PHILADELPHIA — Jose Alvarado returned to the Phillies clubhouse Tuesday, 81 games after being suspended by Major League Baseball for a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs. He did so with the same smile and buoyant personality as he departed back in May.
“I feel so good,” Alvarado told media. “I’m happy to be back with my teammates.”
His arrival puts another high-leverage arm at manager Rob Thomson’s disposal. But that comes at the expense of balance, particularly given the moves to accommodate Alvarado.
To make room on the active roster, Nolan Hoffman was optioned to Triple A. The righty made his big league debut Monday night in what was expected to be a one-day, stopgap effort. To clear room on the 40-man roster, which Alvarado exited when placed on the restricted list upon his May 18 suspension, minor league left hander Josh Walker was designated for assignment.
Immediately, the Phillies get one of the best left-handed relief arms of the last few seasons back.
“It’s another great arm,” Thomson said. “When he was down in Lehigh, he was really good. Plus his energy around the clubhouse is always fun. Yeah, it’s great to have him back.”
But complications are twofold. First, Alvarado is ineligible for the postseason this year, which means that how the bullpen will work for the last six weeks of the regular season will differ from October. It also means the Phillies might lean more heavily on him in the regular season to preserve arms like Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering for the playoffs.
Thomson said he’s looking to ease Alvarado into low-leverage situations first, though he can’t promise it.
Alvarado allowed four hits and four walks with four strikeouts in five scoreless innings for Lehigh Valley in his ramp-up assignment.
“It’s good, when you’re working and you’re not doing anything crazy and you know your routine,” Alvarado said. “That’s why I saw my good stuff like normal.”
Hoffman was promoted Monday for Max Lazar, who ate up innings during the weekend series in Washington and has been solid. With Alvarado back in the fold, the Phillies primarily have guys who can only work one-inning stints, beyond designated long man Joe Ross. Tanner Banks, who moves down a rung in terms of leverage from the left side, could go more than an inning if needed. But Thomson will be careful not to burn him out before the postseason, where he’ll become more important again. All of the length questions are more pertinent with the injury to Zack Wheeler removing the rotation’ most dependable cog.
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The elephant in the room for Tuesday’s roster moves was Jordan Romano, who remained in the room.
Romano allowed a homer and two earned runs in Monday’s 12-7 win over Seattle, upping his ERA to 7.56.
His fastball velocity was down, he allowed his career-worst ninth homer of the season and he’s shown no indications of where Thomson might be able to use him short of mopping up losses.
Yet Thomson, who doesn’t make the roster decisions, defended the two-time All-Star closer.
“It just seems like it’s been one of those years,” Thomson said. “But still good stuff. He gets swing-and-miss when he’s on. I think he’s actually done a pretty good job at killing innings, coming in with traffic and getting out of them.”
Romano has been a conundrum all year, Monday another instance of him getting punished to the fullest. He allowed a cheap hit to extend an inning before serving up a homer to nine-man Cole Young.
He’s given up a single run in only four of 48 appearances. Thirty-four have been scoreless. The other 10 have been disasters. His fielding-independent pitching (FIP) is 5.06, a massive disparity of 2.5 runs from his ERA.
His turning an 11-4 lead into an 11-10 adventure against the Marlins on April 19 should’ve been the low point. He did recover to post a 0.84 ERA over his next 11 games (10.2 innings). But he dug deeper with the walk-off inside-the-park homer in San Francisco on July 8, and since has been either great or awful.
Thomson was correct in saying that Monday was just the second of nine inherited runners he’s allowed to score this year. But Romano has struggled in no-leverage situations under the guise that the former closer doesn’t have the adrenaline he once relied on, though he’s been too bad to trust in any sort of difficult situations.
Thomson will try to give him extra rest and hope he can extract something from him. If length becomes an issue, Seth Johnson can be recalled immediately, and Lazar deserves a look again when he’s eligible on Sept. 1.
Source: Berkshire mont
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