Suspended Guardians pitchers blocked from playing in winter league

Guardians first lost Luis Ortiz, Emmanuel Clase in July

Ortiz was first placed on non-disciplinary paid leave on July 3. Clase would join him on July 28. Cleveland held a 52-54 record and was 9.0 games behind the Detroit Tigers at the time. Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told reporters, including Yardbarker's Kevin Henry, in July that the team simply had to move forward as best they could.

"I think what's important is that we understand what the reality is and figure out how do we move forward from here," Antonetti said. "That's really the focus. 

"Both guys won't be available to us in the near term, and we need to figure out a way to overcome that. It's not too dissimilar to the moment when players are injured and they're not available to us. We have to find the next group to step up and shoulder a load and find a way to win games. That's really what we're focused on."

Cleveland was able to make up ground on the Tigers (Detroit's near-collapse helped, of course) and wound up overtaking the Tigers for the AL Central crown. Detroit secured a wild-card berth and would eliminate Cleveland in the postseason. 

Cleveland will have several areas it will look to improve this offseason, but will surely seek to add pitching. The Guardians need to operate as if Ortiz and Clase will not return.