3 Phillies free agents who will be gone after 2023 and who could replace them

3) The Phillies should move on from Jose Alvarado and upgrade with a sure hand

Jose Alvarado is one of the more frustrating Phillies relievers. Despite a solid year on the mound in 2022 after a much more average 2021 campaign, he’s not someone the Phillies should look to re-sign after the coming year.

In replacing Alvarado, one name already does jump out. Wandy Peralta of the New York Yankees is also a free agent next winter. Although he has been shaky for a good part of his career, Peralta took a major leap forward in 2022. He was 3-4 out of the Yankees bullpen with a 2.72 ERA. He doesn’t strike out batters the way Alvarado can. He also doesn’t issue a whole lot of free passes. This is what makes Alvarado especially problematic.

Building a bullpen is not easy and with both Kimbrel and Alvarado playing on expiring contracts this coming season, Philly will need to look internally for some solutions. Turning Bailey Falter into a full-time reliever is one way to consider replacing Alvarado. He doesn’t have quite the same tenacity. Someone like Amir Garrett may fit but he is far too similar to Alvarado.

As far as finding a top lefty reliever goes, some deep scouting will be what the Phillies need to do. Matt Strahm is under contract already. Hopefully, things work out well enough for him where Philadelphia can have him as their top southpaw out of the bullpen and maybe experiment with someone else behind him.