José Alvarado is officially returning to the Phillies, as the team did what Dave Dombrowski hinted at last month and picked up the lefty reliever’s $9M option for 2026. Alvarado had a nightmare 2025 that featured an 80-game suspension for performance enhancing drugs and an injury that ultimately cut his season short. Nevertheless, it makes a lot of sense to bring Alvarado back, as he would have been one of the better lefties on the market and the Phillies bullpen needs more leverage arms. It’s a gamble to be sure, but it seems like one worth taking.
