Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Cade Smith (36) throws a pitch during the ninth inning against the New York Yankees at Progressive Field on April 21, 2025. David Dermer-Imagn Images

Cleveland Guardians Insider Properly Outlines How Emmanuel Clase Absence Impacts Team

Originally posted on Fastball on SI | By Brady Farkas | Last updated Jul 28, 2025 3:46 PM ET

The Cleveland Guardians were dealt a terrible hand on Monday as superstar closer Emmanuel Clase was put on leave because of an investigation into a gambling situation.

There are no concrete allegations against Clase that this time, but he's the second Guardians player to be put on leave, joining starting pitcher Luis L. Ortiz.

As noted by Justin Lada of Locked on Guardians, the team will be heavily affected by this news moving forward.

This costs the Guardians is some SERIOUS ways.

- Lose their closer
- Lose the most tradeable asset they had, if they wanted to make that move
- Cade Smith will now rack up saves and cost them more in ARB.

This costs the Guardians is some SERIOUS ways.

- Lose their closer
- Lose the most tradeable asset they had, if they wanted to make that move
- Cade Smith will now rack up saves and cost them more in ARB.
— Justin L. (jlbaseball on bluesky) (@JL_Baseball) July 28, 2025

Cleveland enters play on Monday at 52-53 and 3.5 games back of the third and final wild card spot in the American League. While there was no guarantee that they were going to move on from Clase, he could have helped net them a solid return that could have jumpstarted their ability to contend in 2026.

As for Cade Smith, he's one of the most dynamic relievers in the league. He's struck out 65 batters in 44.2 innings, going 2-3 with a 3.02 ERA. He's appeared in 46 games. He's under contract through 2029 but the increase in performance will make him more expensive as he moves through arbitration at the start of the 2027 season.

Those increases could be a big deal to a franchise like Cleveland that doesn't like to spend top-dollar on players.

The Guardians will play the Rockies on Monday at 6:40 p.m. ET.

This article first appeared on Fastball on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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