Phillies reliever issued 80-game PED suspension

Major League Baseball announced that Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado has been issued an 80-game suspension for a violation of the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.  

Alvarado (who turns 30 on Wednesday) has tested positive for the PED known as exogenous Testosterone. In addition to the 80 games lost in the regular season, Alvardo is also ineligible for any postseason action if Philadelphia reaches the playoffs.

The stunning news leaves the Phillies without not just their closer, but one of the few reliable members of what has been an overall shaky bullpen.  Jordan Romano’s early struggles quickly cost him the closer’s role, and Alvarado stepped in as the primary stopper by converting all seven of his save opportunities. 

Alvarado has a 2.70 ERA, 29.8 percent strikeout rate, 47.3 percent grounder rate and a career-best 4.8 percent walk rate over 20 innings for the Phils, and that major improvement to his control was seemingly the headline story of the left-hander’s season.

Now, of course, those numbers have to be called into question in the wake of the league’s ruling. This is the final guaranteed year of the three-year, $22M extension Alvarado signed with the Phillies in February 2023, and the Phils hold a $9M club option (with a $500K buyout) on his services for 2026.  

Exercising that option was looking like a no-brainer move for the Phillies just hours ago, yet the team might now prefer to part ways with Alvarado if any doubts remain about the sustainability of his performance.

The shorter-term financial impact on Alvarado is also significant, as the suspension will cost him roughly $4.18M of his $9M salary for the 2025 season. That money is also subtracted from the Phillies’ books, which may bring their estimated luxury-tax number (as per RosterResource) under the maximum penalty threshold of $301M.

That being said, it seems likely that Philadelphia will reinvest that money into reinforcing its bullpen. The Phillies were surely already looking to add relief pitching even before Alvarado’s suspension, and that need has become even more pronounced now that the team’s closer will be out until mid-August. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is likely going to be challenged to make a quick trade, as even the few teams clearly out of playoff contention will put a high asking price on any trade chips this early in the season.

Romano hasn’t allowed a run over his last seven innings of work, so after a brutal start to the season, he might get the first crack at any save situations. Matt Strahm or Tanner Banks might also get some looks in late-game situations, or the Phillies could use a committee approach rather than settling on a single full-time closer.