Let’s get it back to baseball.

The Phillies made a move:

The Dodgers will get Garrett Cleavinger from the Phillies while the Rays get infielder Dillon Paulson and a player to be named later, from Los Angeles. That’s the deal, according to Jeff Passan and others.

Bob describes the move as taking a flyer on a high upside guy. Alvarado is only 25 years old, a young player under team control. He’s got a good fastball but had some injury issues in 2020 and wasn’t totally right. Only pitched nine total innings.

But in 2018 he threw 64 relief innings with a 2.39 ERA and 11.3 SO/9 number. His WHIP was 1.109 and he finished with a 4.1 BB/9. Good numbers and good season in 2017 as well.

Alvarado is a lefty, which is something the Phils just never seem to have. If he can get back to where he was a few years ago, then it’s a steal. Cleavinger is not anything special. If Alvarado doesn’t do much, then it’s no big deal. A nothing deal.