9:27pm: The Phillies have introduced that they’ve activated Alvarado within the aftermath of tonight’s sport towards the Braves. Proper-hander Yunior Marte was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding transfer, that means that Philadelphia will nonetheless have so as to add one other pitcher to their employees when rosters increase tomorrow. The membership’s 40-man roster is now at capability.
4:14pm: The Phillies bullpen is ready to be bolstered because the calendar flips to September, as left-hander Jose Alvarado instructed reporters (together with Matt Gelb of The Athletic) that he might be activated from the restricted record tomorrow. Alvarado famous that he returned to Venezuela to deal with a household matter throughout his absence from the crew. No corresponding strikes might be essential to activate Alvarado, because the membership’s 40-man roster at present stands at 39 and rosters will increase from 26 to twenty-eight tomorrow.
Alvarado, 29, is within the midst of a down season this 12 months as he’s posted a pedestrian 4.30 ERA with a 4.17 FIP in 52 1/3 innings of labor throughout 56 appearances this 12 months. Previous to this down season, Alvarado’s profession had seemingly been on the upswing as he posted back-to-back dominant seasons with the Phillies the place he sported a mixed 2.53 ERA with an much more spectacular 2.14 FIP and struck out 37.6% of opponents. His strikeout charge has plummeted to simply 23.3% this 12 months, nonetheless, and his groundball charge has related suffered. After sitting at an elite 55.1% from 2022-23, the 2024 marketing campaign has seen it dip to a much more middling 45.8% determine.
Disappointing as Alvarado’s season has been throughout the board, the Phillies are nonetheless certainly excited to welcome him again into the fold. In spite of everything, the membership’s aid corps has long-established a lackluster 4.57 ERA for the reason that All Star break that’s left them backside 4 within the NL over that stretch, and their 4.76 FIP is best than solely the lowly Rockies amongst NL golf equipment. Even Alvarado’s roughly common numbers from this season would represent a step ahead for the struggling bullpen in Philadelphia, to say nothing of how significant a return to kind could be for the membership as they appear to make their third consecutive journey to the NLCS.
Alvarado’s return needs to be significantly impactful for the membership towards southpaws. Even amid his lackluster outcomes this 12 months, the lefty has nonetheless performed fairly nicely towards same-handed hitting with a 3.71 ERA and a 3.21 FIP. Whereas his strikeout charge has suffered towards hitters from each side of the plate this 12 months, he nonetheless generates grounders as successfully as ever towards southpaws with a superb 55.1% clip towards lefty bats this season. That ought to assist to take stress off the Philly bullpen’s different two lefties, Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks, and permit them for use in additional versatile roles by supervisor Rob Thomson going ahead with Alvarado again to face powerful pockets of southpaws within the opposing lineup.
Apart from Alvarado’s worth as a 3rd lefty for the membership’s bullpen, the Phillies are additionally certainly hoping {that a} return to motion over the course of the season’s closing month will assist Alvarado regain the elite kind he flashed the earlier two seasons. In spite of everything, the lefty is below contract for 2025 with a $9MM crew possibility for the 2026 season, and a return to kind subsequent season would seemingly make exercising that possibility one thing of a no brainer for Philadelphia brass.
