SARASOTA, Fla. — Orioles manager Craig Albernaz lived through one of baseball’s most compelling and troubling sagas last year as Cleveland’s associate manager.

In July, the Guardians lost star closer Emmanuel Clase to suspension as MLB investigated an alleged scheme to rig pitches for the benefit of gamblers.

As the investigation into Clase and teammate Luis Ortiz has progressed — including a federal indictment in November and additional allegations of fixed pitches since — Albernaz has watched from afar as the scale of what may have occurred has come to light.

“I was shocked as anyone else — and our whole clubhouse, too,” Albernaz said Sunday. “It was a blow to the clubhouse in the sense of, yes, he was a really good pitcher who helped us win a lot of games, but then also he’s one of your boys, right? You’re in it together.

“To have something like that happen, I was just as shocked as anyone else. But to the clubhouse, in Cleveland’s credit, they didn’t miss a beat. It’s a testament to [manager Steven Vogt’s] leadership and the rest of the guys in there with José [Ramírez], [Steven] Kwan and Austin Hedges, their leadership, to kind of keep the clubhouse together.”

Clase and Ortiz pleaded not guilty to federal charges of wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery.

Cleveland surged at the end of the season to make the playoffs, earning Vogt his second straight American League Manager of the Year award. But the story of the All-Star closer allegedly conspiring with bettors on individual pitch outcomes has persisted into the spring. The most recent reports allege Clase may have thrown dozens of rigged pitches.

“It’s tough because right now it’s just an ongoing investigation, and you just don’t know what’s true or what’s not,” Albernaz said. “I think once everything comes out — good, bad, what didn’t happen, what did happen — I can’t talk about that right now because it’s an ongoing investigation.”

MLB has programs in place to address its rules on sports gambling, which is legal in Maryland and many other states, and inform players of the risks associated with it. Albernaz expressed confidence that those programs work and said the club plans to amplify those messages at the appropriate times.

“We’re not going to promote that, that’s for sure,” he said. “Major League Baseball does a great job of coming in and talking to the group. They do it every year; they do a great job. And, just like anything in this game, there’s always going to be outliers. ... We’re just going to double down on what MLB says and piggyback off their lead of not doing it and making sure they’re very cognizant of the people they interact with.”