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By Zach Pressnell
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Cleveland Guardians seemed prepared to trade superstar closer Emmanuel Clase at the trade deadline, but these dreams were halted when it was announced that Clase was suspended because of his alleged part in illegal gambling.
While nothing has come of this investigation to this point, it still halted any potential Clase trade talks at the deadline.
Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller recently predicted the Guardians would trade Clase in the offseason if he's eventually cleared of the ongoing gambling investigation.
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"Without question, the gambling investigation for which Emmanuel Clase is on administrative leave through at least the end of August is a colossal factor in his trade potential," Miller wrote. "But let's play a little game of 'innocent until proven guilty' and assume he'll be back on Sept. 1 and ready to play out the remainder of his contract.
"Well, before the suspension news hit, Clase's name was quite popular on the speculative trade block. He has been the best closer in baseball over the past half-decade, and those $10M club options two and three years from now would be no problem whatsoever for the majority of MLB franchises. But that amount of coin for a closer? On Cleveland's budget? He's probably more valuable to them as a trade chip."
At the end of the day, it seems like it's a steep hill to climb for Clase to return to baseball. While the thought is "innocent until proven guilty," the star is going to remain on the shelf until MLB can get through its thorough investigation.
It could take weeks or months to do so, which means the Guardians might not be eligible to trade Clase. Either way, this isn't a very intriguing idea until Clase is cleared from the ongoing investigation.
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