The PED suspension that Major League Baseball handed down to Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado was devastating in more ways than one for Philadelphia.
It took away arguably their most dependable relief pitcher for 80 games. It makes Alvarado ineligible to pitch in the postseason should the Phillies advance. And it puts Philadelphia’s bullpen, already a weakness, in a precarious position not even two months into the regular season.
The natural replacement for Alvarado will be Matt Strahm, a left-handed pitcher who has a 2.89 ERA this season and is coming off a season in which he recorded a stellar 1.87 ERA in 66 appearances. But Strahm alone won’t be enough. Which means the Phillies will be in the bullpen market.
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How will the Phillies replace Jose Alvarado? It's a waiting game
So what exactly could those pursuits look like?
Right now, expect the Phillies to look for marginal moves to address the bullpen. The team has signed right-hander Lucas Sims, previously of the Cincinnati Reds, to a minor-league contract. Other moves of that nature should not be disregarded.
A popular name on the rumor mill has been David Robertson, the 40-year-old right-hander who recorded a 3.00 ERA in 68 appearances with the Texas Rangers last season. He remains unsigned and it will take him time to ramp back up, considering he wasn’t with a team throughout spring training. So he wouldn’t be an immediate addition. Then there’s the topic of price, with some reports suggesting that he was seeking around $10 million this offseason.
What exactly is Robertson seeking now? He’s self-represented and teams around the league are mum on the topic, so no one exactly knows.
Phillies big splash won't come until the MLB trade deadline
If the Phillies do make a big splash to upgrade the bullpen, look for it to come much closer to the trade deadline. The team, led by Dave Dombrowski, has a history of making big splashes in July for bullpen help and did so as recently as last season, sending two top prospects to the Los Angeles Angels for right-hander Carlos Estevez.
To save the Phillies bullpen, and quite possibly their season, Dombrowski may need to make a similar trade this season. But those moves come at a cost. Continually parting with top prospects, especially for rentals, has a strong impact on a teams’ farm system and considering how expensive the upper part of the Phillies roster is, young prospects on pre-arb contracts are incredibly valuable.
In this case, however, with the Phillies having the best record in the National League, such a trade appears to be necessary. Without it, however, they are vulnerable and unlikely to get past the Dodgers, Mets and perhaps others.