Guardians Spring Training Update: Emmanuel Clase, broadcast schedule, CJ Kayfus 

The start of spring training is officially here for the Cleveland Guardians. 

While we’re still a little more than a week away from the Guardians’ spring opener against the Reds, we’ve reached a point where  players, team leaders and beat reporters are at camp, which means that information is beginning to trickle out about the 2026 Cleveland Guardians. 

Here are some things we’ve learned over the first 48 hours of spring training.

Guardians Spring Training Update: Things are going to get nasty between Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz 

While Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz allegedly worked together on the pitch rigging scheme that has resulted in both of them getting indicted, it seems like the cracks are beginning to show between the two. 

On Wednesday, The Athletic’s Zack Mesiel and Mike Vorkunov published a story about how Ortiz’s representatives have asked a federal judge to sever his case from Clase’s so that way Ortiz can argue that he was a victim in Clase’s pitch rigging scheme instead of a co-conspirator. 

According to Meisel and Vorkunov’s story, Ortiz’s attorney Christos N. Georgalis wrote in court filings that Clase supplied bettors with Ortiz’s pitching strategy without Ortiz knowing. 

Ortiz is charged with rigging two pitches and that number hasn't changed (per the indictment), while the number of pitches that Clase allegedly rigged has continued to go up. 

Things don’t look great for Clase considering he had already been reprimanded for using his phone when he shouldn’t have, along with the fact the government has gathered more than 60,000 audio messages, 19,000 PDFs, 8,000 videos and 8,000 photos between him and the bettor, per Mesiel and Vorkunov. 

The pitchers’ trial is set for May 4, but Ortiz is pushing for extra time while Clase wants a speedy trial. Both pitchers pleaded not guilty. 

While a judge cleared Clase to travel to Arizona to meet with his agent Kevin Nova and also "attend training sessions with professional-level trainers at suitable facilities.” However, neither he nor Ortiz are allowed to visit MLB facilities. 

The Guardians were hoping that both player’s sagas would be cleared up by the start of spring training, but it looks like this is going to be something that’s going to carry over into at least the start of the season. 

Guardians Spring Training Update: There are going to be plenty of chances to watch the Guardians this spring 

While there are a variety of spring training games that are played without any broadcast options, there are going to be a variety of ways to watch the Guardians this spring in the team’s second year under MLB’s broadcast umbrella. 

In total there are going to be 10 Guardians spring training games available on Guardians TV. The team’s usual broadcast crew of Matt Underwood, Rick Manning and Andre Knott will be on the call for the spring opener on Feb. 21 and the final spring game on March 22, while eight other games will be simulcast on Guardians TV with Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenaus’ radio call. 

The games that will be available on Guardians TV are:

Feb. 21: vs. Reds, 3:05 p.m. ET 
Feb. 28: vs. White Sox, 3:05 p.m. ET
March 1: vs. Rockies, 3:05 p.m. ET
March 3: vs. Dodgers, 3:05 p.m. ET
March 6: vs. Angels, 3:05 p.m. ET
March 7: vs. Padres, 3:05 p.m. ET
March 16: vs. Cubs, 9:05 p.m. ET
March 17: at Reds, 9:05 p.m. ET
March 20: vs. Mariners, 4:05 p.m. ET
March 22: vs. Reds, 3:05 p.m. ET

Subscriptions to watch the Guardians are now available at CleGuardians.TV. Purchasing the subscription (which costs $99) will grant free access to the every spring training game that will be broadcast. 

Guardians Spring Training Update: CJ Kayfus makes decision on name 

While Guardians rookie CJ Kayfus told Mesiel last year that he didn’t care if his name was spelled with dots or not (his real name is Collin Joseph Kayfus), the Guardians announced earlier this week that Kayfus is now ‘CJ’ with no dots in his name. 

Adjust your scorebooks accordingly.