ESPN's Jeff Passan shares what he believes could happen to Cleveland Guardians' Emmanuel Clase and Luiz Ortiz after being found guilty of indictment.
The Cleveland Guardians have been at the top of the sports and even the overall national news, the past 24 hours, and not for reasons the organization would like.
On Sunday, the United States Department of Justice announced that Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz had been indicted on multiple charges related to a gambling investigation.
The pitchers’ baseball future isn’t the biggest of their worries right now, considering they are each facing the potential of lengthy jail sentences, but the question still has to be asked: “Will either of them ever pitch in a Major League Baseball game again?”
One prominent insider doesn’t think so, as he predicted the fate of Clase and Ortiz on Monday afternoon.
“Prosecutors charged the pair with four charges each, and if you add up the potential sentences of those charges, they could be facing up to 65 years in prison. Now, no one is expecting that to be the ultimate punishment, but it shows the severity of this case, and just how seriously the District of New York [is],” said ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
“They’re taking it extraordinarily seriously because I think they understand, just as Major League Baseball does, this is about the integrity of the sport. And Major League Baseball, if they are found guilty, very likely, would levy lifetime bans against them as they did against Pete Rose and many others.”
At this point, all of the charges brought against both Clase and Ortiz are still alleged, and they are innocent until proven guilty. That said, if the pair of pitchers are found guilty, it wouldn’t be shocking in the slightest if MLB banned them for life.
In June of 2024, MLB placed San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano on the permanent ineligibility list and suspended four other players for a full year after they violated the league’s sports betting rules.
None of the players who placed bets in any of the games in which they participated received a strict punishment, unlike the allegations brought up against the pair of Cleveland pitchers.
Considering that both Clase and Ortiz are accused of manipulating the outcome of pitches, it would be reasonable for the league to impose the ultimate punishment if they're found guilty.