The Cleveland Guardians were dealt some worrisome Emmanuel Clase news on Monday.
He was placed on administrative leave, like Luis L. Ortiz, because of his alleged involvement in a sports gambling scheme.
Even so, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti stated that this wouldn’t change the team’s approach to the trade deadline.
When asked about it, he said that they had been in talks with multiple teams in recent days, and he believes that’s going to be the same in the following days:
“It’s a very active time of year anyway where we’re in constant dialogue with a lot of teams,” Antonetti said. “We had a lot of dialogue up through this morning and certainly have had dialogue over the last few hours and my expectation is that it will continue over the next few days.”
Clase was one of the team’s prime trade chips.
He’s still owed roughly $5 million this season and $6.4 million next season, with the team holding $10 million club options for the next two years.
His team-friendly contract also includes $2 million and $1 million buyout clauses.
Given his dominance as one of the most reliable closers in the game, plus his contract, he was expected to be heavily pursued at the deadline.
Nevertheless, now that his availability for the remainder of the season – and perhaps beyond – is uncertain, teams might not want to go after him.
There were mixed reports about whether the Guardians would be interested in trading him, since they also had a promising closer in Cade Smith.
Now, they’ve lost the most important piece in any negotiation, which is leverage.
While there’s still a chance that they could find a new home for the star closer, his trade value may have plummeted to a point at which it may not even make sense to trade him.
NEXT: Stephen Vogt Speaks Out About Potential Closer Role Replacement
