Fantasy Baseball: Phillies Relievers to Target After José Alvarado Suspension

The Philadelphia Phillies received a massive blow to their bullpen to begin this week. It was significantly bad news for fantasy baseball managers as well.

Alvarado received an 80-game suspension Sunday for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy. The league announced the left-hander tested positive for the PED substance called exogenous testosterone.

Alvarado has already accepted the suspension and will not appeal. That means he will miss the next 80 games and the 2025 postseason, the former of which greatly impacts fantasy managers.

Alvarado will be eligible to return in mid-August. By then, there's a chance Alvarado won't have much fantasy value the rest of the season.

The left-hander wasn't Philadelphia's full-time closer, so he's a much bigger real-life loss for the Phillies than fantasy managers. But Alvarado was racking up strikeouts at an 11.3 rate per nine innings with a career-low 1.8 BB/9 rate. He also had a 4-1 record and seven saves with a 2.70 ERA in 20 appearances.

Alvarado essentially split closer opportunities with right-hander Jordan Romano during the first two months of 2025. Romano has registered five saves and struck out 20 hitters across 17.1 innings in 19 appearances this season.

Fantasy baseball managers have rushed to the waiver wire the past couple days to add Romano. His roster percentage in Yahoo leagues has increased 22% in the last 24 hours.

Romano is still only rostered in 68% of Yahoo leagues, so fantasy managers may still have an opportunity to grab the right-hander. His overall statistics this season remain ugly because of a couple bad April outings. Over the past 30 days, though, Romano is 4-for-5 in save chances with a 0.93 ERA and 0.83 WHIP.

But in deeper leagues, managers should target Philadelphia's Matt Strahm. While the fellow left-hander hasn't been as strong over the past month as Romano, Strahmn is having a better season overall. He also has the greatest opportunity to benefit the most from Alvarado's absence.

If the Phillies were confident in Romano as their full-time closer, he probably would have already held that role with Alvardo serving in an eighth-inning and left-hander matchup capacity. So, it makes sense that going forward, Romano will continue to share the ninth inning.

Strahm is the next-best ninth inning option on the Phillies current roster. This season, he is 2-for-3 in save opportunities and owns a 2.89 ERA. Strahm also has a career-best 12.1 K/9 rate.

This success hasn't come out of no where either. Remember, Strahm was an All-Star last season with a 6-2 record, 1.87 ERA and 0.75 WHIP.

Straham has never recorded more than four saves in a season. With the Phillies, his best save mark is three during 2024.

There's no guarantee that Straham remains a dominant pitcher with the game on the line in the final frame. Not every relief pitcher thrives in that role, and Straham won't have the opportunity to do it every night.

There's also a decent chance the Phillies acquire another late-inning reliever before the MLB trade deadline.

In deeper leagues, though, Strahm is worth stashing. He can help in the strikeouts and ERA categories even if he doesn't post a ton of saves. He's also still available in more than 80% of Yahoo leagues.