3 Guardians players who need to step up after Emmanuel Clase’s suspension 

On Monday, the Guardians' organization was dealt a huge blow when MLB announced that Emmanuel Clase had been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB's sports betting investigation. 

It’s a move that will have a wide-ranging impact on both the present and future of the Guardians’ organization. While it will take a bit to see the long-term ramifications of the suspension, the impact in the present is clear to see considering his importance to Cleveland’s bullpen. 

Here are the three Guardians who will need to step up the most in Clase’s absence. 

Cade Smith
2-3, 3.02 ERA, 3 SV, 65 K in 44 2/3 innings

Smith has been a relief ace for the Guardians this year and was viewed by many as the closer-in-waiting, but Clase’s suspension likely means he’s going to be the closer for now.

While his 3.02 ERA is a bit inflated compared to the 1.91 ERA he posted last year, part of the reason for that can be chalked up to a disastrous outing against the Tigers where he allowed four earned runs in 1/3 of an inning. 

He has three saves on the year, all of which he picked up in April when the team temporarily moved Clase out of the closer role due to his struggles. 

But, in baseball’s weird and backward world, Smith worked as the closer result in his time in Cleveland coming to an end sooner rather than later. The 26-year-old will be eligible for arbitration after next season, and saves are one of the things that can raise a player’s price tag during the arbitration process. 

The more he makes in the arbitration process, the greater a chance he could price himself out of Cleveland.

Nic Enright
1-0, 2.41 ERA, 17 K in 18 2/3 innings

While Enright didn’t break camp with the Guardians and has been on a shuttle from MLB and Triple-A since making his MLB debut in May, he's moved up a rung thanks to Clase’s injury and could fill into a high-leverage role. 

He’s coming off his best outing of the year (he threw two scoreless innings against the Royals in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader) and has a 1.15 ERA across his last 15 2/3 innings. While Enright’s fastball only averaged 93 miles per hour, batters have only hit .159 against it and just .133 against his sweeper. 

He earned his first career win at the end of June when he pitched a scoreless tenth inning against the Blue Jays, and he picked up his first career hold in that aforementioned outing against the Royals. 

If he keeps going the way he’s been going, he should earn plenty more of both. 

Hunter Gaddis
1-1, 3.35 ERA, 47 K in 43 innings

Did you know Gaddis has never picked up a save in his MLB career? It may be hard to believe considering how he’s blossomed into a relief ace for the Guardians over the past year and a half, but he still has yet to be on the mound to secure a save. 

Now it seems like that’ll just be a matter of time thanks to Clase’s suspension. 

It looked like Gaddis had suffered a serious arm injury his outing against the White Sox on July 11, but he spent nearly two weeks off (thanks in large part to the All-Star Break) and has looked like vintage Gaddis since with four scoreless innings. 

His numbers aren’t as good as they were last year, but he still ranks in the 91st percentile in chase rate and the 90th percentile in hard-hit rate). 

There’s no “good” way a team can adjust to the loss of a player of Clase’s caliber, but, as the above list shows, there’s enough talent in the bullpen for the team to still be competitive.