There was a stretch early this season when José Alvarado looked untouchable.
Left-handed heat, cutters biting like they had a grudge, and a calm swagger that made every ninth inning feel pre-ordained. Twenty games in, he had a 2.70 ERA, seven saves, and the look of a man finally putting it all together. And then May 18 happened.
Major League Baseball announced that Alvarado had failed a performance-enhancing-drug test — the sort of sentence that can blow up a season, a reputation, and sometimes a career.
An 80-game suspension later, the Phillies’ bullpen was suddenly missing one of its most explosive arms.
When he returned on August 20, he wasn’t the same pitcher. The life on his pitches flickered. The command wavered. Eight appearances, six innings, seven earned runs. Then a strained forearm shut him down for good. Just like that, the three-year, $22 million contract that once looked like a bargain had turned into a question mark.
He was ineligible for the postseason — the Phillies’ run to another National League East crown unfolding without him. Around baseball, it felt like the end of the Alvarado era in Philadelphia.
Except, it wasn’t.
On Wednesday night, the Phillies announced they’d exercised his $9 million club option for 2026 — a move equal parts faith and calculation.
Dave Dombrowski had hinted at it weeks earlier. “I’d be surprised if Alvarado isn’t back with us,” he said. Turns out, he wasn’t bluffing.
It’s a complicated bet. Alvarado is 30 now, nine years into a career that’s been equal parts brilliance and volatility. He came out of Venezuela as a 16-year-old signee of the Tampa Bay Rays, found his way to Philadelphia in 2021, and has since struck out 469 batters in 368 ⅓ innings — a rate that places him among the most dominant left-handers in the league when healthy and clean. His five-year Phillies résumé: 259 games, 37 saves, a 3.48 ERA, and countless moments that made radar guns blush.
So why bring him back after all that?
It’s a complicated bet. Alvarado is 30 now, nine years into a career that’s been equal parts brilliance and volatility. He came out of Venezuela as a 16-year-old signee of the Tampa Bay Rays, found his way to Philadelphia in 2021, and has since struck out 469 batters in 368 ⅓ innings — a rate that places him among the most dominant left-handers in the league when healthy and clean. His five-year Phillies résumé: 259 games, 37 saves, a 3.48 ERA, and countless moments that made radar guns blush.
So why bring him back after all that?
Because elite bullpen arms are baseball’s most volatile currency. Because you don’t just replace 100 mph sinkers and a fear factor that can still bend a lineup. And because the Phillies believe that, suspension aside, José Alvarado’s story in Philadelphia isn’t finished.
For now, it’s a simple truth: the Phillies chose belief over doubt.
They chose the chance that José Alvarado’s best fastball — and maybe his best redemption arc — is still out there waiting to be thrown.
Spring Training schedule released
Somewhere between the holiday lights and the smell of fresh-cut grass, baseball will find its way back.For the Phillies, that happens on February 21, when the sound of a fastball popping a mitt in Dunedin signals the start of the 2026 Grapefruit League — Phillies vs. Blue Jays.
A day later, Clearwater gets its turn. February 22, Pirates at Phillies, the first home game at BayCare Ballpark — the annual reunion of sunburns, optimism, and a roster full of storylines waiting to unfold.
On March 4, the Phillies will host Team Canada in an exhibition ahead of the 2026 World Baseball Classic — a rare international tune-up that should bring a little tournament electricity to Clearwater’s laid-back vibe.
Then comes the future. MLB’s Spring Breakout series returns with a pair of showcases:
March 19 in Fort Myers, where Phillies prospects will square off against Minnesota’s best.
March 21 in Clearwater, when the next wave of talent faces Toronto’s young stars.
Think of those games as sneak previews of the next generation — the players who could be wearing red pinstripes for real in a year or two.
All told, the Phillies’ spring schedule stretches 32 games, a six-week march toward Opening Day at Citizens Bank Park on March 26, when the defending National League East champions host the Texas Rangers.
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