José Alvarado’s absence hurts the Phillies in subtle ways

PHILADELPHIA – Suspended Phillies left-handed reliever José Alvarado’s corner locker in the Phillies clubhouse has not sat empty. Brett de Geus, a call-up for the doubleheader against the Braves during the last homestand, rented it for a day. The stall now belongs to rookie starting pitcher Mick Abel, who may or may not be around when Alvarado returns in mid-August. 

It’s been three-and-a-half weeks since the Phillies lost their prized left-handed reliever to an 80-game PED suspension. Alvarado’s absence has left a void. The Phillies are short on high-leverage relief options. When the Phillies have a close lead late, they typically go to Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm and Jordan Romano for the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. Alvarado should be in the mix, if not for a failed test.

The Phillies will almost certainly acquire another reliever at or near the July trade deadline. Before then, the Phillies bullpen will have to do a better job navigating lineups without Alvarado’s greatest strength: his dominance against lefties. 

The bullpen’s struggles against left-handed batters without Alvarado will influence who they target. It could be another left-hander. It could also be righty with better platoon splits than what the current mix has to offer. 

The lack of reliable options to face lefties hurt the Phillies in Tuesday’s 8-4 loss against the Cubs. Their best option, Tanner Banks, has held lefties to a .514 OPS this season. He was used in the fifth to pitch to the middle of the Cubs order. To his credit, Banks, who is tied with Strahm for the lead in strikeouts among full-time Phillies relievers, has pitched his way into an important role. 

The Phillies were essentially exposed for the rest of the game against a Cubs lineup stacked with dangerous left-handed hitters. One option the Phillies hope can be a real solution is Taijuan Walker, whose splitter makes him an intriguing arm against lefties late in games. 

It’s still a work in progress. With the Phillies up 4-3, Walker allowed a two-run home run to switch hitter Ian Happ. It wasn’t a bad pitch, but he missed his spot. 

He is still adjusting to the reliever life.

“Getting more used to it, I guess,” Walker said. “I thought today, arm wise and stuff wise, I felt pretty good. Still trying to get used to it, the whole routine. I thought today was better than the previous times out.” 

In what Rob Thomson would call a “down” situation, the Phillies tried to piece things together by getting two innings out of Joe Ross. He looked fantastic in the seventh against the heart of the lineup, but struggled against the bottom of the order in the eighth. The No. 9 hitter, the left-handed hitting Reese McGuire, doubled to make it 6-4. A walk to Happ led to two on with one out for Kyle Tucker. 

In a move that encapsulated just how thin the Phillies are in the bullpen, Thomson went to Carlos Hernandez against the left-handed hitting Tucker. Hernandez, who was designated for assignment on Wednesday morning and replaced by Michael Mercado, entered the game with a 1.000 OPS against lefties. Hernandez allowed both inherited runners to score on RBI singles. 

Matt Strahm was available out of the bullpen, but Thomson wanted to stay away from him. Using him on Tuesday would have led to him being unavailable for Wednesday’s series finale. When the Phillies are trailing, Thomson typically defers to saving his back-end relievers for the next day. 

The issue is that Strahm hasn’t exactly been lights out against lefties. Last year, Strahm held righties to an absurd .446 OPS and lefties to a .607 OPS. This year, lefties have a .700 OPS against him. Righties are at .706. It’s not bad, but the Phillies need those numbers, especially against lefties, to be a little better. Lefties have an OPS above .800 against both Kerkering and Romano. That needs to change. 

Before the Alvarado suspension, lefty batters slashed .239/.304/.398 against the Phillies bullpen. Much of that success was thanks to Alvarado, who held lefties to a .421 OPS. The slash line against lefties is at .306/.373/.512 since the suspension. 

So what exactly is the solution? Plan A has to be to match up Banks as much as they possibly can against tough lefties until it backfires. They have to count on Kerkering, Romano and to some extent, Strahm, to be better. Walker being useful against lefties would also do wonders. Maybe there is a waiver claim to be made between now and the trade deadline. The only other lefty on the 40-man roster is Josh Walker, who was acquired via trade at the end of May after being designated for assignment by the Toronto Blue Jays. 

But the reality is that things would be a lot less complicated if Alvarado was still around.