Philadelphia Phillies left-handed reliever Jose Alvarado looked to be on his way to one of his best seasons, with seven saves and a 2.70 ERA after 20 innings over 20 games, when on May 18, Major League Baseball announced that he had earlier failed a routine test for performance enhancing drug use. The league hit the nine-year veteran with a devastating 80-game suspension.
Alvarado returned to the mound on Aug. 20, but after appearing in only eight more games, allowing seven runs in six innings, his season came to an end thanks to a strained forearm.
It was a difficult end to Alvarado's three-year, $22 million contract with the Phillies. Due to his suspension, Alvarado was banned from pitching in the postseason for the National League East pennant-winners. It appeared that his time in Philadelphia was over.
Just over a month later, the Phillies decided exactly the opposite. They would keep Alvarado around for at least one more season by exercising the club option in his contract. The 30-year-old southpaw, signed as an international amateur free agent out of Venezuela by the Tampa Bay Rays at the age of 16 in 2012, will be paid a flat $9 million to pitch for the Phillies in 2026.
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The move keeps Alvarado out of free agency where he, "would have entered the free-agent market as one of the best -- if not the best -- lefty relievers available," according to Phillies correspondent Matt Gelb of The Athletic.
In five seasons with the Phillies, after pitching the first four years of his career in Tampa Bay, Alvarado has appeared in 259 games, used both as a closer and setup man, saving 37 games with 469 strikeouts in 368 1/3 innings to go with a 3.48 ERA.
In Alvarado's absence, at the trade deadline this season, Philadelphia president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski acquired former Twins closer Jhoan Duran, who they have under contract through 2027. With the 100 mph-throwing Duran commanding the closer's spot, Alvarado will see most of his innings in a setup role next year.
Alvarado generated a remarkable 47 percent whiff rate on his cutter last season, and did not allow any extra base hits off the pitch. With the Phillies expected to place more emphasis on swing-and-miss stuff out of their bullpen -- which ranked a dismal 28th in whiff rate this year -- that factor played a key role in the team's decision to bring Alvarado back for another season, according to The Athletic.