a witness in, in any sort of case, or are they just satisfied to go ahead and knowing they’ve got enough evidence that they can get a conviction one way or another, and, and they don’t need him in that regard? You know, none of that, all of that is. Is going to wait until, you know, whatever potential trial happens in, in May when it’s scheduled for. But, but you said there’s some rumblings that Ortiz’s camp might, might be asking for a continuance or a delay in the, in the.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely, Joe. It sounded like they want more time to prepare. You know, they’ve, they’ve, they’ve had a lot of time here, so we’ll see if they, they get an extension. But Joe, there was something else that we learned last night from the stories that we read and what was reported. Record of court proceedings. And I’m quoting from the ESPN story. A record of the court proceedings states that Class A has identified at least 250 pitches on which bets were placed. 50 pitches. I mean, I mean, 40. Is it only 48 games that he has influenced? That’s an amazing number of pitches, especially for a closer and an efficient closer who, you know, who, you know, kind of live by the 10 to 13 pitch inning. I mean, it just, I mean, if, if that’s the case, I mean, wow, 200. He’s, you know, you know, they’ve looked at 250 of his pitches. I guess that’s what this means.
Joe Noga: Yeah, it’s not going to be every pitch of an outing. So if he goes out there and throws 10 to 13 pitches in an outing to get through an inning, maybe a handful of the, those pitches or maybe just one of those pitches was one that was, was used in a, in a bet. But in terms of, like you said, this is a guy who’s, whose calling card was his efficiency, his ability to, to, to minimize the number of times he threw in the bullpen and, and go out there and be so, you know, in command of the strike zone that he didn’t have to throw a lot of pitches in each outing. And that’s why he was always seeming like he was available every other night to come out there and close games. And, and the, the more they used him, the more opportunities he had to. To do this, it just still blow total number of dollars that was illicitly won through the, the, the, this betting scandal. It’s less than half a million dollars. It’s $460,000. And this is a guy who, you know, if he was, if he was pitching this year would be making $6 million. It doesn’t make any sense to me why he was involved in this other than maybe the, the thrill of being able to do it or to be able to sort of hide some sort of income to be able to, to send home to the Dominican Republic whatever his motivations are. That’s regardless, I guess from a guardian’s perspective, if we Find out that any of these now 48 games that he pitched in that, that were involved the fixed pitches. If any of those 48 games were post season games, where does this put him on the list of all time most vilified people in Cleveland?
Paul Hoynes: Oh, my goodness. And there’s no, you know, I mean, I mean we, we wrote a story, cleveland.com wrote a story about, you know, the, the kind of the, the uniqueness that the 2016, what was 2000, what am I 2024 season?
Joe Noga: Right, right.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. What the postseason was, was, you know, there were no pitches involved in that or being investigated in that and nothing in the postseason. And are we just waiting for the other shoe to drop, Joe? I mean, I, it, I mean, you know, I, it’s just, I think anything is possible right now. We’re still finding this, this still may be the tip of the iceberg.
Joe Noga: Yeah, we need a full accounting of the games that the prosecutors have, you know, records on and when those games took place and if any of those games took place in the postseason, that’s, that’s it. That, you know, there’s, there’s already no coming back from this for Clase is as far as a lot of people are concerned. But you put him atop the mountain of all time just, you know, worst humans in Cleveland sports history. If that happens, to find out that, that this happened in a postseason game. Right now we, we have no indication that that’s the case, but we, we had no indication that it was five times more games than it was originally reported back in November. So these things change seemingly overnight. That’s the latest.
Paul Hoynes: One more thing I was wondering if he’s, is now being federal prosecutors now say he threw rig pitches in 48 games, does that mean the amount of money they won goes up? You know, that does because the 460, half a million bucks that, you know, they, they won originally or was reported originally was based on, you know, nine games by class A.
Joe Noga: And I don’t know if that’s, I don’t know if that’s, I don’t know if that 460 was tied only to the nine games or if it was 460 total and that the nine games were the, the ones that they just told us about in, you know, they might have, they might have known that there were 48 games at the time. And you know, here’s, here’s the 460,000 total. We never sort of connected the two, but again, yeah, it just seems like every time something like this, every court document that comes out or is unsealed. It just looks worse and worse for Emmanuel Clase as we move forward. 81 games he saved in Cleveland. You just think about how this was a guy who was on track for the hall of Fame.
Paul Hoynes: And just think, Joe, just think of where this guy came from. They get him from Texas, from Corey Kluber. You know, this is a guy that, that’s, you know, a million to one shot. I mean, yeah, he threw hard, but the first year he came here, he gets banged for peds, he’s injured, he doesn’t pitch at all in 2020. And all of a sudden this guy’s like a rocket, A Roman, a Roman candle. He shoots off into space, he saves all these games and. And then he brings himself down. You know, he just. It’s crazy. It just. It doesn’t make any sense.
Joe Noga: Doesn’t make any sense at all. All right, Something that does make a lot of sense. The rosters for the World Baseball Classic were released yesterday. And somewhere around nine, maybe even 10 Guardians players from the organization, major league and, and player development system are appearing on rosters for a bunch of different teams. We listed those, the headliners, obviously guys like Bo Naylor and Travis Bazzana. And Naylor will play for his native Canada and Bazzana will play for Australia. You know, those, those were ones that we, we had kind of had a, you know, a pretty good idea about. I guess our biggest questions were, would guys like Kate Smith, Eric Sabrowski appear on the Canadian roster? Would Jose Ramirez appear on the Dominican Republic roster? And the answers to those questions, no. It looks like none of those guys are going to participate in the WBC. We’d heard that Jose Ramirez could appear for the Dominican Republic if they advance to the, to the knockout rounds. But as of right now, the additions, besides Bo Naylor and Travis Bazzana, you’ve got Matt Festa pitching for Italy, Logan Allen for Panama, and a non roster invitee for the Guardians, Stuart Fairchild. He’s going to be on the roster for Chinese Taipei. So those guys will miss time in major league camp. Other minor leaguers who will, will also miss time in camp include Dylan DeLucia, who will play for Italy, infielder Diane Frias, Colombia, and your favorite guy, your favorite nickname in the organization, a left hander, Matt Tugboat Wilkinson, he’s on the Canadian roster.
Paul Hoynes: That’s a, that’s quite a group, Joe. And they have some coaches as well, right?
Joe Noga: Yeah, three coaches. Sandy Alomar will assist with Puerto Rico. Brad Goldberg will be the pitching coach for Israel and Roluglas o’, Door, the third base and infield coach, will, will coach with Venezuela. So yeah, no, no Ramirez, no Cade Smith, no Brayan Rocchio or Gabriel Arias for Venezuela. So yeah, that’s what the, the rosters are going to look like in terms of guardians players.
Paul Hoynes: A Dominican Republic team. And while Jose Ramirez isn’t on it, at least right now, there are some former guardians on there. Yanier Diaz will be one of the catchers, the former minor league catcher for Cleveland, Carlos Santana, of course, and Junior Caminero.
Joe Noga: So there’s still Ahmed Rosario as well.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, right.
Joe Noga: So yeah, the, the Dominican will have a, a good Cleveland influence on there to some degree even though none of the guardians players are going to be there. Just what do you make of basically the Dominican picking Manny Machado as their third baseman when Jose Ramirez is the one getting all the love around the league basically for being the top ranked third baseman in Major League Baseball?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joy, that’s surprising to me. I mean, we know Jose hasn’t played on the WBC before. I don’t know if that has an influence in it when they come, when it comes to picking a ball club, but there seemed to be a little friction there. I mean, you picked up, picked up on that on social media, right?
Joe Noga: Yeah, it was on one of Ramirez’s Instagram stories where he, he shared an emoji, a kind of a guy shrugging his shoulders when he was named the number one third baseman by MLB Network this past week. So something to definitely see if he’ll talk about maybe when they get to camp in a couple of weeks and, and, and see what the, the deal is. Who knows if it stretches back to when Jose turned down the, the invitation to come to the All Star Game after the being voted a starter by the fans. I know the, the folks in the Dominican weren’t real happy about that at that time.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely. I think that caused a little ruffle, ruffled some feathers. I know when Jose came back for the second half, he was, he was still upset about it. He said he was hurt. He said he needed a rest. And it was one of the few times that Jose was speaking in, in fluent English, Joe. And he talk. I only speak English when I talk smack. And he was doing some smack talking about the treatment he was getting from his hometown fans.
Joe Noga: There you go. All right. Yeah. That the, the World Baseball Classic set to begin in Japan with games coming up as early as March 5. That could stretch as late into spring training as March 16 when the championship games take place. So depending on, you know, which teams go deep into the tournament, you know, we’re heading towards a USA vs Japan final at some point in this tournament that it’s got to be. Those are the two most powerful teams led by the, you know, two of the biggest stars in the game in Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. I think everybody wants to see that matchup at some point and you know, here’s, here’s hoping that we get it. The last time we had it, it was Ohtani on the mound striking out Mike Trout to, to win the World Best Baseball Classic for Japan. We would love to see a rematch of that final at some point and hoping we get that.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, what they say Ohtani is not going to pitch though. Right?
Joe Noga: Right. He’s not going to pitch.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. So that’ll be interesting. Joe, I’m, I want to ask you something with. Are you surprised that Cade Smith and Sabrowski aren’t pitching for Team Canada?
Joe Noga: No, not with the, the workload that the, that, that Smith has had and the injury history that Sabrowski has had. It doesn’t surprise me one bit. Both of those guys strike me as the kind of guys who, yeah, you know, playing for your country is important, but you’re also, you know, you have a commitment to the Guardians and I think that maybe that commitment takes sort of precedence here. And knowing that you’re in this for 162 games as opposed to once every, you know, three or three or four year tournament, I think it’s important that they, they recognize that, you know, the Guardians need them maybe a little bit more than Team Canada needs them.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, that’s a good point. And you know, I think the deeper they get into their big league careers, maybe they take another look at this, you know, three more years, you know, Josh. That’s the approach Josh Naylor took.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And you know, we can talk about Josh Naylor playing, reuniting with his brother, you know, after they played here in Cleveland together. You know, obviously there’s a, you know, great family bloodlines and a great connection to the Canadian national team there for Josh. But definitely take that as an example of, you know, Josh was hurt the last time or coming off an injury. He was the last time the, the world baseball class rolled around. You know, he could have probably pushed and tried to be on that roster and play for in this tournament. But, you know, the, the smart thing for him, the smart thing for his career was to, to sort of take a step back and he, he bet on himself and, and it Turns out that, you know, he’s in a far better position right now and you know, a couple years later, deeper into his career to be participating in something like this than maybe he would have been as a younger player with a little bit of a history of injuries. They’re not saying that there’s any injury reasons why Smith or Sabrowski are not, you know, in this tournament. But like you said, a little bit more veteran guys maybe closer towards that arbitration period when, when in their careers when there’s a little bit more financial security too. You know, that might play a factor into why Kate Smith’s not. Not on the roster now. He’d definitely be the closer for. For that was the. If that was the case.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. Great points. Great points.
Joe Noga: All right. Last night at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards, we waited until the very end of the show. The last award of the night, you know, the first award of the night went to Miles Garrett as the professional, professional athlete of the year. Jose Ramirez and Donovan Mitchell were the other finalists in that category, but can’t hold it against Miles Garrett winning the the pro athlete of the year award because, you know, he set the NFL sack record this season. Jose Ramirez and Donovan Mitchell both had incredible years, but Miles Garrett definitely deserving of that award. The final award of the night went to the Guardians. It was the best moment in Cleveland sports. It was the, was the name of the award. And that went to the guardians for their 15 and a half game comeback in the month of September to win the American League Central Division and make the postseason. Doing so on a walk off home run on the last day of the season by Brayan Rocchio in extra innings against Texas. Just an amazing, you know, month long moment. But you know, that one moment, the flashpoint with Rocchio’s home run Steven Vogt accepting the award in a nice little exchange with Andre Knott that they had, you know, set up their video call with, you know, vote. Being in Arizona getting ready for spring training, you know, what do you think of the Guardians being the best moment in Cleveland Sports from 2025?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, how could it not be, Joe? I mean Guardians, how long have they been baseball, the Americans? 1901. Biggest comeback in major league history. 15 and a half back in July, 11 back on September 4th and they still win the division. It just, you know, it was incredible to watch. And you know, I think the thing people forget while the Guardians had a massive comeback took a near epic failure by the Tigers for to make it happen.
Joe Noga: Yeah. The Greater Detroit Sports Awards going on Last night as well. And they were celebrating the worst moment in Detroit sports and that. Well, actually it probably was pretty good because you know, the Tigers came back and won the wild card series a week later and you know, it’s not like it turned out great for Cleveland in the end, but again, you at least get that moment. You get the, all the feelings of that celebration. And we’re sitting here on February 6th, you know, four months later and I still don’t know how they did it. I still don’t understand the smoke, mirrors and blood magic that they used to turn things around and get themselves into position to win that division and once again make the playoffs. Yeah, 2025 was special and you hope that they’re able to carry that, that kind of witchcraft into 2026 when the season begins. One more note, Hoynsie, before we go. The big case that everybody had their eyes on in Major League Baseball, the arbitration hearing between Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers. Skubal wins his hearing. He wins his case. He will make $32 million in his final year of arbitration with the Tigers and looks like the Tigers to keep him on the roster and pay him, they signed Rambur Valdez to a three year, $115 million deal. The, the, the night after having the hearing with him, after having the hearing with school. So they’ve got two frontline lefty starters. Their payroll now skyrockets to $215 million. Is all the pressure on Detroit now to win the AL Central in 2026 after school making basically record setting arbitration win?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, they have moved into the high rent district, Joe and the Tigers, I don’t think we’re going to have to. AJ Hinch can maybe abandon his philosophy of pitching chaos with those two guys. Valdez and Skubal, you know, wrapped up for this for this coming season. But yeah, the target has, has moved to the, from the, I think the Guardians back to the, to the Tigers back in the AL Central.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And you know there are. You talk about the top teams now in the American League, the Yankees, the, the Mariners, definitely the, the Blue Jays and what they’ve done in free agency and trying to rebuild or you know, build and maintain the success that they had last year. But now the Tigers are definitely a player in that. And Skubal, what does this say about the, the arbitration system? We’re talking. He set all sorts of records. This is a record for the, a player in his final year of arbitration. This blows away a pitcher. This sets the record for the biggest increase between second and third year of arbitration earnings, the biggest pay raise. This, this is a landmark case. And, you know, what does this mean for the future of Major League Baseball’s arbitration system?
Paul Hoynes: I think that arbitration system will, will remain, Joe. I’m sure maybe the owners will try, try to tweak it in the, when the basic agreement expires after the 2026 season. You know, I think also if, you know, if it stays intact as is, a lot more agents and a lot more pitchers and players in their fifth and final year of arbitration are going to take advantage of a clause in the contract that says you can compare yourself to free agents in the same service group. And I think that’s, that’s what, that’s what Skubal did. He wasn’t comparing himself to, with the server, you know, his service group that was still eligible for arbitration. He was comparing himself with, with free agent pitchers making 30 and 35 million a year. And that’s the way it worked out. And it’s amazing that, that more, more agents and players don’t take advantage of that clause.
Joe Noga: That’s, it’s definitely, you saw that with, you know, Juan Soto when, when he got his final year award, I think it was, you know, close to that.
Paul Hoynes: 31 million.
Joe Noga: It was 31 million. It was his final year award. So this is, this beats that. And Soto probably would have made, you know, more than that as a free agent in his final year as well. So who knows when the collective bargaining process begins, when they sit down to negotiate, what this is going to do to things in the future for this process and what the tug of war is going to be between the players and the owners. All right, Hoynsie, that’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast, a pretty busy week, pretty important stuff. But by, by the end of next week, we’ll be, we’ll be talking about reporting to Arizona and getting ready for spring trainings. We’ll, we’ll catch up with you on Monday and talk a little bit about our post super bowl hangovers, I think.
Paul Hoynes: All right, Joe.