The Philadelphia Phillies ostensibly came into this season with an abundance of left-handed relief pitching. Between José Alvarado, Tanner Banks, Kye Backhus and Tim Mayza, they should have been able to get any lefty hitter out. Unfortunately, that plan has completely unraveled and the formerly elite Alvarado continues to throw away games in the late innings.
Alvarado came to the Phils in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays ahead of the 2021 season as a flamethrowing southpaw who had no idea where the ball was going. His 161 strikeouts in 132 ⅔ innings with the Rays was indicative of his wipeout stuff, but the 71 walks he issued emphasized his damning command problems. Those woes persisted in Philadelphia, and things got so bad that the Phillies demoted him to Triple-A early in the 2022 season.
That trip to Lehigh Valley worked wonders, as Alvarado returned to the majors firing strikes en route to the club capturing a pennant that October. The 2023 season was the Venezuelan's magnum opus, wherein he tossed 41 ⅓ frames of 1.74 ERA ball with 64 punchouts and 18 free passes.
Unfortunately, it’s been all downhill from there. The following year saw Alvarado post an ERA over 4.00, and he looked merely decent in 2025 before the league handed down an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs. The Phillies somewhat surprisingly picked up the 31-year-old’s $9 million club option for this season, and it’s been an abject disaster.
Something needs to be done about the Phillies' José Alvarado problem, but what is it?
In 32 appearances this year Alvarado has worked to a grisly 6.58 ERA, being smacked around for 35 base hits in just 26 innings of work. The hefty lefty is still pumping gas, sitting over 98 miles per hour on his sinking fastball, but his two-pitch mix of a sinker and cutter hasn't been fooling anyone.
There’s no clear fix to Alvarado’s problems, and the Phillies should be trying anything under the sun to get him right. Perhaps he needs to add a legitimate breaking ball, seeing as he throws a curveball just 2% of the time. It’s long overdue to move him out of high-leverage duties, as he’s been costing his team winnable games. Case in point: Alvarado entered a tie game on Thursday night against the New York Mets and promptly lit it on fire by surrendering three runs.
The Alvarado predicament is indicative of a larger problem in the Phillies’ organization. There’s just no one to replace him with. Journeyman Tim Mayza has done yeoman’s work after being plucked from the scrapheap, but he’s hardly the dominant late-inning arm the team can rely upon. Tanner Banks has been so useless that he was demoted to Triple-A on Wednesday. Kyle Backhus was an interesting addition this past winter, but he’s been hurt for a large portion of the season and has scant big league success to his name.
The bottom line is José Alvarado is killing the Phillies and there’s not much evidence to indicate he’ll figure things out soon. Fans would love to see him walk the plank, and for good reason, but these decisions aren’t made in a vacuum and someone needs to take his spot. With nobody else poised to step into the breach, Alvarado may be safe for a while longer.
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