The Cleveland Guardians are ready to be a force heading into the offseason, but it may be without having two of their top pitchers in their organization. There have been a lot of details that have come out regarding the situation, so let’s take a deeper dive into what the two Cleveland Guardians pitchers did and what their charges are at this moment.
Cleveland Guardians Pitchers Facing 65 Years in Prison
Two Cleveland Guardians pitchers, Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase, have been indicted in a sports betting scandal. Below are the charges that they have been linked to and what the sentences would be as it is listed by the Eastern District of New York:
“The charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on the wire fraud conspiracy count, 20 years’ imprisonment on the honest services wire fraud conspiracy count, five years’ imprisonment on the conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery count, and 20 years’ imprisonment on the money laundering conspiracy count.”
The prosecutors have alleged that Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were part of a scheme that the pitchers would intentionally throw balls so bettors were able to wager the next pitch would be a ball. They allege that this started as early as May 2023 with Clase and would later include Ortiz.
One specific time they allege this took place was on June 15 as Ortiz was paid $5,000 to throw an intentional ball, while Clase was also paid the same amount for facilitating it. They would repeat the occurrence on June 27 with the payment being $7,000.
The Cleveland Guardians are likely going to remain without the two pitchers on their roster and did not have prior knowledge of this going on. It will be interesting to see what the next steps are in this situation as it remains ongoing.
