Cleveland Guardians history was made during the team’s 10-8 win on Friday night as closer Emmanuel Clase not only notched his 150 save but also became Cleveland’s all-time saves leader. As first baseman Jhonkensy Noel secured the final out of the game, Clase inched above Cody Allen in the record books.
The save was also Clase’s 40th for the 2024 season. He becomes the only Cleveland closer ever to have three consecutive seasons with 40 or more saves and he is currently on pace to also lead the American League in saves for the third season in a row. Clase exited the night with a beyond-stingy 0.70 ERA. No one with 20 innings pitched or more has a better ERA in all of baseball (the pitcher with the best ERA with between 10 and 20 IP? Shane Bieber, 0.00), and while it probably won’t happen, an argument could be made for his Cy Young candidacy.
What may be most significant though is that while Clase became the all-time saves leader for the Guardians now, it appears that he is far from finished. At 26 years old, Clase is signed with the Guardians (on arguably one of the best contracts in baseball) through the 2026 season. At a minimum, he will be in the back end of Cleveland’s bullpen for the rest of this season, plus two more.
Contrast that to the man he passed for the record, Cody Allen. You may remember that by the time Allen reached save 149, he was really on his last legs as an MLB pitcher. He was not excessively old for a ballplayer or anything (29 years old), but Allen’s final season in Cleveland (2018) saw his ERA rise by nearly 2 runs to 4.70.
Manager Terry Francona would do more mixing and matching at the end of games that season, using more of Andrew Miller and the newly acquired Brad Hand late in games. Allen wouldn’t be put in for a save opportunity after September 11th of that year. Trevor Bauer would actually secure a save between the 11th and the end of the season as part of his prep to aid the team out of the bullpen in the playoffs, while Allen would not. As a matter of fact, Allen didn’t pitch in a game decided by less than five runs the rest of the way, until being placed in two two-run ballgames in the playoffs where he would end up allowing six runs combined.
Put a lot more succinctly, by the time Allen reached save 149, he was cooked. He would pitch in 25 games for the Angels the next season and never make another Major League appearance after that.
I don’t say all of this to have a moment at Allen’s expense, but to point to the fact that what Clase is doing is really hard to do. The only other guy (since closers really became a thing in the 1970s) to reach where Clase has reached for the Guardians didn’t have anything really left in the tank when he got there. Meanwhile, Clase continues to effortlessly pump out 101-mph cutters and 90-mph sliders that make him arguably the hardest pitcher in baseball to square up. 225+ saves is well within grasp before his contract is up.
Perhaps more importantly, Clase gives the Guardians franchise a level of security at the end of games that they haven’t seen since the days when starters like Bob Feller or Sam McDowell were expected to pitch nine innings. The team has never had this level of security from a closer.
Seven Indians/Guardians have reached 90 or more saves as a member of the team. Here they are ranked by strikeout to walk ratio:
And here they are ranked by walks and hits per inning pitched:
And here they are ranked by ERA:
And here they are ranked by ERA adjusted based up era and ballpark:
Clase doesn’t just win in all categories, there is a sizable and noticeable gap between him and everyone else. The gap between Clase and Doug Jones on K/BB is larger than the gap between Jones and last place Jose Mesa. The same is the case between him and second-place Cody Allen regarding raw ERA.
Even when getting away from the numbers and going with the vibes and giving my basic recollection of each of the names on the list for a moment:
Allen we have already spoken on. Admittedly, he was really good. Until he wasn’t.
Mesa’s faults have been immortalized. I am not even going to get any deeper into it than that.
Chris Perez had one awesome season in 2010 and outside of that, was rickety. Similar to Allen, he was burnt out by the time he departed and also had some memorable off-the-field issues that may also be related to… burn out.
Mike Jackson was awesome, but I’d argue he didn’t do it for long enough in Cleveland. He basically got to play the role of the backup quarterback that everyone thinks is the better idea than the starter (Mesa, in this case) because he gets to come out and play in small sample-size spurts. He closed on and off for three seasons on the team in the late ’90s and is the only guy I am mentioning to not reach 100 saves. He’s remembered fondly for being phenomenal in the 1997 playoffs but I’d argue he just didn’t do it for long enough in Cleveland.
I love Bob Wickman, and I know I’m not alone in that, but as many of you will remember, every outing was a constant race to find a way to get three outs before finding a way to give up enough hits and walks to lose the lead. He often won that race (despite his not-so-well-sculpted physique), but it was always an adventure, the antithesis of “secure”.
That leaves Doug Jones. Jones is really interesting because when he was Clase’s current age he had no saves and had only pitched in four MLB games. He would join Cleveland at the age of 29 and make three All-Star teams as the Indians closer. I’ll be honest, I never saw Jones pitch in his first stint with the team during this time in the late 80s and early 90s but I do remember my dad and brother talking about what a great circle-change he had. So, I can only imagine the vibes were good for the most part. However, the 1991 season blew up on him. He had a 5.58 ERA, had just seven saves in 12 opportunities and was replaced as the closer sometime in June. Unlike Allen and Perez though, this wasn’t the end for him. Jones went on to Houston and made two more All-Star teams. He just suddenly and unexpectedly became unreliable in the first three months of 1991 for the Indians. So, that’s no good either.
Admittedly, Clase did have a legitimate hiccup last season. He did lead the league in blown saves and his ERA was 3.22. But that’s just the thing. His worst season as a Guardian was a year where his ERA was in the threes and he made the All-Star team. There are levels to this and while there are some rough memories from 2023 for Clase, it was never to the point where his manager stopped going to him (like Allen), every outing was a white-knuckle event (Wickman) or he was flat out replaced mid-season (Jones). Statistically, his bad season was a pretty normal season for a fairly effective relief pitcher (not to mention he had some pretty horrid luck in some close ball games).
Ultimately, most relievers end up washing out due to ineffectiveness. Results from year to year can be incredibly fickle. Only do the really special, Cooperstown-bound relievers find a way to do it year after year after year. Clase has a long way to go to get to that distinction but just getting to the franchise record and to 150 saves is a massive achievement, Still, he really doesn’t show signs of slowing down. Far from it. Who knows where the limit might be?
Stats provided by Fangraphs
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