PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies suffered a major blow to their bullpen on Sunday, when Major League Baseball suspended José Alvarado 80 games without pay following a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance.
Alvarado will be ineligible for the postseason.
It is bad news for a team with World Series aspirations.
“It’s disappointing for sure,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Sunday morning at Citizens Bank Park. “There’s no question about that. We’ve had other issues come up at various times. I end up treating it like an injury because you need to replace somebody for 80 games and then hopefully into the postseason.”
Alvarado, who tested positive for exogenous testosterone, was unavailable to comment on Sunday. He had already left Philadelphia.
Alvarado’s agent declined to comment.
“We’ve got to move on,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “It’s too bad, but we’ve got to move on. We have really good pieces here that can pick up the slack.”
Everything for the Phillies since Spring Training has been geared toward winning the World Series, so losing their best reliever who is one of baseball’s hardest-throwing left-handers is more than a bump in the road. Alvarado was 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA and seven saves in 20 appearances. He ranked tied for third in baseball among relief pitchers with 0.8 WAR, according to FanGraphs.
By far, Alvarado has been the Phils’ most consistent reliever. He will be impossible to replace. The Phillies have no choice, however, but try.
“I’ve had plenty of players be injured and miss postseasons and clubs have won world championships and all that,” Dombrowski said. “It’s not ideal by any means. It’s not something you want to see happen, but you just have to deal with it.”
The Phillies activated right-hander José Ruiz from the 15-day injured list to take Alvarado’s spot on the 26-man roster. They will make another move following Sunday’s series finale against the Pirates, when they option No. 8 prospect Mick Abel to Triple-A following his MLB debut.
In the short term, the Phillies will try to make the bullpen work with what they have, leaning more than ever on right-handers Jordan Romano and Orion Kerkering and left-hander Matt Strahm. Tanner Banks is the only other lefty in the bullpen.
It will put more pressure on the Phillies’ front office to find a dominant high-leverage reliever before the July 31 Trade Deadline. The Phils almost certainly were looking for one or two relievers anyway because of the bullpen’s struggles this year.
The help won’t come cheap.
“That’s still a while away,” Dombrowski said.
“It’s tough when a guy comes out of the clubhouse that way because teams know that we need it,” Bryce Harper said. “Obviously, Dave does a good job getting value for value, but it’s also a tough situation to be in because teams do know that we’re hurting and we need something.”
No, the Phillies are not considering moving left-hander Ranger Suárez to the bullpen. At least not in the short term.
No, they are not considering moving top prospect Andrew Painter to the bullpen. They have said there is no chance of that happening.
But anything can happen in the postseason, which means they could move Suárez into the bullpen then. Or maybe somebody else, like hard-throwing left-hander Cristopher Sánchez. Or maybe even somebody like Abel.
Who knows?
“It’s probably actually easier to deal with in the postseason because you have starters that can become relievers,” Dombrowski said. “We do have an abundance of starters, which is a good place to start. How that affects the decisions we make, I guess that’s more as time goes on.”
Dombrowski said Alvarado tested positive a while ago, but he tested negative in two subsequent tests. He said he first heard rumblings about a potential suspension a little more than a week ago, when the Phillies were in Tampa.
He said he learned Alvarado had accepted the suspension without an appeal on Sunday morning.
The Phillies held a team meeting two hours before Sunday’s series finale against the Pirates to discuss the news.
Dombrowski said Alvarado told him that “it’s not something he did knowingly. I believe that, the way he talked to me.”
He said Alvarado took a “weight-loss reduction. He’s always been self-conscious of his weight, working hard on it and something he took gave a positive result.”
Alvarado did come into camp noticeably slimmer than last season. He is in the final year of a three-year, $22 million contract. He has a $9 million club option for 2026.
“But ultimately,” Dombrowski said, “you’re still responsible for it. … The system is a very stringent system. You’re responsible for what goes into your body.”
Now, the Phillies must find a way to pick up the pieces.
“It’s not good,” Dombrowski said. “It’s not the news you by any means want to hear, but I want to keep it in perspective. We’ve dealt with other injuries, other situations that you still end up having a really good club and you end up overcoming them and winning. And usually clubs that win world championships overcome something.”