Good Morning, Mr. Commissioner
Pleasant dreams?
The Cleveland Guardians, winners of 15 of their past 16, woke up this morning in possession of the third and final American League Wild Card spot. Yesterday’s doubleheader sweep of the Twins catapulted them into a tie with the Astros, against whom Cleveland owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. Today, the Guardians set their sites on the Tigers, who entered September with a 9.5-game lead over the Royals and 10.5 games clear of Cleveland. That lead is down to one.
On Tuesday, the division rivals begin a three-game series at Progressive Field. It’s the pennant race baseball we all need during the final week of the regular season.
If Guardians fans had a hard time sleeping last night, that’s understandable. The franchise that inspired “Major League” is on the cusp of a comeback that the city hasn’t seen since, well, “Major League.” (The spirit of Harry Doyle is alive and well, if not also pulling some strings from the cornfields.)
It would also be understandable if Commissioner Rob Manfred had a hard time sleeping last night. In early July, Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave. Towards the end of the month, All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase joined Ortiz on leave. Both players are still suspended, pending an active gambling-related investigation by MLB.
The initial investigation, which targeted Ortiz, reportedly centered around the pitcher’s influence on single-pitch propositions, such as a bet on whether the first pitch of an at-bat would be a strike. The probe expanded, and Clase was included. It’s never good news when terms like “suspicious wagering activity” arise.
There are dozens of directions this story could take from this here. What’s most interesting to me now is how the Guardians presence in the postseason would force the gambling storyline to the forefront — and how MLB might aggressively attempt to censor dissuade media from reporting on the matter.
Have you seen a single game this year without FanDuel, BetMGM, Draft Kings or the name of any other gambling sponsor attached? (A terrific podcast series from Michael Lewis — yes, the same Michael Lewis who wrote Moneyball — dives into the gambling epidemic, particularly among boys in high school and college in the USA. In one memorable and eye-opening episode, he bankrolls his own son in an effort to teach him a lesson.)
There’s no way that the executives at MLB are rooting for the Guardians, but, at the same time, I don’t think they’re losing sleep over it either. The suspension of two players is merely the cost of doing business. We don’t need the potential 2027 work stoppage to remind us what really controls the game.
A Clase Case of Bad Advice
Have you ever heard of Finlete? It’s a company that pairs baseball players to investors, enabling a player to sell shares of his future earnings to the public. Finlete isn’t the first firm to provide upfront payments to players, but I believe it’s the first to treat the player like a publicly traded company. (At a later date, we’ll dig into the business model and opportunities for both players and the public.)
Guess who was one of Finlete’s first clients? That’s right: Emmanuel Clase.
On Opening Day of 2022, when Clase still wasn’t entitled to much more than league minimum, he signed a $20 million, five-year extension with the Guardians. Only two years earlier, the reliever had been suspended for the shortened 2020 season after testing positive for anabolic steroid Boldenone.
According to a report last October in Sportico by Brendan Coffey, Clase began selling shares of his future earnings during last year’s postseason, in which the Guardians advanced to the ALCS. At the time, he had $13.3 million in guaranteed salary remaining. That remainder also assumes he wouldn’t end up banned from the game.
Clase’s funding drive is closed, but Sportico reported the offering could have raised as much as $3.6 million. According to the Finlete website, it raised $316,936.
Clase was due to earn $4.9 million this year and $6.4 million in 2026, in addition to a worst-case scenario $2 million buyout on a 2027 club option. Why did he need to sell part of his future? And if he’s found guilty of having intentionally thrown balls, was that just another way of diversifying his portfolio?
MLB may not want to admit it has a gambling problem, but, there’s no denying, the league has a Guardians problem.