Unfortunately for the Cleveland Guardians, the biggest storyline of their offseason so far has been the updates on pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz. Last Sunday, both pitchers were identified by the Department of Justice, arrested, and appeared in court before posting bail last week.

While there will be a broader discussion about sports gambling that continues, there’s also a baseball aspect to this story, and how the absences and arrests of players could affect the Guardians moving forward. 

During a media availability on Friday, Stephen Vogt was asked about how the team is preparing for next season amid the recent developments involving Clase and Ortiz. Cleveland’s skipper couldn’t entirely comment on the ordeal, but did hint at how the team will operate in the meantime. 

“Yeah, I mean, like, Chris [Antonetti] has said, and I’ll echo, until we actually know what's going on, we can't really comment on it, and we're gonna operate as if those two won't be joining us," said Cleveland's skipper.

Of course, Vogt isn’t going to publicly comment on the situation until the pair is either found guilty or not guilty, but the interesting part of his response is that the team is preparing as if neither Clase nor Ortiz will be part of the organization moving forward.

Cleveland’s skipper even doubled down on this reality later in his response.  

“And, you know, they weren't there the last few months, and so we operated that way. 
We're ready for it. And, you know, it's one of those situations that's out of our control, but we're going to continue business as usual, preparing for good here, and that if we get the news are coming back, we'll figure out how we're going to integrate them back in,” continued Vogt.

With that in mind, Vogt was also asked if that made Cade Smith Cleveland’s closer heading into the 2026 season, but the manager was non-committal about the right-hander’s role either.

“I can’t answer that right now because I don’t know what’s going to happen between now and Goodyear [the start of spring training],” said Vogt. “All I know is, I’d trust Cade Smith to take a baseball in his hand and go out that mound and get three outs whenever we need him to.”

There will still be more development in the Clase and Ortiz cases, and while Vogt can’t share his thoughts on that entire ordeal, he does make it clear that the Guardians are operating under the assumption they will no longer be a part of the organization.