Ad Disclosure
Was the Reaction to Jose Alvarado’s Return Overblown by Phillies Fans?
By Sean Barnard
Published:
Philadelphia is the city of Brotherly Love, underdogs, and standing ovations.
Jose Alvarado was reinstated from an 80-game PED suspension this week and will be a notable part of the Phillies’ playoff push. Called upon Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park, the home crowd delivered a few frustrated boos amid an overwhelmingly-positive response for the left-handed flame-thrower:
This left quite a few mixed reactions through the echo chamber that is social media. Plenty of Phillies fans and media members expressed some annoyance with Alvarado receiving such a positive response.
97.5’s Andrew Salciunas chimed in with this take:
It’s totally fair to be frustrated at Alvarado not being available for the 80-game stretch that was the meat of the season. He’s been one of the most valuable bullpen arms on this Phillies roster throughout his five seasons with the organization. Boasting a 3.36 ERA across this stretch, and 2.57 mark this season with 302 strikeouts across 230.2 innings, Alvarado has seen his role scaled up and down depending on the team around him.
This is not to defend the guy for failing to do the due diligence for what he put in his body. He’s a professional athlete who should be completely cognizant of this. But this was not a situation that derailed the season in the way it is sometimes talked about. If anything, the loss of Alvarado pushed the Phillies to be more aggressive at the trade deadline by trading for Jhoan Duran to provide the most stability at the closer position since the prime of Brad Lidge.
Alvarado inked a three-year, $22 million contract ahead of the 2024 season with next year listed as a $9 million club option. The 30-year-old saw his salary slashed to $4.72 million for this season due to the suspension and will feel this firsthand. It’s worth wondering if the suspension has any sort of change in how the Phillies will view his outlook for next year. But the bottom line is he is under team control. A top four of Duran, Alvarado, Matt Strahm, and Orion Kerkering is as solid as you will find for a bullpen and will have an early case for the most impressive Phillies bullpen in decades, assuming this is how the roster plays out.
But the focus should still remain on this season, and Alvarado is here to provide for the final stretch. The Phillies hold a 6.5-game lead in the NL East, and with seven games still remaining against the New York Mets, they can just about wrap up the divisional race with some breathing room for the remainder of the season.
This leaves the door open for a stretch of games with minimal stakes and the priority for the Phillies being resting the proper arms for the postseason run. With Alvarado ineligible for the postseason, there’s no concern in putting too much usage on his arm for the remaining 35 games. He can still prove immensely impactful to this Phillies team because of this. Count on Rob Thomson to lean on him at a more regular rate and for the Venezuelan to be the type of high leverage option that can deliver in low-leverage matchups given the stakes of the rest of the regular season. We are not quite to this point yet, but sweeping the Seattle Mariners was an impressive response from this team following the news of Zack Wheeler’s blood clot issue.
In an ideal world, Jose Alvarado would be a part of this Phillies team from start to finish this season, and be available for the postseason run. But we live in an imperfect society and people make mistakes. Alvarado did the crime, did the time (both via suspension and with his earnings), and is now back to help to whatever extent he still can. It’s okay to forgive people for making mistakes and there is nothing wrong with having a little fun cheering him on at Citizens Bank Park.
He also is far from the first fan-favorite to be suspended for this type of issue and for his reputation to recover. Let’s not forget Lane Johnson was suspended for four games in 2014 and 10 games in 2016 for PEDS. This has not clung to his reputation at all, with Johnson being one of the more positively-viewed Eagles and a two-time Super Bowl Champion. It also feels like the Trea Turner ovation changed the rules for fan reaction in this city. Maybe turning over a new leaf isn’t the worst thing in the world:
Alvarado has been a fav-favorite and high-character player throughout the duration of his Philadelphia tenure and there is no sense holding his feet to the flames beyond what has already been the case. Count on the hefty lefty being a regularly-used arm for the remainder of the regular season and buckle up for another Red October run, even if he isn’t a part of it.
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.