Closing pitcher for the Guardians? Not Homo Economicus.

Now that the World Series is complete, MLB news at this time of year will typically be all about awards for last season and trades for next season. But instead, we get the bombshell that Emmanuel Clase and Luis Oritz of the Cleveland Guardians are accused of throwing pitches in MLB games to profit themselves and a group of bettors. It would appear very likely to end their baseball careers.

Now, you might think that these guys must have been offered enormous sums of money to risk their professional baseball earnings. Clase is on a 5 year, $20 million deal and Ortiz on a one-year deal for $782,600. But no, the amount of money cited in the indictments appears trivial. From Cleveland.com:

In a game against Seattle on June 15, 2025, Ortiz received a $5,000 bribe for throwing a ball (instead of a strike) on a particular pitch. Clase received $5,000 as the middle man between Ortiz and bettors.

On June 27, 2025 against St. Louis, Ortiz agreed to throw another rigged pitch in exchange for a $7,000 bribe, while Clase received $7,000 for arranging the pitch. Before the game, according to the indictment, Clase withdrew $50,000 and gave $15,000 to co-conspirators, who bet on Ortiz’s pitch. The total illegal payoff for the bettors was about $60,000.

Which leaves me wondering – why? Why would either of these guys, particularly Clase, risk so much for so little. Greed? Maybe. The thrill of “getting away with it”? Perhaps. The only satisfying answer to me is that human beings, all of us included, are never entirely rational. We are not, and will never be, Homo Economicus.

At times all of us will makes choices with our finances that aren’t rational. Others around us will make financial decisions that will leave us dismayed and puzzled. But it has always been the same and always will be. The best we can hope for is to catch ourselves, and make a few less poor choices along the way.