Phillies activate reliever José Alvarado following his PED suspension

The news of José Alvarado’s suspension broke on the morning of May 18, shortly before Mick Abel threw a gem in his major-league debut for the Phillies. Eighty games later, Alvarado is back, and a lot has changed in South Philadelphia since he last pitched.

“I feel so good,” Alvarado said. “I’m happy to be back with my teammates.”

Alvarado, who will still be ineligible in the postseason after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug, was activated by the Phillies on Tuesday to rejoin a bullpen that now includes star closer Jhoan Duran after the club flipped Abel and catching prospect Eduardo Tait to the Twins for him at the deadline. Alvarado was the team’s best reliever when he went out, but now he can help form the bridge to Duran for the stretch run. The unit has taken shape, and Alvarado should only provide more of a boost.

Phillies ace Zack Wheeler was diagnosed with a blood clot over the weekend and underwent a successful procedure to remove it on Monday morning. It’s not clear when — or if — he’ll return this season. Without Wheeler and his deep outings for the time being, the Phillies might need more out of their bullpen. And if the right-hander is not available for the playoffs, seeding could become even more important.

It’s fair to wonder if the Phillies would be better suited to try out other relievers in high-leverage spots over Alvarado to see which ones can be most trusted in October. But at this point, the club needs to win every game possible in an effort to secure a first-round bye in the National League playoffs. If Wheeler can’t participate, it would behoove the Phillies even more to have the ability to line up their rotation for the NL Division Series with Cristopher Sánchez at the top. Using Alvarado, who had a 2.70 ERA in 20 games before his suspension, in key situations could help Philadelphia in its pursuit of a top seed.

After the Phillies on Tuesday optioned right-handed pitcher Nolan Hoffman to Triple-A and designated left-handed pitcher Josh Walker for assignment to make room on both the 26 and 40-man rosters, Alvarado is available to pitch once again. Manager Rob Thomson has said he’ll ease the hard-throwing lefty back into things. But once he’s settled in, it should be all hands on deck for the rest of the regular season.

“It’s hard, man. It’s hard because I know I want to be there, but that happened,” Alvarado said of not being able to pitch in the postseason. “I’m here to try to do my best to try to put everything I can to give the help to the team to win a lot of games.”