The Guardians will not be on the hook for Emmanuel Clase\u2019s $6.4 million salary in 2026.<\/p>\n
Clase, the all-time saves leader in Indians\/Guardians franchise history, was put on non-disciplinary paid leave July 28 last year when Major League Baseball became suspicious he intentionally threw pitches out of the strike zone so alleged associates could benefit on prop bets. Luis Ortiz, a starter for the Guardians in 2025, suffered the same fate for the same reason July 3.<\/p>\n
The \u201cpaid leave\u201d part of the punishment meant that, per agreement by MLB and the players\u2019 union, the Guardians had to continue paying the 2025 salaries of Clase and Ortiz even though they were banished.<\/p>\n
Clase and Ortiz are set to go to trial May 4 on bribery and fraud charges, though the trial might be delayed until October or November.<\/p>\n
The important news as far as the Guardians are concerned is that March 20, MLB announced neither Clase or Ortiz will be paid for 2026. This is significant because both pitchers are considered innocent until proven guilty.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the legal proceedings involving Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz continue to move forward, MLB and the MLBPA have agreed that both players will remain on non-disciplinary leave from the club without pay until further notice,\u201d Major League Baseball said in a statement. \u201cThis agreement is not an admission of any wrongdoing by Clase or Ortiz. MLB has been closely monitoring the matter since alerting federal law enforcement at the outset of its investigation and will have no further comment until its investigation has been completed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clase was under contract for $6.4 million in 2026. Ortiz was set to make around the league minimum of $780,000.<\/p>\n
The Guardians opened spring training in Goodyear, Ariz., last month unsure whether the status of Clase and Ortiz would change. They were braced for the possibility they would have to continue paying the two pitchers from the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still awaiting resolution from Major League Baseball at this point,\u201d Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said Jan. 29.<\/p>\n
Back in October, Heat guard Terry Rozier was arrested and charged by federal prosecutors for allegedly being part of a gambling scheme involving NBA games.<\/p>\n
The league announced Rozier would be on unpaid leave, but the NBA Players\u2019 Association filed a grievance on Rozier\u2019s behalf. An arbitrator Feb. 2 ruled the Heat owed Rozier his full 2025-26 salary of $26.6 million. Rozier\u2019s trial is pending.<\/p>\n
No longer being under obligation to pay Clase is a relief to the bean counters in the Guardians\u2019 organization, but Antonetti is still feeling the sting of Clase\u2019s alleged indiscretion. Clase led the Majors in saves each year from 2022-24. He was on his way to another banner year in 2025 with 24 saves with two months left in the season.<\/p>\n
The Guardians held a club option on Clase in 2027 and 2028 for $10 million a year. Clase was a prime candidate to trade to a contender as the July 31 trade deadline neared, but any plans Antonetti had went up in smoke when MLB swept in and ended not only Clase\u2019s season, but most likely his career. Prosecutors claim Ortiz and Clase accepted \u201cthousands of dollars\u201d in bribes to help two bettors in the Dominican Republic win $460,000 in prop bets wagered on the speed and location of pitches.<\/p>\n
Clase allegedly rigged pitches so bettors could win prop bets in at least 48 games between 2023 and 2025. He and Ortiz face up to 65 years in prison if they are found guilty on all counts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Guardians will not be on the hook for Emmanuel Clase\u2019s $6.4 million salary in 2026. Clase, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2380],"tags":[5,135,51,2565,538,853,4,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-634701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-guardians","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-guardians","11":"tag-clevelandguardians","12":"tag-guardians","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116264892200096105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}