The Phillies are set to promote right-handed starter Henderson Alvarez to the major-league level, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. The Phillies have an open spot on the 40-man roster, so the organization will not need to make a corresponding roster move.
It’s been a complicated road back to the majors for Alvarez, who last appeared at the MLB level with the Marlins in 2015. His season was cut short that year due to right shoulder surgery in July, and the Marlins non-tendered him in the offseason. The Athletics signed him to a major-league deal in that December, but he never made the major-league club and ended up back on the disabled list, ultimately undergoing a second shoulder surgery in September of 2016.
After being unable to find a major-league deal for the 2017 season, he decided to showcase his talents by pitching for the Long Island Ducks in independent ball. The Phillies elected to sign him to a minor-league contract, assigning him to Triple-A LeHigh Valley to pitch for the Iron Pigs. It’s unclear when he will pitch for the Phillies, but with Mark Leiter Jr., Jake Thompson and Nick Pivetta struggling of late, it seems likely that he will get a chance to start at some point before the season is over.
Alvarez’s greatest success came with the Marlins between the 2013 and 2014 seasons. During that time, he pitched to a sparkling 2.98 ERA with a 3.71 xFIP and 53.7% ground ball rate across 289 2/3 innings. He etched his place in history on September 29th, 2013 when he threw a no-hitter against the Tigers. Alvarez even made the NL All-Star team in 2014.
Alvarez will fall short of the service time required to be a free agent, so if he pitches well, the Phillies will be able to retain him for another year through arbitration.
I think they might’ve 60 day’d a guy from Triple A.
They have Therrien off the big team.
Shame. Had high hopes for him!
Therrien is still on the team. They just transferred him to the 60 day DL to clear a 40-man spot for Zac Curtis. Contrary to what’s above the Phillies don’t have an open spot on the 40-man roster. They haven’t added Alvarez but when they do they’ll need to make a corresponding roster move. Since Alvarez pitched Saturday the Phillies might not add him until Thursday or later if they don’t plan to pitch him Thursday.
Glad to see him back in the majors. Always liked him, hopefully he’ll do good
Good for him!
Welcome back to the show, Henderson
This could turn out to be a very clever move by the Phils, signing him off the Indy league scrapheap. I believe he’s controllable next year too
Phillies are just like the white sox. They are bringing back the dead in hopes of landing in last place.
I think you’re confusing the Phils and White Sox for the Giants
Still don’t get how the Marlins, desperate for pitching, didn’t give Hendo a look when he is reportedly touching 98 mph on that fastball again. Seems healthy enough for a shot to me
Exactly. It’s low risk and high upside move by the Phils
Leiter, Jr has not struggled as of late. He had one bad start and rebounded nicely. May want to fact check.
6 IP, 4 ER w/ 2 HR’s allowed isn’t rebounding nicely.
Really? You nitpicking stats? He also had 8ks. For a 4 or 5 starter, yes, he rebounded nicely from ONE bad start
6 IP 4 ER is the guts of the stat-line, that’s not nitpicking. 8 K’s are nice – but that’s the nitpicking part.
It is not a good rebound – 6 IP 4 ER consistently would be a 6 ERA, bad even for a backend starter.
If you’re going to isolate one start and label it something – while telling someone to fact check – you should probably fact check yourself first.
Go look at his stats, he’s a typical 4 or 5 starter who will give up 2-4 runs a game and the occasional clunker. He will pitch 5-7 innings. So yes, he rebounded, but its sweet you’re sticking up for the writer. Lol
The argument isnt he’s a 4 or 5 starter…..
The argument is you incorrectly saying he rebounded from a bad start by giving up 4 runs, 2 homers in 6 innings……
That’s not rebounding nicely lol.
Thats like saying someones smoking habit is getting better cause theyre down from 3 packs a day to 2 pack a day and forgetting altogether how bad smoking is.
He didn’t rebound nicely. Nicely would of been 6 innings 3 ERs.
K’s dont win you games. Runs do. Great he had 8 ks. Still gave up 4 runs.
Well said – this point has gone straight over guy84’s head.
Nothing went over my head. He helped them win. And if you look above, the writer made several mistakes. Another being about the 40 man roster. Clearly it’s over both of your heads. We can agree to disagree.
He won the game so your point is invalid
And he gave 8 runs the previous game. So yes, it was a nice rebound. He gave his team a chance to win.
Judging a pitcher by wins complete undermines any argument you attempt to make. He rebounded with a better start then his previous start but it wasn’t a good start by any means. Did he keep them in the game, technically. But, he had some offense behind him. Ricky Romero had a winning record with an ERA over 6. He won but he was still pitching terrible. A teams offense shouldn’t decide the value of a pitchers.
How about we quit criticizing the guy who does this for a living because of your opinion on what is or isn’t a good rebound/start. The writer doesn’t think so, you do. He doesn’t need to do better fact-checking, you need to read someone else if you don’t like his opinion that much.
The moment someone uses pitcher wins and losses to try and support their argument, everything they have ever said and ever will say becomes irrelevant. People with fully developed brains don’t pay attention to pitcher wins and losses.
As mind boggling as pitcher W-L still being used as an official stat
So I imagine were looking at a 2018 rotation of:
Nola, Eickhoff, Alvarez, a salary dump veteran and any combination of Eflin, Thompson, Lively and Pivetta
(All under the assumption that they realize the obvious and move Vinny to the closers role)
If I’m being completely honest, wouldnt be mad if they extended Alvarez if he did well. He’s still really young (28 next April).
Hopin’ he’d come back to Miami