Phillies could reunite with former All-Star amid Jose Alvarado suspension

The Philadelphia Phillies may be digging into the phonebook in the wake of Jose Alvarado’s lengthy suspension.

Philadelphia has recently reached out to veteran reliever David Robertson, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported this week. No serious talks have taken place yet between the two sides, but Feinsand notes that it would not be surprising to see the club reunite with Robertson, who remains unsigned in free agency.

The righty Robertson, 40, is a 16-year MLB veteran who was an All-Star back in 2011 with the New York Yankees. Robertson also already had two previous stints with the Phillies (in 2019 and again in 2022). During the latter stint, Philadelphia made it all the way to the World Series.

Last season with the Texas Rangers, Robertson made 68 appearances in relief, posting a 3.00 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP with 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings. According to FanGraphs, Robertson was also still able to get up there on the radar gun, averaging 93.3 mph on his cutter (Robertson’s go-to pitch).

That might be exactly what the Phillies need at this point in the wake of the bad news about Alvarado. Over the weekend, the lefty Alvarado, 29, was suspended by Major League Baseball for 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug (later offering an interesting explanation for the positive test). That means Alvarado will not be eligible to return until the second half of August.

Philadelphia is first in the NL East right now at 29-18, but that puts them only half a game ahead of the 29-19 New York Mets. Thus, at least an upgrade around the fringes could be necessary, and that may come in the form of a reunion with Robertson, who might be looking to redeem himself from the way that his last stint in Philly went.