The Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to be deadline buyers over the next few days, and the president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, recently came out and said the team will strictly be targeting bullpen reinforcements. Due to the Dodgers’ talent pool in their organization, there is no telling who they are actually looking at, because there are options from unknown players to the biggest of stars on the trade market.
The one thing the organization does know is that they need bullpen help. There has been underperformance and many injuries to relievers for Los Angeles this season, causing the team to have the 24th-ranked bullpen ERA.
Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase Placed on Non-Disciplinary Paid Leave
The Los Angeles Dodgers were thought to be one of the teams in the market for Cleveland Guardians flamethrower Emmanuel Clase. Los Angeles got big news on Monday that Clase was being placed on Non-Disciplinary paid leave in part due to a sports betting investigation.
It was unclear if the Guardians were actually going to move Clase, but the chances are pretty close to zero after this news. For the Dodgers, they are certainly not going to trade for him now amid this investigation.
Clase is a three-time All-Star (2022-2024) and is one of the best relievers in all of baseball. He will be re-evaluated to return on August 31st, and with the Guardians hovering around .500, this is a huge loss, and it will be interesting to see how it alters their mindset over the next few days before the trade deadline. The investigation is tied to Clase’s teammate, Luis Ortiz, who is thought to have bet on certain individual pitches during his outings.
It remains unclear if Clase was involved, but only time will tell, and for now, the Guardians are out their best reliever for the next month, and it serves as a huge shakeup three days before the trade deadline.
Clase’s Dominance Highlighted
Gabe Smallson of DodgersNation.com was quick on the news and does a good job of outlining Clase’s recent dominance:
“After putting up an ERA of just 0.61 last season on his way to a third All-Star nod, leading the American League in saves for a third straight season, and even an 11th-place finish in American League MVP voting, Clase was a major target for the trade market with the looming MLB trade deadline.”
“Clase has been pitching to a 3.23 ERA this season with 24 saves. He is in the 91st percentile across the majors in terms of swing-and-miss rate, doing so 32.1 percent of the time, and is in the 79th percentile in terms of getting batters to swing outside of the strikezone, getting hitters to do so 31 percent of the time.”
If the Cleveland Guardians were seriously considering trading Clase, this is a huge blow. He has two years left of team control and would have produced a massive haul from any team, but a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers would have given Cleveland multiple prospects and MLB-ready arms for their dominant closer.
A massive development for the sport of baseball, it will be interesting to see how it materializes.
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