“It wasn’t a day to ask José things like that. He’s been on edge already. It’s been a different day.”
The words of Andre Knott when asked about whether José Ramírez knew the meaning behind Warming Bernabel’s first name said everything we need to know about the feeling around the Guardians clubhouse on Monday evening. This team is in shock, this team is in a state of unknowing, this team is in a state of anger, and they have every right to be.
‘Ignore the outside noise’. ‘Focus on the guys in the clubhouse’.
We’ve all heard the clichés this time of year from managers as the trade deadline approaches. Those phrases have new meanings within the 2025 Guardians’ season from Hell.
At the beginning of July, a bombshell dropped onto the corner of Carnegie and Ontario when MLB announced that Luis Ortiz was going to be placed on paid non-disciplinary administrative leave in regards to a gambling investigation. It was quickly followed with more information that Ortiz was being investigated for two specific instances regarding first-pitch betting props that saw extreme outlier movement on betting lines before the first pitch.
This was a big blow as Ortiz was figuring out how to pitch well with some semblance of consistency, and he was the big piece landed in the pair of trades that sent fan favorite and former All-Star, Andrés Giménez, to the Blue Jays. Ortiz was cementing himself as the third of a four-headed cost-controlled, potential-filled rotation alongside Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, and Slade Cecconi, and the Guardians actually appeared to have a sliver of starting pitching depth. That all went up in smoke in just two sentences from Major League Baseball.
A 10-game losing streak saw this team put on its knees with the Ortiz announcement smack dab in the middle of it, but the Guardians showed great resilience, and they bounced back, winning 11 of their next 13 games and scrapping their way back to a .500 record.
The club hit the road to Kansas City, seeing their first game get rained out, setting up a double-header on Saturday. Cleveland fell in that first game after a 3-run home run from Jonathan India in extra innings off Emmanuel Clase. The Guardians responded with a win in game two, capped off with a save by...Emmanuel Clase. Much of the fanbase thought this was an overly aggressive move as Clase was the center of any and all real trade talks involving the Guardians ahead of the deadline. However, Stephen Vogt’s decision never raised any red flags.
Until it did.
Monday morning, news broke that Emmanuel Clase was placed on administrative leave involving a gambling related investigation.
“The Guardians have been notified by Major League Baseball that as part of their sports betting investigation Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave per an agreement with the Players Association.
We have been informed that no additional players or Club personnel are expected to be impacted.”
If the Ortiz news was a bombshell, the Clase news was nuclear. A perennial All-Star coming off the best season a reliever has ever had in club history, and Cleveland’s all-time saves leader is now gone. Not traded, not injured. Suspended. For gambling.
Selflessness and next man up attitude has fueled two playoff runs over the previous three seasons. Selfishness and scandal now defines the organization.
Tom Hamilton received the Ford C. Frick Award in Cooperstown on Saturday. His moment in the sun lasted less than 48 hours, and while Hammy would do anything to not have the spotlight on him, I doubt he’d want it this way.
From Zack Meisel’s elaborative piece covering the situation over at The Athletic, Guardians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti found out about the Clase news on Sunday morning as he returned to Cleveland from Cooperstown where he went to support Hamilton, and Meisel continued on, stating that the Guardians knew something was coming in regards to Clase.
Anger, confusion, questions, and answers flooded the minds and conversations amongst Guardians fans.
Why would Clase do this? Do we know what happened? Is he gone for life? Who closes games now? Why did Stephen Vogt let him pitch in both games of a double header (and other games depending on how long they knew about this) if he knew Clase was in the throws of a gambling investigation?
While continually pitching Clase and allowing him to close games despite Vogt knowing of Clase’s link to a gambling investigation certainly has many asking questions, it would likely have raised the eyebrows of the players if their all-world closer suddenly stopped pitching for no apparent reason.
The situation is bad for everybody. For Cleveland’s front office and coaching staff, they’re going to have to field questions about both whether they are monitoring and policing a lifetime damaging act such as gambling to the level they need to be and what they do now with the deadline a mere 24 hours away. Does Kwan get moved? Will Shane Bieber ever see another day in Cleveland? All there seems to be is questions, and it affects the players more than anybody.
Coming out of a series loss at Kansas City where both days of games saw temperatures over 95 degrees with the heat index pushing 105, the guys were understandably tired. Then the Clase news is sprung on them early in the morning on Monday, and a recipe for short tempers brewed.
From what Andre Knott said both pregame and in the aforementioned quote about José Ramírez, the whirlwind of emotions were stirring at levels in that clubhouse never seen before. Already rumored strained relationships between certain player(s) and Clase were almost certainly broken beyond repair. Selfishness took a team trying to put itself back together again after Luis Ortiz decided his money was more important than his team and stripped them back down to the skids.
Emotional and physical exhaustion among the players was only compounded following a two-and-a-half hour rain delay prior to the opener of Cleveland’s home stand against the Rockies on Monday, and it showed on the field. That being said, a proven resilient bunch fought back, and a pinch hit, game-tying three-run home run from Bo Naylor kickstarted a five run seventh inning. Cleveland now led 5-3 after going scoreless up to that point.
Colorado would get one back in the eighth, and with a 5-4 lead going into the ninth inning, Cleveland would turn to...Cade Smith.
In a turn of events only as poetic as the city of Cleveland could have, the usually calm demeanor of Cade Smith was cracked immediately. A Warming Bernabel ground-rule double that nearly left the yard started the inning, and a Brenton Doyle sacrifice bunt spiraled the ninth inning into a chaotic mess. Cade Smith fielded Doyle’s bunt and chucked it into right field, allowing Bernabel to score and tie the game. A Tyler Freeman single scored the go-ahead run, and the Guardians would go on to lose 8-6. When it rains it pours.
Uncertainty about the future of this team has become the center of attention. Steven Kwan’s name now headlines every trade rumor mill article you see. A contract extension that may have had its last chance of getting done in the Winter now appears to have just a day left on its shelf life. A Kwan trade, while incredibly valuable, has seen its odds go up solely because Clase can’t net them anything now. He is dead value.
Fighting to get back into the Wild Card race now turns into a fight to keep fans in the seats as the season progresses, and who does all of this affect the most? The guys in the clubhouse. From the young players merely trying to find their footing at the big league level to the vets like José and ‘Los trying their damndest to keep a sinking ship afloat, the stress and the pressure that were once seeping through the cracks of that clubhouse have turned into a full blown tidal wave of unwanted and unneeded negative attention all because their former brother betrayed them. We may never see a season like this again in our lives, and the sooner it’s over, the better.
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